By 

Mideno Bayagbon

IF we were to do a national opinion poll today, and the question is asked ordinary Nigerians, "are you better off today than you were two years ago?" What would the answer and indeed the rating of Nigerians of the Obasanjo regime be? Would most Nigerians for an example declare that they are better off today? Would their answer be that there has been no significant improvement in their lives; or would they say they are worse off today than they were before the "saint of Aso Rock", Chief Olusegun Obasanjo became the infallible custodian of all wisdom?

As it is, we are nearly at the mid way mark in the tenure of the current administration, both at the federal level and the states. And it is getting to that time of the year when the media would soon be swamped by self congratulatory supplements and advertisements by government officials, hangers-on and contractors eulogising the president and governors. Soon imaginations will run lose and fairy tales will be coated in glamorous language aimed at deluding the public, prodding them to award undeserved applause to their principals, the governors and the president.

While some like James Ibori of Delta, Orji Kalu of Abia, and their counterparts in Bauchi, Kaduna and Lagos might indeed earn genuine applause, others will be like President Obasanjo who has been long on promises and very short in delivering what has come to be known as dividends of democracy.

I, however, on behalf of my family have done the scoring of the Obasanjo regime, I have taken stock, just as a number of people who I know have, by their daily experiences. The result has not been flattering at all. I will vote with those whose lives have been affected negatively by the Obasanjo regime.

Indeed, I have become a laughing stock in the office, where the general taunt, from Obasanjo’s kinsmen, has been "you see what that man you people elected into power is doing to this country and to Nigerians? "

Even I, I am now weary of my standard answer: "given another chance, I would rather vote for Obasanjo than for Falae." Indeed, I have had cause to ask myself over and over again, if Falae’s government would have been as insensitive, if it would have been as non-productive as this one.

How for example would Falae have handled the question of NEPA? Two years on, would we still be in the dark, nebulous throes of promises, even as we gradually get less and less power supply from NEPA?

Baba, first told us, by December 2000, NEPA’s darkness would be behind us; this was later edited to December 2001. Eight months to eldorado, most homes are worse off with power supply today. It is a miracle for example to have a 30 minutes power supply in any given day in my Amuwo Odofin GRA area. The Naira has never had it so rough. From N85 to $1 when Obasanjo took over, it is now about N135 to a $1.

Food too has become a major problem. I will not be shocked if one of President Obasanjo’s ministers, preferably that one who has never lied in his life, comes up one day to announce to the nation that garri is to be deregulated; that afterall, Nigerians abroad pay far more than we currently pay for this common man’s food, than Nigerians at home do; that indeed, it makes sense to continually increase the price of that common diet of the poor so that our neighbouring Benin Republic, or Cameroun, or even Niger indigenes will not develop long throat for it. It will then not matter that the cost of garri has risen more than 400% in the last two years, just like all staple food such as yam, plantain, millet, etc. It will be in government’s character of inflicting the greatest havoc on the least resilient part of the populace, the majority poor.

I really wonder, given that nothing concrete has been achieved by this government, what in his quiet moments, the president would sincerely say he has achieved in his close to two years reign at Aso Rock. Is it the factories that are closing down in droves; the massive retrenchment which currently sees more than 35% of adult Nigerians out of work and graduates unemployed?

What would he point at? The dilapidated infrastructure nationwide or the hunger sweeping the land? Are these what he is beating his chest about and Chief Tony Anenih and co say there is no vacancy at Aso Rock?