Great Expectations For 2024

Every New Year comes with new expectations and, sometimes, new resolutions. To borrow from the title of Charles Dickens great novel, ‘Great Expectations’, Nigerians have great expectations for the New Year. President Bola Tinubu heard part of it on December 29, 2023 when he passed through Lagos Island. As his long envoy was passing, people were heard shouting in Yoruba, “Ebi npawa o! (We are hungry o!”)

There is no other way to put it. Millions of Nigerians are hungry. They expect that the government will tackle the twin problem of acute poverty and hunger squarely. Over 133 million Nigerians are said to be multi-dimensionally poor. A good number of these people do not know where the next meal will come from. They have no job that will earn them a living wage. Many of them have resorted to begging to survive.

The worst is that hyperinflation has made a mess of the little income of those who are working. Food inflation is worse. And it keeps rising almost on a daily basis. You may buy a tuber of yam N2,000 today. By the time you go back to buy another one, you may end up buying it double of the price. At N50,000 and above, the price of a 50kg bag of rice is more than the current minimum wage of N30,000 a month. The cost of transportation, especially intercity, is not cheap either. The astronomical rise in the price of fuel is a major cause of this high inflation. President Tinubu removed fuel subsidy on his inauguration day as President on May 29, 2023. From about N185 a litre, the price of fuel jumped to over N600 a litre.

The President has urged Nigerians to endure and tighten their belts; that the tough measures of today will lead to enjoyment tomorrow. Unfortunately, while Nigerians have tightened their belts, the political office-holders have loosened theirs. With two hands, they have grabbed and continued to grab what belongs to all of us. Tinubu has been globetrotting. Each of his travels cost the nation a fortune. Profligacy is the name of the game. Members of the executive are grabbing. The lawmakers are not left out. Our lords (the judges) are smiling to the bank. Election periods are usually their season. The last contentious general election and the petitions that follow appear to be the judges’ festive season.

While they snatch and grab our resources, these rulers appear not bothered about the security situation in the country. The spate of insecurity is unprecedented. Citizens virtually live with their hearts in their mouths these days. No region is safe from this problem. No state is equally safe. From the North-East to North-West to North-Central down to the South-East, South-West and South-South, terrorists, bandits, unknown gunmen and sundry criminals have made life unbearable for Nigerians.

Late last December, some terrorists suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded about 20 communities in Plateau State. They went on a killing spree from Bokkos area to Barkin Ladi. By the time the dust settled, about 160 innocent citizens have perished. Over 300 others were wounded and over 200 houses torched. As usual, our leaders resorted to what they know how to do best – empty orders and lamentations. President Tinubu decried the killings and ordered that the culprits be arrested and brought to justice. Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, made his own fiery speeches, saying government would take proactive measures to curb attacks against innocent civilians. At the end of the day, the bereaved families are left to mourn and bear their irreparable losses alone.

As the terrorists wreaked havoc in Plateau, some gunmen carried out their cowardly act in Ebonyi State at the same period. They invaded Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in the Abakaliki Local Government Area of the state and killed three worshippers while a priest was celebrating a vigil mass. Some people sustained injuries. Even in my state Anambra, the same unknown gunmen carried out their sinister act on December 28, 2023 at Uga in Aguata Local Government Area of the state. Two policemen were gunned down. There are similar attacks and killings in different parts of the country. Since 2009 when Boko Haram terrorists started their killing ideology, tens of thousands of innocent citizens have been killed; millions of others have been displaced.

Nigerians expect the government to put a stop to this madness. Eradicating it completely may be tough, but something concrete must be seen to have been done to tackle the monster. Decentralizing the police architecture is one solution. The central policing system we have will not effectively tackle the insecurity problems we have. State and community policing will go a long way. Government should also acquire sophisticated weapons for our armed forces to enable them to face terrorists squarely. The security agencies should also strengthen their intelligence network.

