“Stop chasing shadows, our nation is in decline” – David Mark tells Okonjo-Iweala

                                        David Mark

Senate President, David Mark, had yesterday blasted the presidency for compounding the problems of Nigerians by creating untold hardship for the people due to poor budget implementation.

Senator Mark made this statement  during his opening remarks after the senate returned from its 8 weeks recess. He had stated that President Jonathan and his economic team should go for robust economic policies that will take Nigeria out of the current economic crisis instead of just chasing after shadows and coursing more problems for the nation.

He said: “Those who manage the nation’s economy cannot afford to chase shadows while the economy is in the doldrums. What Nigerians expect, and deserve, is the introduction of fiscal and monetary policies that will create jobs, fix healthcare and infrastructure, and stimulate the economy.”

Expressing his concern over poor the implementation of budget, Senator Mark had cautioned the president and his team to submit the 2013 budget to National Assembly on time to allow early deliberation and passage as has been the problem all these years.
He further affirmed that poverty had taken over the land because the executive arm had treated the issue of budget with all axity. He had assured his fellow senators that henceforth, the senate would treat budget matters with every sense of commitment.

He said: “We return to plenary session to commence a scrupulous consideration of the 2013 budget estimates, once it is presented. It is, therefore, important that the Executive presents the budget early to afford us sufficient time to consider and debate it exhaustively before we can pass it.“And our goal would be to pass it before the end of the year. When passed and signed into law, we will insist on full implementation. Over the years, our national budgets have raised hopes for a better life. Such hopes have remained largely unrealized.“The Senate will activate and deploy its weapon of oversight to meticulously monitor the implementation of the budget. We have felt the pulse of the people, and the condition under which they live has rekindled our resolve to ensure that their living conditions are substantially improved as a reward for their faith in democracy.“The war against poverty must therefore be an unrelenting one. Its ultimate objective should be total eradication of poverty, and not just poverty reduction. A nation as blessed as ours has no business with poverty.”On insecurity and poverty, the Idoma-born politician said: According to him, “We return from our recess to meet a nation sorely in need of healing, a nation previously free from strife and anomie, but now convulsing from a genre of violence that we all thought was alien to our shores.

“A new but formidable evil has now combined with old and familiar perils to present our nation with perhaps the greatest challenge to its corporate existence since the civil war.
“I urge you all, therefore, to prepare to take on the unprecedented challenges facing our nation. The times call for sacrifice and statesmanship, and for everyone to rise above narrow and parochial interests”.

While Mark blamed the poor outing of Nigeria’s athletes at the just concluded 2012 London Olympics and the general dwindling fortunes in sports blamed on corruption, he advocated mass sacking of sports administrators.
Mark said, “one issue that worries me deeply is the decline of our nation even in areas in which we once excelled. The reasons for this decline are not far-fetched. Corruption, sloppiness and tardiness in preparations, mismanagement, degradation and lack of maintenance and vandalization of national assets, absence of rigour and thoroughness in planning – these, and more, are the reasons for the rot.
“Perhaps, no singular event reflects our current attitude to things, and exemplifies our decline, as the fiasco of Nigeria’s participation at the recently concluded 2012 London Summer Olympics. You will recall that our contingent failed to win a single medal in the games. Our fortunes are even more dismal in football, which is a national pastime, and a great unifying factor.

“This should not surprise you, after all, the National Stadium, Abuja, our supposed symbol of sporting excellence, was recently discovered to be decrepit, overtaken by weeds and reptiles”.

“What is surprising, and very worrisome, is that our psyche is beginning to accept this malady as normal. Ordinarily, such an appalling state of affairs ought to have been followed by voluntary resignations, or mass purges. But nobody has resigned, and nobody has been fired! Distinguished colleagues, there is no doubt that a drastic overhaul of our sports administration is long overdue.” He added