The recent African Nation football tournament brought to the fore the drama and passion that football evokes in Africa’s most populous nation. However, these events, as intense as they were, merely served as a backdrop to the more pressing issues that Nigerians face.
With the excitement and distraction of the football tournament now a memory, Nigerians are once again faced with the harsh reality of their socio-economic conditions. They include multi-dimensional poverty, low purchasing power and whirlwind inflation. The prices of basic commodities and medicines are beyond the reach of most average households. These challenges highlight the need for deeper solutions that extend beyond the readiness of anti-riot troops for public demonstrations.
We are living in times where costs are rising and value is diminishing, a period marked by extraordinary and extortionate pricing of food commodities. Only the Heavens knows what it would amount to when the Muslim month of Ramadan begins. Even with months to go, the situation appears far from pleasant.
According to a BBC report, disposable “throwaway” rice, typically used as livestock feed, has become a premium commodity in Kano, one of the cities that recently saw a mass demonstration over the cost of living. It is unthinkable that humans now have to eat the same food meant for livestock because of the multi-dimensional poverty in the land. At N2,500 a measure, this “throw-away” rice has become the go-to for many families who can’t afford the N4,000 per measure of N77,000 needed for a 50kg bag of regular rice.
As each day passes, pent-up emotions are being unleashed. The words “hunger” and “hardship” are being heard with increasing frequency. It’s splashed generously all over the pages of all newspapers and is the lead news item in broadcasts. It’s embedded in social media. And the reality of these words is felt on the streets and in the corners of our cities.
There are more people at the bus stop looking for help to complete their transport fare to the next bus stop. There are fights because someone’s expected fare is barely complete. And there are even more folks having to trek distances that ordinarily, are not considered convenient.
Tinubu has become the scapegoat for many, blamed for his declaration last May that the “subsidy is gone”. This is where people believe their troubles started, and indeed, it has been a stormy period ever since.
Read Also:
There are witness accounts of dramatic scenes erupting in market places—of women bursting into tears and wailing because the money in their purse is barely enough for the next meal, let alone restocking for a week or a few days. These are not fabricated stories. These are the harsh realities of our times.
These sad accounts are fast becoming commonplace in our societies. They were the catalyst that drove women in Niger and Kano states to the streets in protest a few weeks ago. It may yet drive more people across the country out of their private spaces if the tide of hunger is not contained sooner.
Echoes from the early days of the Buhari administration such as “bring back our corruption” are back again, but this time as “bring back our subsidy.” However, it is wrong to assume that restoring the petroleum subsidy is the solution to our current tribulations. It is not, and it never was. It cannot possibly replace the need for effective leadership that balances the cost of governance with the delivery of quality governance.
The cost of living is such an outrageous issue because the cost of governance is not reflected in value delivery. This issue has even more significant implications for the population, with the WHO listing risk factors such as unhealthy diets, poverty and anxiety as significant contributors to the increasing prevalence of hypertension.
The World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure reveals that as many as 47.3% of Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty, highlighting the extensive impact of poverty, including the cost of housing and the energy crisis. But is this a hopeless situation, or is it because we’ve never experienced such severe hardships?
But Nigerians are truly caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment. Like their brothers in Lagos who are perpetually living on the warfront (apologies to the late Achebe), many are becoming short-tempered and volatile.
Some PDP governors and chieftains, who are part of the problem, have said Nigeria is on the road to becoming like Venezuela. They first need to take responsibility for the multidimensional poverty they create by not paying the stipulated minimum wages, not dispensing palliatives released for its intended purpose, and not encouraging enterprise and industry to stimulate job and wealth creation.
There’s evident anger in the land, and many, as indicated by the cited BBC report, are surviving off the garbage dump. I hope Tinubu is watching the skyline! Because a storm might be brewing.
