In May 29th,2023, during the inauguration and swearing-in of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,The Interviews Nigeria posited a paradigm shift of governance for this administration. This was meant to be a rethinking for Nigeria’s fortune.
In the said editorial,we posited the urgency for the government to articulating a blueprint and setting the machinery in motion to put the Nigeria’s economy and other allied matters on the path of recovery and sanity.
This administration has utilised 16 Months of its existence and for us here,most of the expected positive changes have not seen the light of the day.
Yes,fixing Nigeria’s economy and other allied social malaise require tough decisions and choices but what is worth doing is worth doing better.
The economy is getting heated by the day and the common-man feeds at the dustbin.
One would have expected that an astute administrator as our president with barrage of technocrats in his saddle would have turned the economy around by making life bearable for the masses in terms of planning ahead for a real cushion-effect-measures before the removal of oil subsidy. Not to have done this,what we experience on daily basis are instances of suicide,mass exodus of young and old, professionals and even unskilled citizens looking for greener pastures elsewhere outside the country.
Those who remain in the country have taken their fate into their hands. All they do is grumble, protest upon protest to show their displeasure about the state of the nation.
Nigerians are asking,what is the government plan for them? They are saying they could no longer understand which government plans is short or long term.Everything has become topsy-turvy.
Perhaps,as the common-man understands it,those we call technocrats in government are probably there as political pundits, for cheap political compensations. Policy somersault is the stock in trade and people can no longer decipher the true and viable economic policy because all are yet to put good food on the table of Nigerian citizens.
There are serious challenges in the Health, Energy,and Agriculture just to mention few. For any country to move forward and bail its citizens out of hunger and deprivation, lip service must not be accorded agriculture.
Foodstuffs are too expensive and farming inputs and outputs are inadequate.
If this government wants to be remembered for good after its tenure,it must bring down the high cost of foodstuffs and provide adequate incentives for the farmers.This has to be adequately supervised and monitored to prevent diversion elsewhere.
Selling a bag of rice at ₦80,000 at the market is killing. How many could afford it and how many could benefit from government’s subsidised ₦40,000 worth? A measure of market scale(mudu or Kobiowu) of rice is ₦2,700 while that of beans is between ₦3,000-₦6,500 ,depending on the quality or type!!!
To buy these staple foods at the market is an Herculean task and has become”look and go”,-not affordable.
What we are saying is that this government should give its citizens economic policy with a human face and not an economy that would only favour the bourgeois.
This time around, especially at the country’s 64th Independence Anniversary,we at The Interviews Nigeria are not out to trade blames or caution only the government but our real self as well.
What we need to do is to look inwards to find a lasting solution to our problems as a nation. Stephen Covey calls it the principle-centred,character based,inside-out thinking,starting with self paradigm.
We need to empty our minds thinking that outsiders would solve our problems for us. Right here with us ,is the solution to our problems. If you love Nigeria,you will not steal her money and runs away from the country; you will not allow ‘a snake to swallow’ the money that belongs to a people because of the opportunity you have to be in a sensitive position.
In Nigeria,it seems there is one law for the rich and well-connected and another one for the poor and less privileged.
Why should an individual alleged to have run foul of the law of the land refuses to surrender for interrogation with the law enforcement agencies whereas , a common man who stole a tuber of yam is quickly adjudged guilty and thrown into gaol. This should stop in order to bring sanity to governance .
The US today is great not because the people are better than Nigerians;not because they are smarter, but because they do what they are expected to do.
Any American who refuses to obey the law goes to prison immediately.In US ,nobody is above the law. When you are in the US,you must obey the law or you are out; ditto, in UK.
The Nigerian government must as a matter of urgency drop rhetoric and work on the nation’s refinery to make it functional.Sporadic efforts the government is applying will not show until something drastic is done with our refineries. Crude Oil in Nigeria is like “Water,Water,Everywhere,but there is little drop to drink”.
Also ,the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas for mass transit should be closely followed-up to fruition in order to ease the public transportation problems which has always been adding to the cost of goods and services at the end product.
Nigerian Army should be commended for their usual gallantry in dealing gradually with the insurgency and Boko Haram in the North East. Efforts should also be made to spread their tentacles to other parts of the country where farmers are now harassed and afraid to work on their farms because of fear for their lives and where kidnappings have now become a full-time business.
Nigeria shall be great again.Long live Nigeria and Happy 64th Independence Anniversary.