That report by The Economist

Nigerians as a people have been hard done by… what bad roads have not taken, tribal and religious intolerance have taken out of their lives; what tribal and religious intolerance have not taken, disease has taken; what disease has not taken, hunger has taken; what hunger has not taken, insurgence is after; what insurgence cannot get, the herdsmen want to get. I’m just wondering, how much more can we the people take?

There are so many stories vying for us readers’ attention these days. For instance, there is the British Prime Minister’s resignation story, and all its attendant pathos; and there is the alarm raised by former President Obasanjo on what has been called the ‘fulanisation’ agenda of this country by this present government. I guess I will add my own comments to that one when I fully understand what that word means. Then, there is still the sorry state of our security in this country which appears to defy any efforts by the government… There is also the sorry state of our economy…

I don’t know about you, but I must confess I was not shocked to read the report by The Economist news magazine that the economic fortunes of Nigerians had nosedived in the last few years. That report beggars no disbelief. I do not belong to any political party; I do not carry any party’s card, so I am not speaking for any politician or party. I am speaking only for the churnings in my stomach which are fast turning political and ideological (the hunger pangs now want to carry placards!), and the stomachs of all who are watchers of this government hoping it would get round to doing something about them churnings.

I must say right off that Nigerians as a people have been hard done by. Every single government since independence has taken the people’s docility for granted. Even when the few infrastructures began to be withdrawn a little at a time, Nigerians remained mute. Even now when there is hardly any government presence in the people’s lives, it is still silence. People have simply gone about providing their own water, electricity, shelter, food, roads, children… You name it, they opened not their mouths.

Clearly, the intervention which the people had hoped would come to give them relief from these government-imposed deprivations has obviously been long in coming, like Nigerian Railways. I remember in those days when I was little and the trains used to run. People could find themselves waiting for the train for days at the stations. And that went on until rail transport petered out into a dignified silence altogether. The same has happened to the expected relief: veeeeery loooooong in coming, and at this rate, if at all. Yet, the people still hang on.

All hopes that this relief would come through the Buhari administration appear to be now fizzling into smoke with this report, which is a confirmation of the very obvious. Too many Nigerian families have been reduced to nothingness; i.e., less than nothing. They have not been able to feed consistently, reasonably well. Worse, it appears that what is left of their lives have been handed over to herdsmen marauders. So, what bad roads have not taken, tribal and religious intolerance have taken out of Nigerians’ lives; what tribal and religious intolerance have not taken, disease has taken; what disease has not taken, hunger has taken; what hunger has not taken, insurgence is after; what insurgence cannot get, the herdsmen want to get. I’m just wondering, how much more can we the people take?

Unfortunately, there seems to be so much silence from the people because of all this focus on the things that divide rather than unite them. No doubt, Nigerians are divided by their religions and tribes and languages and food and dances. The people are divided by their respective views of the world emanating from all of these things. Conversely, though, they are united by a lot more. There is first their humanity; people are all joined by this common humanity, which is the most important thing. Then there is the fact that all of us in Nigeria are joined by our sufferings at the hands of our uncaring governments. All of us are joined as victims, yet we keep smiling, instead of crying out. Fela has got us pat down to a T.

So, we all need to take that report by The Economist as a wake-up call to shape up in our socioeconomic programmes. No, there is no shipping out. If we don’t, such reports will continue to be produced as long as villages are being pillaged, reducing manpower and endangering productivity. They will continue as long as senators and assemblymen and women continue to receive atrociously unbelievable allowances at the detriment of socioeconomic programmes. That is why many of them don’t even know what to do with their money again. I hear Mr. Dino Melaye, for instance, has many exotic cars numbered Dino 1, Dino 2, etc. No, I don’t want any of them cars; I’m just saying. Here we are, with all these cars, and we living in a country where many cannot eat well. Mm! I hear another senator uses a N40 million watch; and that he once bought a N30 million car for a girlfriend. I ask you! I tell you, these reports will continue as long as these contradictions persist.

To reverse these unsavoury and uncomplimentary narratives, however, the government should seriously commit to giving good governance. Not many beneficial social structures are on ground yet to alleviate poverty or relieve the people’s economic burdens. This ruling party talks about next level in its programmes. Well, bad news: most of the citizens are not on any level even, let alone being on the next. Electricity is still as good as dead in most parts of the country, i.e., where it exists. The people are still providing their own water in very excruciatingly painful ways too. Food is fast becoming rare on the table, even as herdsmen are busy supplanting themselves in farmers’ villages after slaughtering the farmers. And the government says nothing. That silence is just evil.

For the international community to have sufficient confidence and place their investments in this country, it is also very important for the country to pay attention to the security situation. A situation where we have herdsmen or foreigners from the West African sub-region being rumoured to be hiding in forests, raping and killing people rampantly is enough to discourage anyone. Confidence cannot be built when reports are bad.

Quite apart from all that, if we have said it once, we have said it a thousand times: there can be no meaningful development without giving some deliberate attention to the industries. The reason is that it is only the industries that can employ people in large numbers and reduce the unemployment figures to a more tolerable one. More importantly, it is industries that can use the vast human resources this country is blessed with for the furtherance of developmental efforts and initiate innovative products that can revolutionalise living in this hot, hot Africa.

For the industries to function maximally, there must be a next level improvement in the delivery of infrastructures, top of which is electricity and water. Most industries spend precious time and resources sourcing for these at the expense of superior productivity and manpower employment. Every watt of privately sourced electricity supplants the wage of someone who could have been gainfully employed.

That report from The Economist has not really said anything new or that people don’t know or experience already. That is probably why it would hardly attract any railing. We all know that the economy needs real, serious attention. I plead that the government makes this its focus in the next four years so that the reports may change.