Opinion - President Goodluck Jonathan, Rick Ross And Reality By Joachim MacEbong
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2012/09/opinion-president-goodluck-jonathan.html
In many ways, Nigerians are like the married couple that abandon their bickering long enough to turn on anyone who tries to interfere in their quarrel, and promptly return to fighting as soon as the intruder has been given a good talking to.
All day, every day, whenever two or more Nigerians are gathered, complaints about the nation get discussed. They have no problem bashing their nation and its leaders, but as soon as someone else shows the unsavoury side of being a Nigerian, their patriotism rears its head.
That is the reason for the reactions trailing the 'Hold me back' video, made by American rapper Rick Ross on his last visit here, which was released last week. It started off as a history lesson, with footage about the end of the Biafran war and then head of state Yakubu Gowon declaring an end to the fighting.
The rest of it showcased Lagos at its most challenging, with life in the slums captured at its most vivid. It is in keeping with the theme of the original video, and the track itself, which speaks about overcoming obstacles to success. Indeed, the Nigerian state puts lots of obstacles in the path of its citizens trying to make an honest living. One could just as well replace 'Niggas' used in the chorus with 'PHCN', 'Police', 'civil servants', or any number of principalities encountered on a daily basis.
At a time when many of Nigeria's biggest artistes prefer to shoot their music videos in exotic locations, with exotic women and fancy toys, 'Hold me back' was refreshing. There is nothing wrong with flaunting newly acquired superstar status, except that the recurring theme: vibrating, barely covered body parts and flashing lights, quickly gets old. You see one, you have seen them all. Perhaps it makes sense to project an image of opportunity and demonstrate that Nigeria is not exactly hopeless, but the simple truth remains that two-thirds of Nigerians are poor, and in spite of all the good work done in Lagos so far, there is still a long way to go.
On the same day Rick Ross was giving us a healthy dose of reality, President Jonathan was denying reality. He claimed the protests over fuel subsidy in January were stage managed by those who want corruption to remain. It betrays a total lack of understanding about what the protests were about and cheapens the grievances of the thousands all over the country who left their homes to march. Goodluck Jonathan conveniently forgets that Lagosians took to the streets so that the constitution could be upheld, following Umaru Yar'Adua's death, and also gave him massive support for the April 2011 elections. A good leader would have looked deeper to find out what could have changed in such a short time but instead, the reality distortion field of Aso Rock holds sway.
In January, Nigerians came out to say that their government is too wasteful and corrupt to serve them, and he has done nothing to address this. The Oronsaye report on downsizing the federal government was submitted in April but was quickly passed off to another committee, neither has there been any move to prosecute those who gamed the fuel subsidy system, with the report of the House committee being conveniently buried under a 'sting operation'.
If the President does not even acknowledge what happened at the start of this year, then the possibility of learning lessons from it are slim to none, making a recurrence likely. It is anybody's guess what will happen the next time Nigerians troop into the streets in protest. There is a price to pay for denying reality.
That is the reason for the reactions trailing the 'Hold me back' video, made by American rapper Rick Ross on his last visit here, which was released last week. It started off as a history lesson, with footage about the end of the Biafran war and then head of state Yakubu Gowon declaring an end to the fighting.
The rest of it showcased Lagos at its most challenging, with life in the slums captured at its most vivid. It is in keeping with the theme of the original video, and the track itself, which speaks about overcoming obstacles to success. Indeed, the Nigerian state puts lots of obstacles in the path of its citizens trying to make an honest living. One could just as well replace 'Niggas' used in the chorus with 'PHCN', 'Police', 'civil servants', or any number of principalities encountered on a daily basis.
At a time when many of Nigeria's biggest artistes prefer to shoot their music videos in exotic locations, with exotic women and fancy toys, 'Hold me back' was refreshing. There is nothing wrong with flaunting newly acquired superstar status, except that the recurring theme: vibrating, barely covered body parts and flashing lights, quickly gets old. You see one, you have seen them all. Perhaps it makes sense to project an image of opportunity and demonstrate that Nigeria is not exactly hopeless, but the simple truth remains that two-thirds of Nigerians are poor, and in spite of all the good work done in Lagos so far, there is still a long way to go.
On the same day Rick Ross was giving us a healthy dose of reality, President Jonathan was denying reality. He claimed the protests over fuel subsidy in January were stage managed by those who want corruption to remain. It betrays a total lack of understanding about what the protests were about and cheapens the grievances of the thousands all over the country who left their homes to march. Goodluck Jonathan conveniently forgets that Lagosians took to the streets so that the constitution could be upheld, following Umaru Yar'Adua's death, and also gave him massive support for the April 2011 elections. A good leader would have looked deeper to find out what could have changed in such a short time but instead, the reality distortion field of Aso Rock holds sway.
In January, Nigerians came out to say that their government is too wasteful and corrupt to serve them, and he has done nothing to address this. The Oronsaye report on downsizing the federal government was submitted in April but was quickly passed off to another committee, neither has there been any move to prosecute those who gamed the fuel subsidy system, with the report of the House committee being conveniently buried under a 'sting operation'.
If the President does not even acknowledge what happened at the start of this year, then the possibility of learning lessons from it are slim to none, making a recurrence likely. It is anybody's guess what will happen the next time Nigerians troop into the streets in protest. There is a price to pay for denying reality.
