Obasanjo's broken promises
By
Somebody once wrote that Nigeria is a country ruled by mad people. I think I concur. Since then policies of callous indifference of the Federal Government that once would have appalled me now produce little reaction. So I find it strange that Nigerians, especially the Niger Deltans, are surprised by President Obasanjo's recent policy decision to extend gas flare from 2004 to 2008 to raise Nigeria's production output to three million barrels per day.
The Niger Deltans ought to have known that President Obasanjo would never make good on his campaign promises to protect the fragile environment and redress the over 30 years of social injustice inflicted on the oil rich region by successive Nigerian governments, else he would not have flooded the region with sophisticated gunboats with United States marine and weapons of mass destruction as his government has just done. Even the so-called NDDC, the child of the Niger Delta Development Board, which he inherited and killed 25 years ago by creating 10 Basin Authorities and over-funded them to the detriment of the NDDC, is marred by controversy.
Words of comfort are nothing more than idle wishes unless they are accompanied by generous deeds. It seems that President Obasanjo knows all the right words but will never move his intention from his mouth to his hand. He is, as one Niger Delta chieftain described him, "a difficult man who is not able to really articulate his action to the letter."
Honesty produces trust, and trust is a fragile commodity. Once lost, it is extremely difficult to recover. It is time for the people to realise that politicians of President Obasanjo's stuff who make outrageous promises that they cannot possibly keep in order to get elected do not represent a constituency of the people.
January 2002