The economic situation in the country reminds one of the book the District Commissioner (DC) planned to write about his colonial experience towards the tail end of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, titled: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
The DC had wondered aloud about the culture of the primitive people of the lower Niger, which sanctioned that only a foreigner would bring down the corpse of Okonkwo and bury him after committing suicide, to escape the wrath of the colonial power. Perhaps, the irony of that episode of the corpse of Okonkwo being brought down from the tree and being buried by the same people he opposed their rule, that gave the DC the ample material to contemplate of probably his memoir on the colonial enterprise as well as its title, which smacked of racial superiority, on which slavery, slave trade and the colonial enterprise were erected.
Just as the colonial enterprise disrupted social and economic life of the Africans portrayed in Achebe’s classic, the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the political scene and his removal of fuel subsidy on his day of inauguration has also disrupted the social and economic life of Nigerians. Tinubu’s uncritical removal of fuel subsidy and quick unification of the foreign exchange market rates has brought untold hardship and suffering on millions of Nigerians. By telling Nigerians gleefully during his inauguration that ‘subsidy is gone,’ Tinubu has altered and reordered Nigeria’s economic landscape and the centre could not hold again.
Sadly, the renewed hope administration and Nigerians have been grappling with the ripple effects of that single and simple policy statement since May 29, 2023. The cost of fuel, diesel, food and transportation has hit the rooftops. It has imposed untold hardship on Nigerians and escalated the cost of living. That unfortunate statement has caused extreme hunger in the land. It has made Nigerians to be angry because things have fallen apart in their country and they could not see bread to eat, not even the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. In some neigbourhoods now, people steal soup from fire and cooked foods are stolen with careless abandon. The anger of Nigerians over the present economic hardship is like the anger of the jilted lover portrayed in William Congreve’s, The Mourning Bride (1697), “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” This has been interpreted to mean that, “There is no greater anger that that of a woman who has been rejected in love.” And their anger is justified because of so many sweet promises of this government.
Like that proverbial man in Achebe’s Arrow of God, Tinubu has brought home ant-infested faggots, he should not complain if he is visited by lizards. And lo, the lizards are coming in diverse numbers and colours. The protest in some cities over hunger and frustration is just one of them. The recent successful nationwide protest organized by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is just another one. After the first day of the protest (February 27), labour suspended the second one scheduled for February 28, claiming that the first protest achieved its aim. It also gave the federal government another 14-day ultimatum to implement the 16-point agreement it reached with labour earlier and address the hardship and other worries in the land.
Undoubtedly, Nigerians are with labour in protesting against hunger and hardship in the country, which arose from government’s ill-advised policies, as well as their faulty implementation. Despite the refusal of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and some other affiliate bodies to join the protest, it was highly successful as witnessed in Abuja, Lagos and other cities.
Why is TUC always playing a different script whenever labour calls for strike or protest? Whatever is its grouse, their indifference in this protest is not good for labour movement. I say this because a house divided against itself shall not stand. The labour movement is like that divided house. The nation’s labour movement should put its house in order. Organized labour should not allow the government or its agents to divide it.
It is good that the Tinubu government allowed NLC to protest for one day over the rising hardship and cost of living in the land. It is good that the security agencies, especially the police joined and provided security and sachet water to the protesters in Lagos. Fortunately, the protest was never hijacked by hoodlums and criminals as feared in certain security quarters. In spite of the alarm raised by the Department of State Services (DSS) over the nationwide protest, it was peaceful. Nigerians were allowed to exercise their rights to protest over the extreme poverty in the land and the high cost of bread and other food items.
Since Tinubu’s action brought about this hardship on Nigerians, he should be the one to rescue all of us from the mess. Maybe, he knows the answers to our social and economic problems, including those caused by his new administration. The president can still retrace his steps and make amends where necessary. Since the removal of fuel subsidy caused most of this hardship being experienced by millions of Nigerians, the president should find a way, perhaps a middle course, to save all of us from the subsidy-invoked hardship. The forex crisis is directly linked to the subsidy removal. It is likely that those who profit from subsidy corruption and forex corruption will always fight back.
If you are in doubt, please find enough time to read, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s thought-provoking book, Fighting Corruption is Dangerous. In chapter 3 of the book captioned: Confronting the Oil Scammers, the author wrote: “On August 17, 2011, when I began my second term as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, I did not know that I would be stepping into one of the biggest corruption scandals in Nigeria’s history. For three decades, Nigeria had subsidized the price of gasoline at the pump to make it cheaper for its population. The world’s thirteenth-largest oil producer at the time had limited refining capacity, so crude oil was exported, and refined petroleum products were imported and sold to the public at below-market prices. The government covered those subsidies, paying them to the marketers and importers who brought in the products, including its own oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The issue of payments for oil subsidies triggered my mother’s kidnapping (chapter 1).”
The narrative has not dramatically changed six years after Okonjo-Iweala’s book, despite Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidy. Even some knowledgeable people are alleging that the fuel subsidy has been returned through the back door and at a higher rate. I do not know if this allegation is true or not. Regardless of its veracity or otherwise, the government should come clear on the subsidy removal and tell Nigerians the truth. Besides, the Tinubu administration needs to show glaring commitment to alleviating the sufferings of Nigerians.
The hunger in the country is real. It is not a fiction. It has claimed many casualties. Nigerian workers need a living wage. They need enhanced welfare package. President Tinubu must address the growing poverty in the country where over 133 million people are said to be multi-dimensionally poor. Under the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world and one of the most terrorized nations in the world. Our global rating on corruption is not too good. Our ease of doing business rating is among the lowest in Africa.
In 2015 when APC came to power after PDP’s 16 years of being in the saddle, one US dollar exchanged for N200 in the parallel market. Over eight years down the line, one US dollar now exchanges for about N1,600 in the black market. In 2015, a 50kg bag of foreign rice was below N10,000. Now it sells far above N70,000. These are matters that the Tinubu government must address frontally before it is too late. Therefore, Tinubu should urgently pacify the angry and hungry Nigerians by addressing the economic hardship.