Governance as farce in our states

One of the tragedies of our lives is the numbness that comes upon citizens because of the absurdities we are confronted with regularly. Last week was full of these and one was nearly tempted to examine such, but the farce ongoing in many of our states has been on my mind for a while. Let’s face it, most of what we called federating units in the land today are only such in name as they are asphyxiating and barely existing. Sadly, they might stay longer in intensive care because of the bad decisions being taken by the helmsmen.

Shortly before I started writing this, I came across a story in The Punch of Sunday, August 7 titled Unpaid salaries: 1, 005 Kwara pensioners die, an account of the dreary lives of pensioners under Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. The chairman of the state’s local government pensioners association gave the figure as casualties of unpaid pensions between April last year and now. As a son of pensioners, I understand the plight of folks who served Nigeria being owe their entitlements after repeated verification exercises that many end up forfeiting their rights. Sadly, Mr. Ahmed’s spokesman excuse does not hold water. Blaming the drop in allocation from the federation account as Muyideen Akorede did smacks of cluelessness in governance. But I hasten to add; such is not peculiar to Kwara as it across the country. How do we even expect retirees to be paid when those who are still in service are being owed their dues?

From basic duties like fixing inner roads or equipping primary health centres and payment of salaries, our states have become inept and unable to perform that the only reason many exist is just to sign for the monthly allocation. Some governors have become Lord of the Manor that cannot even be challenged or queried in the discharge of their duties.

A case is the emperor at Oyo State, Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, who insisted on apologies from those he leads for daring to protest against his incompetence. That someone who has worked in multinational corporations could behave like a feudal lord is a sign that we sometimes focus too much on the federal government while giving our governors an easy pass. Mr. Ajimobi did not even pretend to be rational but instead threw caution to the wind and treated workers like vermin. Mercifully his was just an irrational demand for apology unlike Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State who actually stood and watched policemen open fire on protesting workers at his office in Lafia, the state capital. Regular readers of this column will remember that he has attracted attention as a result of his security aides’ overzealousness and infringement on citizens’ rights.

However, all these pale into insignificance compared to the clown at Imo State. Rochas Okorocha surely represents the eastern version of the gentleman in the west who spends more time at “mama put” and riding motorcycles than the actual business of governance. Mr. Okorocha is a jester who enjoys his own voice than those of others especially when they are voices of reason. If he is not constructing the tallest Christmas tree in the world in Owerri, he will be looking for the elusive foreign investors with a contingent of nearly 1000 even while his family members and in-laws occupy major offices. His notoriety assumed a dangerous dimension a week ago when he directed civil servants to work only for three days in a week and spend the remaining two days on the farm to produce food to feed people of the state. The policy tagged: ‘Back-to-Farm’ is to enable the state engage and invest in agriculture for self-sustenance since the state can no longer depend on monthly allocation for survival, claimed the governor.

Okorocha was magnanimous to exclude teachers, doctors, nurses, and revenue collectors with political appointees from the order. What do we say to this action that actually demands a psychiatric evaluation of the one who gave such order? Good enough that the labour leaders in the state asked the workers to defy the governor with reports confirming that they did not heed the call. “My governor, my governor” as he is more popularly known is a poster boy for much of what is wrong with our states today. The thinking level of most of our governors is so low that they cannot take us to the level we want to be. Before you throw stones at the government in Abuja, take a closer look at your state government first; the rot there will shock you. Forget the house of assembly please as they are in cahoots with the governors in plundering the states.