Forget boldness. It’s not it! Tell that to the marines. It’s not meant for us. We have seen many of such falsehoods. Displayed with reckless impunity in times past.
We have been deceived several times over. This time around, we refuse to cave in to deceit. We won’t fall for fictitious guts. Never again. Not now, not in future.
The way it banged on us before. Great lessons were learnt with accompanied costly regrets. We are still licking the festering wounds.
Now. They have reached a dead end with us. And we have sealed them up, off our psyche. They will not be allowed the luxury of a repeat performance. That ugly chapter is shut, closed.
Tell them. We are, however, bolder now. And we vow. We won’t mince words. We affirm, acclaim without equivocation. This famed and feigned audacity has turned something else.
President Bola Tinubu is the arrowhead. He is in the centre stage. All the bucks are aimed at him. He asked for it. He must tread with utmost caution.
All the grandstanding of past have come to naught. See where we were forcefully landed. They couldn’t carry us farther than this. Our rulers need to hear us out. This hypocritical audaciousness is arrogance. It is the height of wickedness to humanity.
It has no near partner anywhere in other climes. That is why we are bewildered. Where do you always pick on us? What inspires to treat us this manner? And why?
This government has made taxation its lifeline. That is its area of concentration. One moment, many taxes, tariffs, levies, duties, et al. These come in different forms and shades
We are trapped. The more we cry. The more we encourage them to impose more cruel, heavy taxes. They would even wonder we still have time to complain. When are you going to be done with us?
The reason CBN did what it did to us. What guts! It made good its threat; walked its talk for the wrong reason. It swore it would descend on us. And it did just that without looking back.
The apex bank’s target is the downtrodden. Those in the lowest cadre in the society. Those that can barely breathe. The bank’s killer policies are directly aimed at them. To kill them die!
With that in mind, CBN’s double-edged axe fell. It happened in the form of new charges. And the users of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and Point Of Sales (POS) are the hardest hit.
These are the nerves of the majority. The CBN is certainly not unaware of this reality. In the first instance. Failure of the apex policies aided and abetted ATM and POS. They were brought to the fore. And became parts and parcels of our life. We find it extremely difficult to be disconnected from ATM and POS. We have become five and six.
But, CBN found away to disorganise us. It released new charges on ATM and POS withdrawals. These, to say the least, are frightening and killing. You would fret. Whoever conjured that never meant well for us. Such character did not want to see us alive again.
When you add all these up. They are serious threats to our economic existence. The breakdown:
“On-us transactions (withdrawals at your bank’s ATM), attract zero charge. Not-on-us transactions (withdrawals at another bank’s ATM).”
These are into two distinct categories: “On-site ATMs, you pay N100 per N20,000 withdrawal. Off-site ATMs, it’s N100 per N20,000 withdrawal, plus a surcharge of up to N500. The surcharge will be displayed on your ATM screen before transaction approval.”
Two instant reactions sprang up. I couldn’t ignore them. I stumbled on them on a WhatsApp platform. I chose here to make them anonymous.
You will not but be thrilled. They are profoundly emphatic and precise. Straight to the point. No ambiguity. No frivolity!
This author practically dissected the new policy. He brought out the fears entrenched in the obnoxious charges. The anxieties are obvious. Though they would to hide them:
“Let me explain this to you again in case you still don’t understand. As from March 1, you will be paying N100 charges if you use your ATM card to withdraw money from another bank ATM machine (in addition to electronics, SMS and N50 charges).
“Secondly, if you choose to withdraw money with your ATM card using POS machine, CBN will charge you N400 for using POS. They will charge you another N100 for collecting money above N10,000.
“Then POS agent will still charge his own charges. All in all, you will be charged close to N800-N1000 for withdrawing N20,000.
“Don’t be annoyed and start fighting POS agent when this thing is done. This is one of the new tax policies of your government.”
The author of the second piece poured out. He literally emitted fire. His was no holds barred. He ignored to be tamed: “What is the problem with policy decision makers in our land? Why do we always want to delve heavy blows on the people at every opportunity?
“How do our policy makers even think? I wonder why they always consider it convenient to make life unbearable for the people at every opportunity!
“I see this new development as nothing but one of those decisions to compound the problems facing the masses of the people!
“I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this in any part of the world. Why, Nigeria?
“Withdrawing money from an ATM of another bank shouldn’t constitute a problem for an account holder.
“The processing is, at best, a seamless inter-bank operation. As such, bank account holders aren’t expected to be charged extra for such services.
“I believe such obligations covered by charges or commission on transactions (C.O.T) that customers have been shouldering on a monthly basis should suffice here!”
The leaders they said we elected are unyielding to our plight and predicament. They prefer to mess us up the more.
They won’t oblige us any comfort space. No matter how small and ridiculous. Instead they close in on us. And choke us endlessly.
Our rulers are under spell. That’s given and glaring. And they’re not prepared for any deliverance. They are going into it deeper every passing second.
These (mis)rulers! They demand everything, all things from us. They offer us nothing, not even anything. And their do-gooders, hailers expect us to clap for them unending. They would flaunt their ignorance. That nobody has ever done it the way Tinubu does it.
They are not clever enough. That there’s a huge gulf between boldness and grandstanding. That is where we differ. Grandstanding is pomposity, arrogance and “know-it-all.” Boldness is none of that. It’s a rare combination of confidence and humility.
You can now understand their everlasting plight. They experience excruciating pain when we complain.
Will our government and its chief driver remain stiff-necked, haughty forever?