Padding and the illusionary leadership across our nation

By

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Nigeria, a country of vast human and natural resources propagates under the illusionary belief that the solution to the challenges that bite the country are placed in the hands of our politicians.

The confused tales are written when our hope of building a better nation are dashed, folding our hands when things are tough, sitting on the little chair castigating the present administration without raising ideas, opinions and thoughts to curb and eradicate the challenges.

Our consistent struggles persist rather than the potential development we are expected to yield as a nation.

The responsibility is placed in their hands while we wander in our myopic attitude clamouring ourselves to build a nation that is economically and socially empowered diminishing under the influence of instability and a chronic decline of growth.

The act still persists and the hope of improvement towards certain conditions is in vain. Instead we neglect to view our situation solving our problems with our own hands. We can pray and request by faith for better conditions and a comfortable state of living but our efforts to actualise this are minimal and ineffective when we don’t make certain moves to improve our standard of living.

Last week I came across the term ‘budget padding‘ in my journal. It was an issue of serious concern between the speaker of the the legislative House of Representative, Honourable Yakubu Dogara and the Chairman of the House of Representative Commitee on Appropiation Abdulmumin Jibrin which spread a cluster of that selfish desire, greed, while the masses suffer in penury finding it hard to eat.

Padding, an act of inflating the total expenses and expenditure outside the stipulated expenses agreed to be implemented in a fiscal plan of the year, has been an abject propaganda among our law makers.

It raises many questions over our leaders, the masses not being left out too. Have we ever sought to inquire how they run our governance, yet are never prosecuted and get away with it, yet we still do not ask why?

Still we sit on our ‘little chair’ castigating! castigating! castigating, yet we are slaves to those we elected when we don’t express our freedom. The blasphemy and insecurity across society rages daily by individuals who kill ruthlessly in the name of religion and oil.

It is a total crime of looting what should be spent toward a plan that would sustain yet we are secluded from those benefits. The mild presence of intergrity is absent in tune with the mindset of stealing from his purse without work. What then are we practising?

Nigeria, a land of great history, value and cuture suffers while we remain seated. We are deceived and swindled, when will you stand and fight against the odds?

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Ogunniyi Abayomi was born July 11, 1991 in the city of Lagos, where he resides. A poet and essayist whose works have been published in various journals.