THAT corruption is alive and waxing stronger in Nigeria more than most of its global contemporaries is a fact. In fact, almost all the administrations that have in place the nation have been implicated in the systemic malady. The so-called corrective military governments are not  exempted, but were only smarter in hiding the statistics of their   official   rottenness from public view. They were later exposed as well.

And all over the world, it was being constantly   said   that   unless   the   country   fought   this   sociological   monster   to   a standstill, investments into the country would be an unmitigated and immitigable disaster. Consequently,   the   western   world   began   to   chastise   and   persecute Nigerians whenever they found them in their countries and continents. The social stigma  became  so  compounded and  worse  that Nigerians  are  being  searched  at International airports to   their  underpants in search of unknown exhibits.

The nation’s green passport became   an   object   of   denigration   and   derision   all   over   the   world.  And coupled with the dastardly desperate deeds of our countrymen and women abroad who  unfortunately  lived  up   to  the  inauspicious  anti-establishment   image,  the universal denunciation assumed dilating proportions making the prospect of change inevitable.

This   then   was   the   backdrop   when   the   strains   of   change   rolled   in.   Nigerians welcomed the new impetus wholeheartedly. Having suffered so much under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which even threatened to rule for 60 years.

They soon upgraded the rhapsodic chant for change at all costs, investing it with the riveting magic and winsomeness of a mantra.  So, from landlocked Borno to littoral Bayelsa, from Enugu to Ibadan, it was “change” all the way. Even the drunks in the gutter, befuddled by the fiery   fumes   of  alcohol,   mouthed  ‘change’ and  ‘Sai   Baba’ to demonstrate their loathing for another round of Jonathan’s madness.

Even when the votes were being counted, the dapperly, almost incarnate spectra of change hung like a prodigious suspended balloon over the ambience of Nigerian towns and   cities,   surprisingly   uniting   this   much-abused,   long-suffering agglomeration   of   lands   and   peoples.   It   also   showed   clearly   in   the   voting architecture. Naturally, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had blazed an unprecedented trail and it was not letting up at all. The huge but inevitable difference in electoral fortunes between the two leading parties in the land and the two personalities was visible to the blind, audible to the deaf and tangible to the abstracted, to echo somebody else’s original turn of phrase.

And Nigerians in their hundreds of millions were already on a jubilant junket. Spontaneous and emotive songs broke out across the length and breadth of the nation, no thanks to the erstwhile PDP madness.

However, just one year into the new government, Nigerians are much disillusioned, disappointed and even angry that the dream, which started with the rhapsodic and sustained chant, is over so soon. And the Nigerian nation, if we could still call it a nation, is gradually but inexorably heating up, steadily boiling, as if towards a flashpoint.

The first indication that our political and by extension economic fortunes have hardly improved, even with the anteceded strains of bridal joy occasioned by the formation of a new government at the centre, was the lull and hiatus in governance that the first few months of a Buhari presidency foisted on the nation. It was, up to that   time   usual   for   a   new   government   to   get   its   act   together   and   appoint   its operatives without wasting time unduly. Even the military   juntas who were not credited with much brain but brawn would in a matter of days roll out its list of officials.

However with Buhari and the APC, days dragged into   weeks,   weeks   into   months,   while   the   Government   plied   the   nation   with apologies,   stressing   that   the   long   wait   was   nothing   other   than   a   temporary circumstantial expediency. Apart from instantly appointing some presidential aides the new government circumstantially sat upon its haunches, seeming to wring its hands. And when the list of ministers was finally unveiled , the almost palpable mood of disappointment refused to be consoled substantially.

The list   was   an   unmitigated   and immitigable unswerving crash as most of the appointed ministers came across as average in personality   and   competence. More worrisome was the  systemic   and systematized “Northernisation” of governance, to the detriment of the south through the lopsided nominations. When people remonstrated this overarching anomaly, the government assured that in no distant future, the lopsided arrangement would even out. Although it did even out as   promised, but   it   was   evident   that   the agenda   was   the unwritten law of the government.

The next bone of contention between Nigerians and the new government was the incessancy of PMB’s foreign trips. Nigerians were alarmed that the new helmsman seemed to be gallivanting round the globe while on the economy suffers.Let APC walk their talk that they are a viable alternative to the corrupt PDP. Enough of this wringing of hands. Let PMB rise up to the occasion now, or else the goodwill expressed by the whole country may be withdrawn.

other hand the recumbent economy was taking its toll. However, the government’s spokesmen justified the trips, mouthing circumstantial expediency again.

Then came the final straw that broke the camel’s back. The oil crash in the world market, the barrel selling for as low as thirty-two dollars. And   with   the   oil   crunch   came   the   inevitable   and   circumstantial devaluation of the Naira. At the last count, the dollar is almost three hundred naira at the parallel market and   naturally   prices   of   goods   and   services   have   gone   astronomically   up   and remained up there till date. Nigerians are now crying out, their burden too heavy to be borne.  Let President Buhari   bestir   himself   and   his   cabinet   and   do   something   urgent.   Afterall, he promised change and change Nigerians are determined to have. .

Political killings, thuggery, kidnappings and other anti-social expressions are taking the leads and all these must be redressed.

Nigeria and the citizens are in a crisis situation in all fronts today, and it is high time President Buhari and the APC government take a drastic charge to save our souls.

Mr.Gab Ejuwa, a journalsit, wrote from Lagos.