There is no iota of doubt in the fact that there is real trouble in the land. Even the most optimistic Nigerian can now see that the country is in a big mess. No doubt, the cluelessness of the immediate past administration is beyond measure. The attendant monumental damage done to the country in the past eight years by an administration that became infamous as one of the most corrupt and rudderless regimes in the chequered history of Nigeria is dawning on us all.
Now hitting us all right where it hurts most is the uncertain future that we now face as a nation. Sadly, our beloved country has become a playing field where even the brightest ideas and policies seem not to be working again. Confusion appears to be taking the shine off concerted efforts being made to salvage a really bad situation.
Almost two months after the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu, there is no significant change in the general well-being of the people. The present situation really contradicts the great expectations of a people that have been so much impoverished in the midst of abundance.
Promising to hit the ground running from his first day in office, Tinubu left no one in doubt of his desire to correct the mistakes of the past with his “Fuel Subsidy is Gone” declaration on May 29. Almost 60 days after the declaration, it has been one trouble or the other as Nigerians continue to groan under severe economic hardship that is further compounded by the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
Attempts to sanitise the foreign exchange system have not helped the Naira as it went on a free fall to an unprecedented and embarrassing level. The multiple effects could be seen on the skyrocketing prices of goods and services in a country that depends largely on crude oil export while depending mostly on imports for survival.
To say that there is real hunger in the land now is an understatement. Most Nigerians are really going through hell, with the economy gradually coming to ground zero under policies that have simply refused to work. The much-anticipated palliative promised by the Federal Government to cushion the effects of the subsidy withdrawal is not forthcoming two months after, even as the one dangled before Nigerians has fallen short of all expectations.
As the wobbling and fumbling continues, the stark reality on ground is not too palatable. According to a World Bank report, 4 million Nigerians were recently “pushed into the poverty trap in the first six months of 2023 with another 7.1 million more (are) expected to join the conundrum if properly targeted measures are not taken to manage the impact of fuel subsidy removal.”
Already, about 153 million Nigerians are suffering multi-dimensional poverty as inflation, in just one month from May to June 2023 soared from 22.41 per cent to 22.79 per cent, according to the Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The report noted that, on a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate rose between 4 and 19 per cent points higher than June 2022, which was 18.60 per cent.
It is therefore interesting to note the manner in which Nigerians stood up and spoke against an unpopular decision to spend a whopping N500 billion as cash transfer to 12 million Nigerians considered as the poorest of the poor. We are glad that opposition to the plan has forced the government back to the drawing board to review the plan though it has decided to stubbornly stick to the planned disbursement with only a few modifications.
Now the country is back to square one with little or nothing to show for the pain they have been forced to bear with as the anticipated changes and promises are not forthcoming, even as no one is sure of what will happen next. Most disappointing is the lousy movement we had been witnessing and the attendant ”noise” without any tangible progress in sight. The confusion in the land is so much now that it seems that the new government, really, doesn’t know what to do again.
We therefore call for a sustainable approach to the problems at hand and not the fire-brigade approach that has refused to work. Nigeria cannot survive on trial and error style that will lead to nowhere. Concerted efforts must be put in place in order to achieve desired results.
