Pre-independence to date, it has remained a herculean task for the government to convince a vast number of the populace that they mean well as a significant percentage of the citizenry are often circumspect and highly critical of government’s policies.
That leaders in African states have formed the habit of playing ‘koso’ with the people’s emotions because of their selfish interest vividly explains the dis-alignment between the leadership and the led.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the permanent experience of every administration as it has contributed in significantly widening the chasm between the people and the government with the resultant consequence of an ambience of discord and dissonance established between the duo.
The resentment, disdain, reactions and counter-reactions which often snowballs into accusations from the follower-ship to the leadership class in Nigeria has been premised on a plethora of causal factors.While ethnicity,religious inclinations, political affiliation among others have taken the bulk of the blame,there is very little attention beamed on the concept of odium.
As critical followers of events especially with a sense of history, we opine that perceived odium could be responsible for the birthing of this opprobrium.
The reason for this opprobrium and skepticism by the populace is not far-fetched as the experiences of the people have not been palatable especially with the culture of campaign promises abandonment and jettisoning the welfare of the electorates with preference for prebendalism associated with most members of the political class.
While it is natural to distrust the government due to past experiences, we posit that this could be a prime contributor to the developmental dilemma of the country as irrespective of how lofty government policies might seem,it has often failed to garner requisite support from the citizenry as in most cases, the citizenry have acted as a clog in the wheel of its actualization either by design or default.
In a bid to redress this anomalous situation,we admonish the government to at all times demonstrate sincerity of purpose and operate within the ambit of the law of social contract.It is imperative that transparency remains their watchword while they make concerted efforts to do what they say as the people are watching while posterity is taking conscious records.
This aside,the government must utilize its parastatals in properly disseminating its intents and ensuring everyone understands the direction of the enunciated policies.In the case of Nigeria,the National Orientation Agency must be alive to its responsibilities in ensuring that the right messages are passed on to the intended set of individuals.
We must sound a caveat that until the walls of disbelief between the government and its citizenry are pulled down,the antagonism from the citizenry to the leadership will continue to accentuate while the developmental rigmarole might continue to subsist.
Authors Note:While the word ‘odium’ literarily speaks to the act of hatred or disgust, the concept of ‘opprobrium’ can be described as harsh criticism or vilification by one party to the other.
*Edidiong S.Akpabio, Author, Researcher and Public Affairs Analyst, can be reached on [email protected]
