Date: 2016-04-20

It is no longer news that members of the National Assembly, particularly the senators a few weeks ago initiated a campaign tagged, "BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira". The hashtag "BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira" was even created to drive its awareness on Twitter and it as well, gained a lot of traction on other social media platforms.

The idea behind the campaign was to encourage Nigerians to reduce their consumption of foreign goods and patronise made in Nigeria goods to grow our local industries. This is seen as one of the ways to strengthen the Naira and the key to grow the manufacturing sector in the country.

Some of the lawmakers, including the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki visited "Made in Aba" trade fair held in Abuja to encourage local entrepreneurs present at the fair, giving them hope and promising support towards their businesses. It will also be recalled that the CEO of Innoson Motors was invited to the National Assembly to showcase a few of his company's products to the distinguished senators, and a few took a test drive of the cars amongst, which was Senator Ben Bruce-Murray.

I thought in my mind that finally, our nation has reached a point of realisation and it was high time we took charge of our economy and make things better. I felt in my heart that finally here is the chance for the youths to exhibit their potential in innovation and creativity that will guaranty a better life for them. I also conceived in my heart that here is a chance to tackle unemployment amongst our youths and give them hope.

Then it came as a surprise to me, just like a ship hitting an iceberg unexpectedly when I heard in the news that the Senate purchased Toyota Jeeps for House members at a ridiculous price of N35m per vehicle. This leaves me thinking, what happened to the 'buy naija to grow the naira' advocacy? What happened to all the display of Innoson motors product brought to the Senate a few weeks back? Is it that our lawmakers do not practise what they preach? All these brought me to one conclusion, A House of Colossal Hypocrisy.

To me it seems like our leaders have failed us; they give us false hope yet they conceive a different thought in their hearts and they impose it on us. Leaders are meant to be role models, people we look up to, who set rules and live by example, but in our country the story is different. Our leaders are caught up in scandalous acts, yet they do not own up to their actions and honourably face the consequences.

We are in a time whereby our economic development should be our topmost priority, hence making every possible effort to improve and stabilize our economy. This is the time for our leaders to be more innovative and put into action policies and reforms to create a better living for Nigerians.

I do hope our leaders do what is right going forward, and the future generation of politicians can emulate the right path.