Rotimi Amaechi, the Transportation Minister in the soon-to-end nightmarish government of Muhammadu Buhari was livid with indignation when he visited the scene of the dastardly attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train on Tuesday. He had submitted a N3 billion proposal to the government to install high-capacity rail track cameras and sensors on train corridors to prevent this kind of terror attack and the consequential loss of lives and property.
Hear Amaechi’s lamentation as reported by the media: “We have lost track. We have lost locomotives and coaches. We have lost human beings. And the equipment is just N3bn. To fix the damages will cost more than N3bn. At the time we asked for it, Dollar was N400, and now it’s about N500. When you come with sincerity to the government and people are stopping you, it is annoying.”
Amaechi said not even his homily that lives would be lost if the devices were not installed could crush the Rock of Gibraltar in those who blocked his proposal.
Unfortunately, this is how #Nigeria is being governed. Yet, we can’t blame Buhari for everything. Some influential people in the corridors of power have constituted themselves into stumbling blocks on the path of Nigeria’s progress.
How many proposals that would have helped the Nigerian economy to flourish or helped to boost security in the land are gathering dust just because some people in government wanted to flex muscles without substance?
Amaechi said the President has now approved the procurement. In Nigeria, we hardly perform inquests and mete out appropriate sanctions when things go horribly wrong. That is why infamy rules supreme.
I forgot for a moment that President Buhari is allergic to invoking his disciplinary powers to keep government officials on their toes, and was about to suggest that his government should make all those responsible for this lapse to face the music.
Why won’t people be complacent when they know there are no consequences for villainy?
● Olabode Opeseitan is a business leader and social commentator
