There is no right word to capture the unprecedented hardship and suffering millions of Nigerians have faced or are facing. From the artificially created fuel scarcity to the new notes crisis, the pain, agony, and anguish faced by most Nigerians are heart-wrenchingly excruciating. For many, this period is more than just a test of faith, optimism, endurance, and resilience. Whereas in the past, optimism and resilience have been the go-to mental and emotional bulletproof, not now when that vest of protection is tattered. But isn’t it ridiculous how you cannot even access your own money in your bank or buy fuel in an oil-producing country?
Frankly so, why has the bank that promised to put you first, allowed you to access your fund, or guarantee your stake appears indifferent, and helpless when you are down in all spheres?
Unfortunately, you can’t even trust your bank or believe in their words. For what is worth, Nigeria seems to never stop shocking her citizens. When you think you have seen it all, the most unthinkable, unbelievable, and unimaginable will just land on your lap staring you in the face most disturbingly and disgustingly.
By now, you don’t need anyone to tell you there was a violent protest in some parts of Ibadan yesterday – the first in the series of demonstrations that may rock the country in the coming days if care is not taken. And that protesters even went so far as to the state secretariat to vent their venoms. To register their anger, pain, and displeasure at the state of the nation, some irate youths even went as far as burning tires, blocking the road, and destroying bank infrastructures. The situation is likely going to get messier. Partly because those who are down already don’t fear falling again. Since the beginning of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration about seven and a half years ago, the people of Nigeria have been made to experience and endure terrible existence – hanging on the flimsy excuse of change. They have been carefully calibrated and deliberately subjected to multidimensional poverty. Even when the World Bank christened Nigeria as the capital city of poverty, taking over from India, her government hasn’t even stopped in pushing more people into the hellish pit of poverty.
Quite unfortunate that those in charge of this mess will still sleep and snore the night. Most will even damn Nigeria and her impoverished citizens. As usual, no heads will roll. Where leadership matters, no one has come forth to act with rare courage, conviction, and care! The President for instance has the littlest idea of what is going on. He is aloof. Indifferent to the plight of everyday Nigerians. Business of governance is to him a forgone exercise. He just wants to leave office and retire to tend to his cattle and enjoy his Fura and Nunu! History will etch his name most appropriately. But this current crisis is not the first time Nigeria will be on fire that the President will be picking teeth. Utterly unconcerned about what becomes a lot of the country. You can even see how he has distanced himself from the party that propelled his ascendency to power. His body language is crystal clear.
I think the price of being a Nigerian is enormously multilayered. You can’t seem to understand the gravity of what you will have to pay to stay alive. Even while alive, your peace, sanity, and stability aren’t even guaranteed. It is like Nigeria is built on a seesaw. Where others dole out prosperity, our own country dangles death and disease in front of its beleaguered citizens. Like the country is designed and configured to frustrate and make a mess of everything you hold dear. Where you have a high level of unemployment, you’d think those at the helm of affairs will be sensitive to creating enabling environment for teeming youths to thrive. No. Where you have the highest number of out-of-school children, you would have thought the country will address the menace frontally and head-on, No. Where you have multidimensional poverty, you would have thought sound policy intended to push back the monster would be rolled out, No. In Nigeria, everything except the well-being of the elites works in reverse order.
It is hard to be a Nigerian. Especially when you have to start from scratch. There is nowhere you are that Nigeria will not catch you. But I think we must understand this critical period vividly and dispassionately: some forces are desperate to see Nigeria explode. Once the country is thrown into the chaos of great magnitude, these wicked souls have passports and jets ready to lift them into the land of wonder. They don’t care if Nigeria burns. Or what happened to Nigerians? I remember in 2012 as a college student, I, fortunately, stumbled on a radio program where the then CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and other top government officials were debating and deliberating on fuel subsidies.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi made an incontrovertible remark that send a chill down the spines of listeners. He said most of the so-called government officials don’t even have the slightest idea of how much petrol costs per liter. It was damning. Very indicting. Most of those who run Nigeria don’t even know what goes into running Nigeria. They are clueless and seem indifferent to the plights most people face daily. But that is just about the liter of premium motor spirit. I know most of those in attendance at that program wouldn’t even feel any pang of irritation. They are fine once their portion of the cake is safe and secured. But for how long will that pot of porridge stay hot and filled?
For the past seven and half years, this federal government has been able to manage the issue of fuel shortage and scarcity relatively well. Being one of their campaign promises, the APC government under President Muhammadu Buhari came on board prepared to stem the fuel scarcity tide. When in their first December in office, queues disappeared at the filing stations, many Nigerians believe the change promised during the election had finally and eventually come. And they were able to effectively handle that usual and perennial crisis with a dexterous grip. Until last year November when fuel shortage started to crawl into our stations like a joke.
Up till now, the hydra-headed monster of fuel scarcity is not ending any time soon as the price of the commodity keeps jumping over the roof. Disheartening things aren’t improving when people thought they are out of the wilderness. But curiously, what has changed? What happened when everything fuel went smoothly and simply? APC Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said fuel scarcity and the new notes crisis are a clandestine attempt to incite the people against his aspiration. Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state re-echoed the same explanation.
He said those who lose out in the party presidential primary are still bittered and are behind the pains Nigerians are facing. That they are the ones who have engineered the uproar and disaffection in the land. I think it is difficult to believe politicians and their words. This is election time. No strategy is too big for politicians to use. And they are adept at gaslighting people into submission. But sometimes, it may not even be about the people but about interests and ambitions. The ongoing crisis is largely an elite war. Heartbreakingly, the masses are the pawn in this game of chess among the power that be. Is election the solution? No. But since we are in a democratic dispensation, it is better to go to the poll and vote for those who are interested in the people and not in their pockets. The price of being a Nigerian in other words is too expensive to the left to those who think they can profit from the crisis that is running the country and its people aground.
OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about Issues affecting Oyo state, published on Saturdays. He can be reached via @TheGMAKing on Twitter, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850
