One trait that is synonymous with Nigerian politicians, is their ability to shift the blame on persons, happenings, events, etc, instead of taking full responsibility for their failures. The blame game tactic is a strategy often used by them to perpetuate their intention in order to veil their political excuses. One thing they fail to note is that it Is the responsibility of anyone who calls his or herself a leader to accept full responsibilities as well as build preventive measures against a catastrophic event.
Politics in Nigeria is embellished in blame-game culture, where an incumbent government or party still blames the previous government for its failure. These shenanigans deployed by them are premised on excuses where they get to shift responsibilities away from themselves to save their head. A case study of President Muhammadu Buhari who got elected in 2015, despite his woeful performance, has continued to heap blame on the past government for his administration failure.
The country is experiencing economic problems because the previous administration failed to plan for the future. The exchange rate of the naira has been wobbling because of the poor financial policies of the previous government. Infrastructure is dilapidated because the previous government did not provide sufficient funds in the budget to take care of roads, water, and health care. Unemployment has worsened because the previous government did not care about the welfare of youths. Agriculture, the manufacturing sector, small-scale businesses, are in shambles because of negligence by the previous government. All these blames, are just to excuse their incompetence.
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One of the qualities of a competent and proactive leader is the ability to accept mistakes and strategize in new ways that can improve the condition of the Present, better than the former. It is only incompetence that will make a leader blame the past leadership for his abysmal performance. Concerning the recent attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train, which saw 8 lives lost with several others injured and many more still held hostage, the governor of Kaduna State El-Rufai has come under heavy criticism as terrorists continue to attack residents of Kaduna state.
He has been accused of playing with the lives of the citizens in his state. Nigerians have for a long time demanded accountability and a solution to insecurity in Kaduna state, as armed bandits have been terrorizing them as well as killing innocent lives. It might interest you to know that Gov. El Rufai heavily criticized the previous government for the high rate of insecurity in the country and their failure to curb the insecurity menace. Meanwhile, when the recent Abuja-Kaduna train attack happened, Governor El Rufai disclosed that he told the minister of transportation Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, that they should stop operating at 5 pm.
He revealed that he pleaded with them to discontinue the evening train because he knew that armed bandits might likely attack at night. Meanwhile, the minister of transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi after the attack with their usual blame-game culture, rather than accept full responsibility for the attack, shifted blame to the federal government. According to him, he disclosed that he had earlier warned his colleagues at the federal executive council about possible attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.
He further stated that nobody listened to him when he requested for necessary digital security and crime prevention equipment that could forestall such a disaster. In his words “we have lost tracks we have lost human beings and the equipment is just N3 Billion to fix all the things on that track now, will cost us more than N3 Billion. And now even the things we said give us the approval to buy at the time we asked for it, the dollar was N400 now it is N500. When you come with sincerity to the government and your colleagues and people are stopping you, it’s annoying”.
Indeed this blame game culture is synonymous with almost every politician in the country. They seem to have ready-made answers for every action in regards to their inability to achieve positive results. It’s high time they begin to accept responsibility for actions and happenings in the country because constantly shifting blame reeks of incompetence.