I begin today›s outing with a quote by an author I couldn›t find. He said: «The society that separates her scholars for her warriors would have her thinking done by cowards and the fighting by fools.» Please take the pain to fathom it out. The exercise could be a lot easier if you can draw rich inferences from the Nigerian experience since nationhood more than 63 years ago.
There is another sweet one that will apply very well to the issues I will be looking at, and it comes from Plato, the acclaimed philosopher of power. He said knowledge as good as we think it is would become evil if the aim is not virtuous. Look at our country and honestly say if you are happy with what we have made of the space, the resources available, the quantum of development and more importantly political culture. Maybe you are reading this piece and have never allowed your thoughts to roam in this direction, you can now do so even for a few minutes as attention is drawn to it.
What you are likely to come through with will shock you. It may go beyond that to twist your soul and give you hypertension. Yes, it is that bad. Karl Marx, a philosopher who left the world with the political theory known as Marxism, the reign of the ordinary people in government, told us history first repeats itself as tragedy and second time as farce. When he made it the position, it appeared unassailable and in truth it still is but fact recently another scholar just added to it, to say that for the second time men appear as farce.
Careful examination of the statement and the addition will show the near absolute truth in the positioning. There is no issue hurting the development of the country today that hasn›t been on the front burner since independence, more than 60 years ago, and after such a long time they have not only remained intractable, but the spillover is beginning to claim human lives at a level that should be very alarming if ours were to be a society of statistics, where also human lives matter to the extent that they should.
The issue for today›s stand is an obvious attempt to desecrate the celebration of Christmas festivities in the country and it is not a recent development but what has baffled me is the length of time it has lingered and why Nigerians of goodwill have allowed the negative antics to grow to the point of turning a monster.
About three years ago, it became customary that on the approach of the Christmas celebration, the country would begin to experience challenges relating to petroleum pricing and acute scarcity. The torment and trauma associated with all that will go on and enter the New Year. We have had instances where many of those who travelled had concluded return travel arrangements only to sleep and wake to news of outrageous increases in the cost of the petrol pump price.
Many who had already given money to aged parents in the villages have had to go back to them to appeal to have the funds back to enable them to pay their fares back to their stations. Many so stranded were never lucky because the parents would tell them they had already expended the money possibly to repay overdue debts. This kind of response always triggered desperate begging campaigns within the neighbourhood with all the associated shame. Of course, transport fares go as high as 70 to 100 per cent.
The issue of price increases at this critical time in national life have not been solved, many have kept themselves permanently on the worrying pedal when the government added the additional burden of currency scarcity which resulted in the outright purchase of local currency in the manner our idle rich class (apologies Maxim Uzoatu) chase after foreign currencies, especially the dollar and pounds.
The height of official recklessness took place under President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2022. It was the eve of the 2023 general election and then Christmas was almost at hand. The regime that had been in power for nearly eight years woke up with currency change and despite all entreaties insisted on its narrow vision for whatever reason.
The fallout was catastrophic. For fuel it was no longer about high cost, the major trouble was availability. Even when it was available far greater majority could lay hold of this very essential product in the life of our national economy since the local currency was hardly available anywhere including the banks. To give vent to the conspiracy theory, all the banks› Automated Teller Machines were devoid of cash. Wherever cash was found, those smuggled out by bank staff and their foot soldiers, citizens had to purchase a few to manage to keep body and soul.
The Christian population celebrated that year›s Christmas under a suffocating atmosphere. Nobody could complain yet it was such a messy situation that snuffed the lives out of innocent citizens whose crime was Nigerian citizens, nothing more.
Christmas 2023 is here and the same terrible scenario has been resurrected by the demonic authors. Possibly the same demented people who do everything to keep a country that should enjoy peace and tranquillity on a permanent boil. Like in the past, it began with rumours of cash squeeze hitting the banks around September with many POS operators indicating they could pick enough cash from their banks. For many Nigerians even though apprehension set in, it wasn’t enough to cause huge anxieties because, to a reasonable extent, the banks’ internet connectivity worked.
But this time in the hours close to Christmas, the cash squeeze is not only strongly on, but celebrants have the added trouble of empty bank ATMS and very epileptic internet connectivity. You look at the trend and the only question one could ask is, why? Why at a time such as this? What are the economic constraints that cause banks to lack local currency, no one is talking about foreign currencies here. Why would all bank internet networks suffer similar challenges all at the same time?
The citizens› fate is made worse by prevarications in official statements. The Supreme Court washed her hands off a possible bad situation when it reversed the December dateline it earlier gave for currency change. The Central Bank followed with assurance that enough currency was in circulation in the country. The question is: if the banks don›t have the money, where is it? Who is keeping it for the rest of the citizens? And for how long?
In ideal situations governments exist to ameliorate the problems of citizens, they do deliberate planning and anticipation. Where governments are very perceptive they prepare for the kind of exodus that characterizes the period. The security agencies receive fresh briefings and training so they take in new lessons in light of previous experiences. They stay by the routes and not block the highways as is our practice, hooked to their radio communication devices waiting eagerly to receive news of any eventuality and to respond appropriately. We never get to see that in our clime, rather officialdom adds to the people›s burden. What about private corporations with their adverts that don’t reflect the solemnity attached to the occasion? The one by a GSM communication company has girls with open breasts all designed to celebrate Christmas. Or to desecrate a leading faith in the world? Where is the Christian Association of Nigeria? Truth be told, no emphasis is placed on the news that the Transmission Company of Nigeria is experiencing a shutdown at this time too. As they say, “Disorder no de tire Nigerian leaders.”
Many Nigerians have since stopped bothering about how the ship of state is sailing. It is difficult to hazard how long this state of reticence would remain.
What history has taught those of us who are critical enough to learn from it is that when citizens cease to see the country as theirs, it should be a cause for huge concern. Hidden in the posture is that the ground is about to open and swallow up people. No sane people should wait until things get to this point.
Meanwhile, cash or no cash, fuel or no fuel, Christmas would be celebrated. It has become more of a mindset. So celebration must happen.
Wishing readers a merry Christmas.