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The People and the Government
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By Chukwuemeka Odoh, |
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In all political discourse, it is said
that power belongs to the people. That the people make
the government and the government owes its
"existence and its mandate to the people.
In Nigeria, however, the above political truism is not supported by extact facts. During the military era, the people, were the sovereign while we the people, were simply instruments or tools on which the government dished out instructions or used for its experiments. The people existed on the benevolence of the government. With the advent of Democracy and the enthronement of civilian regime, one expected a reversal in roles. On expected the elevation of the people to the status of sovereigns. One expected due respect and honour being accorded the governed on who the government owes its existence. The civilian government of the day has, however, carried on as if there are no differences between civilian regimes and military dictatorships. President Olusegun Obasanjo has been paying official visits to states since the advent of civilian administration in 1999. The most recent of the President's state visits was to Anambra state. Before the President's visit, the state government and a few local governmants showed how much the President meant to them. All, (Well, Most), potholes were beautified, streets were beautified with buntings and flags, drainages were cleared and above all, the dirt and rubbish heaps that have almost taken over all nooks and crannies of Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, Ekwulobia and other towns were dutifully removed. Also, the roads were made goslow free by the deployment of traffic wardens and men of the Nigeria Police. There was no doubt that .Anambra state was preparing for the visit of the most powerful figure in the Federal Republic of Nigeria the President . Primary School pupils and Secondary, school students who incidentally have been at home for more than five months due to thc strike embarked upon by their teaches, were all compelled to line the streets to welcome the august visitor. During the President's visit I kept asking myself; so the government knows that these things are necessary and important. So the government knows that the streets are filthy. So the government knows that the state could do with facelift. So the government knows that the drainages needed clearing. So the government knows that the potholes | were constituting a nuisance to vehicular and human traffic. All these the government knows but because the people of Anambra state do not matter; because the people are refaired as beast burden; because the people are mere playthings in the chessboard of Anambra governance, the government has continuosly neglected these duties. But, because the President was visiting those duties had to be done. Because the Federa1 Government was around, the state and the local governments had to do their duties. These duties they did not to the people but to impress the visiting federal government. |