The signs are ominous but we seem not to notice.
That is why we are sliding towards the abyss and not much is done to halt it.
The swirling protests are building up. It was first in Niger, and then Kano registered its presence, followed closely by Osun and even in President Bola Tinubu’s Lagos. All the protests have a common denominator – increasing cost of living, and insecurity.
It has the potential of the #EndSARS protests against police bestiality that crippled the country with avoidable carnage in 2020. Unfortunately, instead of addressing the substance, the government went after shadows, preferring to arrest the protesters and accuse the opposition.
Does the opposition, no matter who they are, need to tell a man that he is hungry and there is no food? Does it take the opposition to tell people that the price of fuel has increased exponentially since the coming of the APC government with nothing to show for the trillions of naira supposedly saved from the removal of fuel subsidy? Must the opposition tell the people that the minimum wage may not even buy a quarter bag of rice? Does it need the opposition to tell the discerning that our naira has almost become a worthless paper, the cheapest currency in the sub-region where it used to hold sway with justifiable swagger? Does it need the opposition to know that something is wrong with our forex dealings where the source of Aboki exchange’s omnipotence is still suspicious? Does the opposition need to tell a man that he cannot travel from one spot of the country to another assured of returning home to his beloved family with his head still on his shoulders? What has this opposition done? The government should look into the mirror; it will see the cause of disaffection there.
Regrettably, the Police Public Relations Officer in Niger State described the protesters as miscreants. It is doubtful he understands what the word means; otherwise, he would not have described mothers protesting their inability to feed their children because of government rudderlessness in such unflattering terms.
Those women were heroic in their actions by choosing not to be silent and watching their children starve to death. Despite the inconvenience of their detention, their voices have been heard and already resonating even in government quarters.
Reluctantly, I cannot help feeling for the government because ex-President Muhammadu Buhari left an empty shell for Tinubu. Nevertheless, the Asiwaju must bare his fangs and stop the slide.
There is still much looting and profligacy going on under his watch as if he is in a hurry to beat Buhari’s inglorious record. His frequent trips to France as if to shift the headquarters of Nigeria’s junkets even while the country is on fire is not acceptable. The multilayered convoy that accompanies his trips around town is not acceptable. Those whose hands are still frittering the commonwealth into private pockets are no longer needed in government.
The looting spree has continued unabated. Many had thought it would end with the immediate inglorious past government. It has even tipped the scale, as reports have shown. The National Assembly smothered their conscience to purchase luxury SUVs worth N160 million each, apart from the traditional padding of budgets to rip off the masses.
Why, for instance, must somebody request for a humongous N1b for a mere 37-man minimum tripartite committee to determine a new minimum? Sadly, instead of tearing the paper and shoving it into the mouth of the man as he is kicked out of the purported renewed hope government, he was still given a whopping N.5m. The government failed to do the needful but is more interested in identifying the mole within it that leaked the memo.
Yes, it is wrong to leak official documents but the fact remains that even in government, there are also conscientious and angry people that cannot condone the macabre displays therein.
However, the crisis in Nigeria is rooted in the evil Siamese twins of insecurity and hunger.
Banditry and kidnapping have become a thriving industry. The audacity of those who run the industry is a sad testimony for our security agencies though some of the security operatives are giving their best.
Until the bad eggs are flushed out of the system, Nigeria will continue to experience trouble in that area. Until the official and unofficial intermediaries and ransom negotiators are crushed, the hydra-headed problem will continue. Until the government firms up its muscle and reins in the sponsors of this brigandage, there remains no hope for the country. It is a mystery that the list of alleged sponsors of terrorism that came from Dubai has remained under wraps for years. What is happening?
Banditry and kidnapping are at the root of hunger in the land. People are afraid to go to the farms where bandits and herdsmen are waiting for heads to chop or women to ravish. This has made nonsense of the huge interventions by the CBN through various programmes and as long as farmers are not sure of their safety, expecting them to return to the farms is a tall dream.
Added to this is the ragtag equipment and lack of adequate implements. We should be talking about mechanised agriculture in this age and time rather than the ancient farming methods of our ancestors.
As for the ‘weakened’ naira, it can be ‘strengthened’. The naira is not weak; it was weakened by those in authority and corruption in the system. So, it can also be strengthened by the same people. It is not as if the government does not know what to do. The problem is that they don’t want to do it for whatever pecuniary reasons, including not wanting to step on the toes of powerful individuals.
Strengthening the naira is not a rocket science and goes beyond juggling figures at the CBN headquarters or relocating some departments from Abuja to wherever. It requires dealing decisively with impeding factors against local production.
We cannot continue to import virtually everything in this country, including toothpick, and expect the naira to be competitive when the containers that bring in goods depart our shores empty because there is nothing to export.
Economists will explain better but I honestly believe that if the government takes proactive steps to revive the productive sector, the naira would spring back to life. So many factories have closed down or left town; the few left are bidding their time to take flight too.
Sadly, while we are busy exporting our raw crude and repurchasing it as refined petroleum at a great cost, those we call ‘illegal’ bunkerers are busy refining the crude into usable petroleum. So, why not remove the illegality and legalise it? Unfortunately, this cannot happen because of the vested interest in the industry.
We have spent so much valuable time, resources, and energy seeking solutions to the naira mess but that is searching for a pin in the haystack, even in darkness. The key to reviving the naira simply lies in boosting local production and our export ability. Doing the same wrong thing over and over and expecting a different result; it’s not possible.
My conclusion is that the government must sit up and go to work. We have the land and abundant human resources. There are so many unemployed youths, who would be eager to take up farming as a vocation if encouraged. However, the government must address insecurity frontally and rid the hinterland of this madness. It must stop the marauding herdsmen from destroying and feeding their cows on people’s efforts, and killing the owners if they protest. A country where cows are given primacy over human beings is a COWntry and does not deserve to be taken seriously anywhere among the comity of nations.
Finally, on the naira, we need to spend N1 billion to constitute a committee to address its freefall. We should limit these committees whose reports never see the light of the day after wasting our money. Once the right policies are put in place, such as increased local production, and caging the hyenas in the foreign exchange transactions, the country will sooner shout eureka.
Nevertheless, it needs political will to crush the bigotry that would trail such policies. I trust the Jagaban to do the right thing NOW before everything and everyone is blown up by the gathering storm.
Nigerians are waiting with bated breath.