Nigerians expect that there should be serious reforms this year. Reforms in the way we spend money. Cut in the cost of governance is the least the government can do this year. The era of acquiring and exhibiting ill-gotten wealth should stop. The season of over 100 cars in a single convoy should cease. Travelling with hundreds of aides with the attendant squashing of millions of dollars just to attend an inconsequential conference should be a thing of the past. Allocating scarce resources to the unconstitutional office of the First Lady should be considered a cardinal sin. It should be avoided.

The best New Year gift Tinubu should give Nigerians is to embark on serious electoral and political reforms. He should be a patriot and write his name in gold in the history of Nigeria. Although he is a beneficiary of our flawed electoral system, he should consider the general interest and survival of Nigeria and move for serious reforms. If this is not done, many Nigerians may not bother coming out to vote in future elections.

Restructuring the country is another must. Many prominent Nigerians had clamoured for this restructuring. The President is not averse to it as he was part of the restructuring movement when he was in the opposition. The time has come to concretize that. We must decide how we want to live together as a people. As a guide, the National conference report of 2014 may come handy. This restructuring may cure the malaise of our do-or-die elections as there may be devolution of power that will whittle down the concentration of power at the centre.

Education and health care systems also need reforms. Nigerians expect that the academic and non-academic staff union of our public universities will no longer embark on strikes. Our children should never see disruptions in their academic life anymore. It is our hope that hostel, library and laboratory facilities in our tertiary institutions will match Harvard’s or Oxford’s. We also hope that lecturers will get their reward here on earth.

Our doctors should also get their due rewards to stem their exodus to foreign lands. Thousands of them migrated abroad to seek greener pastures last year. We hope this year will not be like that. There is no reason why the budget for National Assembly should be higher than that of education and health sectors. It is abnormal. We should learn to put our priorities right.

Of course, these are not the only sectors to take a critical look at. There are some others. But the above listed ones are the most critical. Tinubu should meet the expectations of Nigerians and etch his name in gold. Let the lamentations stop and let Nigeria move forward for once.

Happy New Year!

Re: Tinubu’s Christmas gift

Casmir, APC has a unique way of using ‘window dressing’ in governance. Tinubu’s government tends to use this formula to deceive Nigerians. When Nigerians were asked to tighten their belts, his government and other arms of government were busy living ostentatious lives. Each policy that is made to benefit Nigerians ends up being an avenue to enrich the sycophants hanging out with him. More than six months into the magical era of Tinubu, none of the refineries is yet to start working. Currently, unknown gunmen have taken siege to many communities in Nigeria. Our currency is getting weaker every day. Nigerians are more than ever traveling overseas to reside. There’s no relief yet to most dying citizens as renewed hope has become hopelessness. Just recently I went to do photocopies and I was surprised that the price has climbed up to #100 per page. Recently, I overheard some people lamenting that the new price of ‘pure water’ is now two for #50 and #30 for one. Tinubu and his APC should stop playing on the intelligence of the good people of Nigeria. He should try to get things working. The earlier he starts this 2024 the better for him. He should stop all forms of ‘window dressing’ policies and face the realities of the time.

-Pharmacist Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

Casmir, situating or understanding where Tinubu’s Christmas gift fell into was a difficult task! Was it done on compassionate grounds? I guess not; if it were, it would have been offered early. Where was he in early December? The gift looks more or less like a ‘Greek gift’ meant just to draw unnecessary attention to a government that is the most callous, most wasteful and most insensitive government in Nigeria in recent times! The implementation would at best be haphazardly done. This is because it was not properly conceived. It was a ‘wave of the brain’ initiative. Tinubu has perfected the ‘art & act’ of putting the cart before the horse which in the long run is not in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. The gesture is no doubt a good one, but the lateness in coming reveals the position of the citizens in Tinubu’s scale of preference. Better ‘medication’ in the form of good and well implemented policies that will address and cure this ‘moneylaria’ ailment that is plaguing most Nigerians is what is needed! He has served us enough snakes (fuel subsidy is gone) and scorpions (devaluation of our naira and weaker economy plus insecurity). Tinubu should wake up from slumber. Enough of ‘shakara’!

-Mike, Mushin, 0816 111 4572

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, January 1, 2024