Vocal Nigerian Catholic priest, Cardinal Anthony
Okogie, has described the Coronavirus pandemic
in the country as a blessing in disguise because
it has exposed its poor political leadership.
Okogie wondered why the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led administration would
spend billions of naira on cars for lawmakers
without planning to build hospitals to contain
emergencies such as COVID-19.
Okogie went on to call on Nigerians to demand
more from their elected representatives
especially in times of crisis.
He said, “The outbreak of COVID-19 has been a
dangerous yet revelatory moment in Nigeria.
“It is dangerous because this deadly pandemic
has infected over a million and killed thousands
of citizens of our planet. No one seems to know
when and how it will end.
“But COVID-19 is also revelatory, a blessing in
disguise because it has exposed Nigeria as a
country where quality of leadership is of low
grade. What we have known but denied for so
long is now shown to us as an incontrovertible
fact: that the quality of leadership in our country
must improve.
“In the midst of poor-quality leadership however,
Nigerians must speak in laudatory terms about
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, his
Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi,
and his entire team for rising to the occasion.
“For right or wrong reasons, Lagosians have
been critical of his government since its
inauguration on May 29, 2019. But it must be
admitted that with a population said to be close
to 15 million, if Governor Sanwo-Olu and his
team had not provided outstandingly exemplary
leadership, we would have had a more dangerous
situation on our hands.
“At the risk of making a hasty judgment, it is to
be placed on record that as at the time this was
being written, Governor Sanwo-Olu and his team
had largely prevented the spread of the virus in
Lagos. Let us pray for them and encourage them
so that they will continue to show exemplary
leadership to other political office holders in
Nigeria.
“COVID-19 has also revealed to us that rather
than invest in good healthcare service delivery in
Nigeria, we have a political arrangement that
makes it possible to waste Nigeria’s money on
government officials and health tourism abroad.
“Thanks to our country’s constitution,
government in Nigeria is embarrassingly big,
sinfully expensive, prone to corruption, and
scandalously inefficient.
“Nigeria cannot adequately invest in the sectors
of health and education because among other
reasons, the constitution of Nigeria has
established offices that will require an endless
flow of petrol-dollars to maintain.
“By the time low-grade leadership combines with
big government and the seemingly irresistible
tendency to steal and or waste Nigeria’s money,
you find a country whose hospitals are reduced
to mere consultation rooms.
“It is therefore insufficient for our legislators to
forfeit their salaries for two months as they have
offered, it is also unsatisfactory for Senators to
donate half of their salaries to tackle COVID-19.
The humongous basic salaries and allowances of
our political office holders should become a thing
of the past.
“The money should be used to establish a regime
of high-quality medical service delivery.
“COVID-19 has revealed to us that if we do not
do something positive about our hospitals in
Nigeria, if we do not invest our money in medical
research, we shall one day find ourselves in a
situation where we cannot even board a flight
out of Nigeria to go on medical tourism. Let us
make hay while the sun shines.
“Constitutional restructuring is a necessary
condition for the production of high-quality
governance. But if we continue to run the affairs
of our country with a constitution that
impoverishes and disables the citizens by
establishing offices that do not serve the people,
then we would not have learnt good lessons from
this pandemic.
“Indeed, COVID-19 has been a blessing in
disguise. It has exposed the falsehood and
hypocrisy we call politics and religion in Nigeria.
“May Nigerians become sufficiently wise to read
and interpret the signs of the time. For a stitch in
time saves nine. Having taught us the hard way,
may this pandemic go to bed early, never to rise
again.”
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