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Every so often, this question is asked: why are people losing faith in government, and in their own country? The answer is not farfetched. Hope dies when eerie, grim, despairing feelings creep in. The collective refrain in the assessment of Nigeria today is that majority of the people are disillusioned with the performance of government and political leaders as well as key public institutions. Ordinarily, the phrase, “hope never dies”, means that even in difficult or dire circumstances (as Nigerians are going through today), the citizenry could still hold on to their hopes and their dreams. That’s why hope is eternal. It suggests that hope is a resilient and powerful emotion that can sustain us through even the most difficult of circumstances.
The message is also rooted in the scriptures. Noah, Abraham and few others are exemplars of faith and hope. Life can cause one to fail out of nowhere, but hope will always pull one out. And when you are down to nothing, God is up to something – He shows up. Which is why renowned American poet Emily Dickson describes ‘hope’ as “the thing with feathers”. As an extended metaphor, she likens the concept of hope in her poem written in 1862 , to a feathered bird that is permanently perched in the soul of every humankind. There, it ‘sings’, never stopping in its quest to ‘inspire’ . In that connection, ‘hope as the thing with feathers’, can fittingly stand out as a reminder to all, that no matter the difficulties, every one of us has this entity or innermost capacity that is always there to help us out to do the ‘singing’. It’s believed to be ever- present in the human spirit. Again, it sings, especially when things go as tough as nails. That was exactly what motivational speaker Dr Robert Schuller, the author of “Tough time Never last, but Tough People Do” meant in that bestseller book.
But the truth is that these inspiring words do not exist in a vacuum. They are often driven by events and circumstances. As far as 2011, Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, the world’s largest independent Public Relations firm, said that widespread distrust in government and institutions has eroded people’s confidence. Undoubtedly, in our nation today, this has been building for a while. But at no time has this grim reality dawned on us as now. The truth is that most Nigerians no longer believe that the government is working for their interest. They also no longer have faith that critical institutions like the judiciary and the electoral umpire, are meeting their expectations. Isn’t that a true reflection of the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the recent general elections?
What about our political leaders? That’s perhaps an grim indicator of hope dying. This is because, and with good reasons, the people have come to believe that many of our present political leaders with criminal records have repeatedly lied to them. Sadly, they are now presiding over our affairs. That is how despair has supplanted hope in Nigeria. But this much remains valid: Many Nigerians are not lacking in any of the qualities of citizenship, patriotism or humanity. Come to think of it, our expectations of what government stands for, or should do for us, are simple put, they are modest expectations: citizens’ welfare and security as enshrined in the Constitution. Our fears are equally rational. That’s the essence of taking the trouble to go to the polls on Election Day. Unfortunately, every passing day, these hopes are dying. The minimum expectations of the people are no longer met. Democracy is no longer ‘government of the people by the people’. It’s now all about the people in government, their families and friends, at public expense. Hope dies when the people lose faith in the people they have elected to represent them, and the institutions they have trusted to do the right things. Instead, those at the helm of these institutions have delivered pain and misery to the people, while our politicians’ insatiable habits have not changed. This lose of confidence in the leadership and future of the country is currently at a frightening level. Two years ago, a survey by PREMIUM TIMES, an online newspaper based in Abuja, showed that 7 out of 10 Nigerians have lost hope in the government. This represents about 73 percent of those interviewed. It’s also a huge increase of 32 percent from the Nigerians who in 2019, said they wanted to leave (“Japa”) the country. On June 3, 2021, the Ministry of Interior issued a statement lamenting that the rate of Nigerian youths renouncing their citizenship was alarming. About a week ago, a survey by The PUNCH confirmed that the number of Nigerians eager to relocate elsewhere has increased considerably, with Canada, the USA and UK as preferred their destinations. All of this represents a growing doubt about what life means to them, in their own country. It’s also an expression of anger against their perceived poor leadership of the country.
Clearly, Nigeria is suffering from a present danger, a crisis of sort that strikes at the very heart and soul of our national will. The unity of purpose that should act like a glue that holds the people together is no longer there. The country has since been polarised along ethnic lines, with equally tribal bigots in power. It’s now a battle between the rich and the poor. As VANGUARD newspaper reported recently, “an average Nigerian family today can hardly afford a good meal, let alone three square meal”. Across the country, you can see the faces of people as if they are carved out from stones. It’s a gloomy picture of how Nigerians are struggling to survive. Where insecurity stops, high cost of living has squeezed everyone to a corner. Citizens’ disposal income has almost come down to zero. Yet political office holders are feeding fat on the poor. The recent appointment of hundreds of aides for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and scores of Superbikes as part of convoy of the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, are utterly unacceptable. It offends the mood of the nation at the moment that calls for austere living. Last week, in Bayelsa state, a 32-year-old man, Ebimotimi Freedom, was accused of stealing a loaf of bread. He was lynched by a mob along the Tombie-Amassoma road, Yenagoa. According to the spokesman for the Police Command in the state, Asinimi Butswat, the three suspects are currently undergoing interrogation and may soon be charged to court. Imagine being killed over a loaf of bread. That’s the state of anomie that Nigeria has descended into due to the worsening socioeconomic conditions in the country. A catastrophic implosion may be brewing, reminiscent of the Arab Spring of the early 2010s, that is, if the appalling living conditions and corruption in the country are not quickly addressed. As has been reported in recent weeks, many households are devising new strategies to survive the hard times occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu. Some of the new strategies include cutting down drastically all luxury items.
Many families are reported to be pulling resources together to buy bulk foodstuffs from rural areas. Prices of essential commodities have gone up as high as 200 percent. Tinubu has just received N500bn approval from the National Assembly for palliatives. According to the plan, government will transfer N8,000 to 12 million poor Nigerians for six months, only. How the government arrived at this number remains unclear. It smells like another scam in the making. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t end up like the financial fleece in the name of palliative by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. With inflation and unemployment soaring, is this government concerned about the current hardship by Nigerians and the demands of organised labour for a 300 percent pay rise for workers? Many workers are currently trekking to offices due to high transport fares. With subsidy gone, and inflation rate projected to reach 25 percent by year end, households in the country have come under intense pressure in making ends meet. According to a recent World Bank report, it is estimated that 7.1 million Nigerians have been added to the poverty net between January and May this year. Already, 2022 poverty figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that 133 million Nigerians are ‘multidimensionally poor’ in all key sectors of the economy. This represents 63 percent of the total population unofficially put at 220 million. On global competitiveness, Nigerian companies are not measuring up on the scale. Over 30 different taxes are choking industries, resulting in many firms shutting down operations. Small businesses are reported to be losing about 9 percent of their yearly income. For instance, Company Income Tax(CIT) in Nigeria is above the global average of 23.37 percent. This is despite recent suspension of certain categories of taxes contained in the Finance Act signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari before he left office. Altogether, so far, so bad. There are mountains to climb. Everywhere, lamentations have become the lot of vast majority of the people. It’s as if Nigerians are in for the ‘Rehoboam’ treatment by the Tinubu administration, despite his promise to make life better. For now, this seems to be an uncomfortable truth, but the message is this: if Buhari had laid a heavy yoke on the people, the Tinubu presidency is making it heavier. May your hope not be a testimony of pain and despair.
