Is South-east truly a DOT and 10.5m citizens lifted out-of-poverty?
Indeed, Democracy Day 2021 came with striking episodes. Prior to the date, tensions grew high in the society. Some planned for a revolution and unceasingly threatened that President Muhammadu Buhari must vacate Aso Rock. As a result, a hashtag; BuhariMustGo circulated across many social media in an attempt at mobilization. Eventually, after realizing that a democratically- elected government has strict procedures from the beginning to the end, particularly in the removal of a president, the fire gradually quenched. The architects perceptively realized, along the line that removal of an elected president is exclusively a legislative affair, and not a street affair by masses and thus, not feasible by civil disorders or protests. In fact, it doesnt end with the National Assembly as any impeachment proceedings must be endorsed by a panel to be set up by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, to proceed as provided in Section 143(5). And Subsection 6 (Sec 143[6]) gives the accused president a right to defend himself of the allegations. In all these, the powers of the masses are only wrapped inside their elected NASS representatives. The Parliamentarians are therefore the peoples mouths except for peaceful protest merely to draw attention of authorities on pressing issues for urgent intervention. Celebrating the occasion, Buhari in his broadcasts to the nation committed two blunders in the eyes of many particularly opposition groups. The first was the claim that his administration has in the last two years lifted 10.5 million Nigerians out of poverty. The second was his phrase  a dot in a circle while answering questions on the activities of IPOB. Many have disagreed with these claims and rate Buhari as an insensitive leader considering the excruciating hardships people have been going through in the country. No responsible leader would politicize agonies subordinates go through. Looking at the state of the nation with the cost of things, including foodstuff rising daily, coupled with the fact that many have no jobs; any reasonable person would be quick to mock the president over such claims. Nobody can deny that hardship is not visible on the faces of the masses. A family that is able to enjoy three square meals in this difficult period should show gratitude to their Maker. Nonetheless, reciting the problems is not the goal presently but to curiously trace what gave Buhari the audacity to make the two hard claims so as to either join to knock or clear him. Of course, it is an indelible right to criticize, but a desideratum when constructive. From the records, after blocking major leakages through TSA (Treasury Single Account) which tightened the system in his first term, Buharis government in the second term introduced Free Registration of Business Names and many Skill Acquisition Programmes and Trainings for people to be able to boost their entrepreneurship skills. Following this, the CBN also introduced financial grants to support small, medium and large-scale businesses. Many sectors were covered; households, enterprises, firms in agriculture, hospitality, aviation, health, manufacturing, trading and other lawful income generating activities. Applicants in the category of Households loans have a maximum of N3,000,000 obtainable without collateral as done in advanced countries. The basic requirement to enjoy this is to have a bank account with a BVN (Bank Verification Number). For large-scale businesses, the maximum grant is N25 million. There are other schemes designed to support citizens businesses, particularly helpless masses that lack requisite facilities to meet up for loans from commercial banks. They include a grant of N30, 000 the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund, which was given to 9,000 artisans in each of the 36 states of the federation and FCT. Those that applied were mobilized accordingly. Those who did not get the money because they were not aware it existed disagreed with Buharis claims of moving millions out of poverty. But ideally the blame should go to the elected representatives for not acquainting members of their constituencies with the Federal Governments programmes meant to empower the masses. This is the primary reason federalism is patterned to have representatives from all constituencies. From records, Buharis claim to have empowered 10.5million people stemmed from verifiable records of total number that have so far benefitted from his administrations various financial empowerment schemes. It is therefore imperative that elected peoples representatives should carry the people in their constituencies along in order for them to benefit from the Executives initiatives as a responsibility irrespective of the political party in power. Governments target is 100 million beneficiaries, thus, the schemes are not over though in phases. On the controversial dot in a circle which is going to the extreme, it must be noted that the phrase is a figure-ofspeech, and used to describe the few, violently agitating for secession. Its metaphorical, and not addressed to Igbo ethnic group but the small fraction aggressively taking laws into their hands. So far, leaders of thought and political leaders of the Southeast geopolitical zone have not endorsed secession but want restructuring in order for equitable distribution of national resources. The same goes to Southwest and South South regions. The people of the zones are represented in the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Nigeria accordingly. The governments of the various states are all part of the Nigerian nation alongside their respective governors as members of the Federal Executive Council. These are the voices of the people in the states. It is therefore a height of absurdity for a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to join the gullible masses to misconstrue the figure-of-speech and sarcastically, publicly wearing a branded t-shirt inscribed The DOT-Nation. This is absurd and unacceptable. Senator Enyinaya Abaribe goofed. Instructively, a dot in a circle is a metaphor, and literally means a paltry portion in a large space. It is self-explanatory. Sensibly, the president wouldnt have tagged one of the three major ethnic groups, with her people spread globally, as a dot in a circle. The great Igbo nation is clearly not IPOB that Buhari was answering questions about its activities. And Igbo leaders have never supported arsons and violent civil disorders, but few misled youths in the region. Public officeholders must always display maturity. Umegboro, LLB, ACIArb is a public affairs analyst. 08173184542-SMS only  Like this: Like Loading...