SIR: Across sectors, the tempest in Nigeria had doubled – and in cases – tripled with the failed administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Sai Baba is not the sui generis of Nigeria’s woes, but he has forced Nigerians to tread more throes. We had thought Nigeria was sick then, but now, it is at the intensive care unit – grasping between life and death.
Crippled economy, insecurity, hunger, hike in commodity prices, incessant strikes, corruption and disregard for the rule of law; Nigeria ranks sixth in the 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), no thanks to Boko Haram, unknown gunmen, killer pastoralists, kidnappers, and other agents of doom that have provoked the peace of Nigeria.
Sadly, Nigeria is no longer sitting on a powder keg; it is reclining on an atomic couch, while we hope it does not explode. Human lives have been devaluated that, sometimes, people get slaughtered in some parts of the country and there is low media coverage for the attacks.
Eighty million citizens languishing in penury had made Nigeria the capital of world poverty, before India came to claim the inglorious award in March, according to World Poverty Clock, a data-driven website. Could Austrian-British philosopher, Karl Popper, have had the Buhari administration in mind when he said, “Those who promised us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell”?
The ordeal of university students who have been confined to their homes for over four months because of the ASUU strike continues to send sadness down the spine.
Victims of the March 28, Abuja to Kaduna train attack are still in the den of their abductors. The 11 of them who were released on June 11 and others who have bailed themselves do not deserve to be in the lair of kidnappers in the first place. Queues at fuel stations return anytime they wish; in spite of being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigerians now buy fuel at all-time high prices. The bitter-sweetness of the 13,000 megawatt installation has not yet tackled the epileptic lower supply confronting the nation.
If there’s anything the Buhari administration could redeem its image with, it is not its vain bragging about infrastructural developments across the country. For, unsafe and hungry citizens are not the ones who would happily travel through trains or ply the “beautiful roads” Sai Baba is building across the country – roads that predispose them to dangers and kidnappings. With the below-par performance of this administration, the “change” mantra seems clearer now: change from bad to worse, rack to ruin – while the ruins continue to hit the skids. Nigerians had thought Buhari was gold, but he’s only gold plated. Like his administration made us praise the past corrupt administrations, may the next administration not give us a reason to praise Buhari’s.
- Hashim Yussuf Amao,
Ibadan, Oyo State.