Mbaka, Peter Obi “Nor Dey Give Shishi, Not Even One Kobo”

As gathered from Investopedia, an online platform that specializes in feeding its readers with financial news; original studies, research, data analysis; and best-in-class educational content, “Nigeria produced more than 1.9 million barrels of oil per day in 2014 to rank as the 11th-largest oil producer in the world. The country produced around 2 million barrels per day between 2015 and 2019. Fluctuations in annual oil production, especially since 2005, can be attributed partly to security problems connected to violent militant groups in the country. Nigeria is home to the second-largest proven oil reserves in Africa. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that security issues and other business risks in the country have reduced oil exploration efforts”.

Despite the foregoing enviable reputation in Oil productionwhich Nigeria has over the years earned among comity of nations, the average Nigerian on the street is poor and there is poor infrastructure like power supply, roads, hospitals etc. The cause cannot be farfetched as virtually all political leaders; elected or appointed, are arguably bereft of Public Fund Management (PFM).

You may have asked, “What is PFM? For the sake of clarity, “PFM stands for Public Financial Management. It relates to the way governments manage public funds and the impacts on the growth of the economy and the wellbeing of citizens. Managing public resources involves how the government earns money, known as revenue, and how the government spends money, or expenditure. Revenue may come from taxes, money earned by state enterprises, or foreign aid, for example. Expenditures are, for instance, government wages, purchasing goods and services, and spending on infrastructure and public services”.

Without any iota of exaggeration, not few political leaders understand how public funds are prudentially managed to achieve results in good governance. Casting a retrospective view to 2020 when the deadly COVID-19 pandemic was at its height, it is expedient to recall Femi Falana’s reaction to Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed’s statement at the time that Nigeria was broke as she cited revenue shortfall as reasons behind the government’s resort to hike in fuel pump price and electricity tariff hike.

Falana, who spoke at the time by virtue of being the Chairman of The Alliance for Survival of COVID-19 and Beyond said that the claim by the Nigerian Government that the nation's revenue had declined was false, fraught with inadequacies and figures that failed to reflect the country’s economic realities.

Falana in a statement said gross mismanagement, incompetence and corruption was the reason for policies such as the electricity tariff increase and fuel hike that makes life burdensome for citizens at the time been referred to in this context.

He said, “Since the Federal Government has announced plans to switch from PMS to Compressed Natural Gas(CNG), the increase in petrol should be cancelled without delay. After all, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr Timpere Sylva, has assured the nation that CNG would be sold between N95 and N97 per litre.”

In a somewhat authoritatively manner, he declared in his Statement that Nigeria was not broke, rather it was suffering from mismanagement of Public funds, and that incompetence was responsible for anti-people policies.

Without doubt, the legal luminary nailed the bane of governance on its head. The problem as it were still persists.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient to opine that not only are many politicians in leadership clueless about public fund management, money, being a necessarycomponent of any democracy: enables political participation, campaigning and representation. The foregoing, no doubt, formed the perception of political followers who see politicians as those that freely give out money to anyone who pledges to support them in elections.

Considering the fact that mismanagement of public funds will not in any way engender good democratic governance, Nigerians have at the dawn of each political dispensation been yearning for a messiah that will deliver them from the foregoing quagmires that the ongoing democratic dispensation is enmeshed in.

Gracefully, God has provided a somewhat Messiah in theperson of Peter Obi, the presidential flagbearer of the Labour Party (LP) for Nigerians to vote for come 2023. God has seen him, provided him for Nigeria and Nigeriansas the only contestants among others that has all it takes to manage Nigeria’s public fund come 2023 given his expertise in public fund management. The foregoing quality is no doubt been displayed by him by as he has refused to spend money recklessly since he won the presidential ticket. In fact, since he started sensitizing the people about his presidential bid, the slang or catchphrase he has adopted, and which his youthful followers always render with admirable passion is “Peter Obi No Dey Give Shi Shi For Vote. Not Even One Kobo”.

I doubt if Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has heard the slang from any youth in his church. He ought to have heard of it if not that he talks too much. I am sounding this way because if he had heard the slang, he would not have called Obi a ‘stingy man’.

Recall that Mbaka had on Wednesday described Obi as a ‘stingy man’, declaring that unless God ceases to exist, Obi would never smell the seat of the president. Accordingto him, it was better to have an old man as president than a ‘stingy young man.’

To my view, somebody should tell Mbaka that Peter Obi is not like other politicians that stuff dollars in Ghana-Must-Go bag as gifts to clergy men. He should be told that Peter Obi does not give ‘ShiShi” and that he is not stingy.

Sandra Ijeoma Okoye (Author)