by Femi Adesina
And that was exactly what happened on Tuesday and Wednesday,
this week, when United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Gutteres visited
Nigeria as part of a three nations African tour. He said it was “a visit of
solidarity with all Nigerians, particularly the victims of terrorism.”
The UN Scribe was visiting Nigeria for the first time, and
he had probably fallen for the antics of the Western media, and some
unpatriotic Nigerians who have nothing good to say about their own country.
They even visit the UN and parliaments of leading countries of the world, to
de-market Nigeria.
Gutteres had probably thought he was coming to a country
where hopelessness and despondency were order of the day. He started from
Maiduguri, Borno State, once the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency in the
country. When he saw what the Muhammadu Buhari administration, in conjunction
with the Babagana Zulum government had done, he had a quick rethink.
At a meeting with President Buhari on Wednesday afternoon in
Abuja, he declared: “I was extremely surprised. The image that exists is of a
hopeless situation. But what I saw was a Borno of hope.”
I chuckled as the international public servant expressed his
consternation. He said he visited a centre where former Boko Haram fighters
were being rehabilitated, and also camps of internally displaced persons
(IDPs).
“It is necessary to provide a vision of the future for the
people. Vision of jobs, schools, health institutions, and the like. And that
was what was being done. It is a remarkably wise and well conceived strategy.”
But the naysayers, the wailing wailers, always say President
Buhari has not achieved anything in the country. They see roads, rail, bridges,
airports, but they say he’s not doing anything. Well, like the contumacious
child, who refused to take instructions at home, an outsider has come to tell
them the home truth.
They say Nigeria is good for nothing. Gutteres says the
country “is a pillar of continental and global cooperation-and a steadfast
partner of the United Nations.” He added: “Nigeria is a country where Africa’s
promise and potential come to vivid life.”
That is the same country that a clergyman, who should
inspire hope and faith, says has been broken, completely destroyed and thrown
to the dustbin. Well, when a child refuses to take instructions from home…
The UN scribe said Nigerians were fantastic people, and the
country has “solid institutions, and a vibrant private sector.” But that is not
what some ever cynical Nigerians say about their country, and that is not the
picture they go abroad to paint of their country. Shame, I say again; shame.
President Buhari said Boko Haram was the major security
challenge his administration inherited in 2015. “They will kill people, and
shout ‘Allah Akbar,’ (meaning God is great). But when you do that it is either
you do not know that God, or you are being stupid. God is justice, and you can’t
take an innocent soul, and say God is great.
“We began to educate the people, and gradually, they
understood that Boko Haram was not about religion. The group is largely
decimated today, and government is trying to resettle the people. We are trying
to get them back to the land, and things will get better in the near future.”
Yet they say Buhari hasn’t achieved anything. When your
adversary sees your robust horse, standing in all its grandeur, he turns up his
nose, and says; see this dwarf horse.
They have eyes and see nothing, they have ears and refuse to
hear. Well, an outsider will one day come to tell them the truth.
The Secretary-General said the people he saw in Maiduguri
“remain hopeful and committed to returning to their communities and resuming
their lives.”
Still commending the Buhari administration, he welcomed “the
establishment of the Presidential Committee on the Repatriation, Returns and
Resettlement of Displaced Persons in the North-East.”
But to some of our people, the country is broken, destroyed,
and nothing is working. Well, when a child refuses to accept instructions given
at home, an outsider knocks sense into his head eventually.
Hear Gutteres again: “And I thanked President Buhari for his
unwavering support of the Multinational Joint Task Force and the Lake Chad
Basin Commission.”
Yet, to the permanent critics, Buhari is not doing anything,
and has not achieved anything. I hear.
In 2011, Boko Haram bombed the United Nations building in
Abuja, killed many people, and completely wrecked the structure. The Buhari
administration undertook the rebuilding of the facility, and got it delivered
in good time.
The Secretary-General described it as “an impressive
edifice, “ stressing: “I want to thank the Government and people of Nigeria for
not only hosting the United Nations, but for rebuilding and reopening the
United Nations House in Abuja in 2019 following the terrorist attacks in 2011.”
That’s an outsider appreciating the good works of the Buhari
administration, which the willfully blind have refused to see, and the
deliberately deaf have refused to hear. If a child stubbornly spurns
instructions at home….
Let’s conclude with this very inspiring one from Mr
Gutteres.
“My trip to Nigeria is not to visit people in despair, but
people filled with hope. When there’s political vision, good things can
happen.”
If you have been deluded, brainwashed, hoodwinked into
seeing your country as broken, destroyed, good for nothing, then begin to have
a rethink. Those who fed you with that narrative have their own sinister
agenda. Our country has challenges in security, economy, and other areas, yes,
but it is neither broken nor destroyed. “If you don’t say you are, nobody would
say thou art.”
President Buhari has worked for this country, and continues
to work. Let not an outsider come and tell us the home truth that is right
before our eyes.
*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and
Publicity
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