Today the price of crude oil is low and our economy is in a mess. They say we could have prevented this if only we diversified our economy long ago but that is just part of the story. We are here because the political class do not have the capacity to think. Nigeria has enjoyed the oil boom for more than four decades but our problems remain with us. So what has government been doing?

They have been sharing our common wealth among themselves and never bothered to master the skill of creating wealth. They have been creating more poverty instead of pulling people out of it. They have been destroying society and did not understand that the purpose of government is to build it. They were blinded by greed to see that the day of reckoning could be so close or that when we no longer have oil, we shall depend on the people to create wealth. Now they have to think or we all perish but it is troubling that they don’t just have the capacity. They are empty.

The recent solution of State governors to non-payment of salaries is to reduce working days for civil servants so that they can attend to their farms as is the case of Benue and Imo State or worship their gods as it was declared recently in Osun. I expect more governors to join in this nonsense. I do not understand that a core institution of the government like the civil service will be technically shutdown by State governors at this time of financial hard times. Who then will think and implement solutions to their present financial challenges? I sense that the State governors are doing nothing and hoping the price of crude oil will bounce back. This is another evidence they don’t have that very important habit of thinking.

Northern Nigeria has been officially referred to as “educational backward” since I was born till date but the State governors and Federal government are more interested in sending people for hajj or lesser hajj. In Kano it has become the responsibility of government to arrange mass wedding. The Niger deltans who are quick to remind us about their oil wealth had a governor that built a state-of-the-art football stadium and not a refinery as a legacy project. Why stadium and not a refinery? It’s so difficult to comprehend. For some of us who often travel by road, all we see on both sides of the road are neglected communities. Why neglect people who can always help drive production in the economy? This does not just make any sense.

It is important to know that every state has her own local economy they failed to develop because of greed and decades of easy oil wealth. This alone would not have been a problem if only they could start thinking but it is unfortunate they have long lost the capacity to think. They don’t even understand the basics.

If the price of crude remain low, it is likely many States will be owing workers a backlog of a year or more going into the next election circle. The bigger problem is that we are likely to continue in a vicious circle as well. Come 2019 we are going to see the same political actors at all levels. It will be the same people that offered nothing in the past and still have nothing to offer. This is because the system has been hijacked by people who enriched themselves by looting public funds.

They are the self-appointed gate keepers who determine who will go in or out. They choose who will represent on party platforms and are likely to be more comfortable with people who are as empty as them or in most instances even worst. This is the sad reality in all states and political parties. This is how we end up having only dummies on the ballot. Most times we say let us go with the lesser evil but sooner than later we realise there is nothing like lesser evil.

They have also designed the political landscape in a way that money is the major criteria that determine if anybody can contest an election. The cost of forms for candidates are so high that only those in the upper class of the society can afford it – most times those who have benefited from the public loot. This makes it impossible for low income earners to fully participate as candidates.

I have come to understand that our politics has been crafted in a way that people who have nothing to offer can hold on to political power for ever. How do we move forward as a people if people with political power have nothing to offer? We desperately need people with ideas in our politics. The kind of politics we play determine the kind of people in our politics, the kind of people in our politics determine who possess political power and the kind of people with political power determine the kind of society we create. Nigerians must find any means to free the political space for us to move forward. Perhaps it is an impossible mission but I believe Aminu Kano was right when he said “No task is impossible if human endeavour is willing and ready to make it possible”.

Bemdoo Hulugh is an active citizen and he writes from Makurdi

You can also interact with him on twitter @bumy04