An online newspaper took up the assignment to establish the authenticity or otherwise, of a widely circulated video clip recently attributed to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
In the eight-second video clip, a voice that sounded like that of Akpabio had said: “Times are difficult and wherever you see free food, please endeavour to avail yourself”. The statement attracted adverse public reactions coming from such a personage and especially against the background of the existential economic challenges faced by the citizenry.
It was deemed callous and insensitive given the quarters it emanated from. The umbrage it drew, must have so agitated the online medium that it had to embark on a self-assigned voyage of interrogating the video clip.
In setting out on the inquisition, the medium sought to establish whether Akpabio actually made that statement and if yes, when and under what circumstance. The objective was to determine whether some of the criticisms and motives imputed into the statement were after all, well guided. Good initiative one may say!
Since the video suggested that the statement was made during senate plenary, the medium reviewed senate plenary from June 13, 2023 to January 2024. It discovered that the senate chamber shown in the video is the temporary chamber which the senate stopped using since May, 2024 when they moved to the permanent one.
It found out that the voice in the video “is truly Akpabio’s” but he made the comment on June 14, 2023, a day after the inauguration of the 10th Assembly. The medium further revealed that the Senate President was addressing his colleagues at a dinner organised in his honour and the Deputy Senate President and the comment was not to Nigerians as the video showed senators laughing at the occasion.
Its final verdict was that the video is misleading. In arriving at this conclusion, the medium was apparently guided by the fact that the statement is not a recent one and the audience was that of Akpabio’s colleagues in the senate. Circulating the video now was bound to mislead as it conveyed the impression of a recent event where the Senate President was addressing Nigerians direly contending with the pervading hunger in the land, the medium would seem to argue. That seeks to exonerate Akpabio from the smear attacks that trailed the video clip.
But the conclusion is not as simplistic as presented. Timing and audience as justification for that statement cannot be stretched too far without running into some contradiction. As at the time Akpabio spoke, fuel subsidy had gone as announced by President Bola Tinubu in his speech after being sworn-in. That was quickly followed up by the floating of the Naira at the foreign exchange market.
These reform policies immediately catapulted the price of petrol and devalued the national currency leading to a general increase in the prices of goods and services. Their adverse effects on the living conditions of the people had begun to be felt. Before then, Nigeria had been rated the poverty capital of the world, alternating in that unenviable position with India in the world poverty chart. So, the hard times he referenced upon to ask those who are lucky to find free food to help themselves were already there.
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The fact that he was addressing his colleagues does not in any way diminish the weight and import of the statement. It rather, reinforces the gravity of the pervading hunger. If privileged senators can be reminded to help themselves anywhere they see free food because the times are hard, that should say a lot about the abject living circumstances of ordinary Nigerians.
It also made no difference whether he spoke to an audience of senators or Nigerians; after all, senators are elected representatives of their constituents. It is inconsequential whether the senators laughed at the statement or not. At any rate, they were not expected to cry.
The online newspaper did a good job to have devoted time to probe Akpabio’s viral video statement. But, it is not entirely correct to have concluded that the video is misleading. Akpabio had a proper reading of the times he spoke about and he also saw the future.
The situation he painted is fully with us even as it provides no solution to the debilitating social malady. His statement resonates with the realities of Nigeria’s contemporary environment as citizens are already helping themselves anywhere they find food whether invited or uninvited.
Those who have had cause to organise parties in recent times have tales of bitter experiences to share. It is not just a matter of people availing themselves of the food they see at occasions, Nigerians have even gone further to perfect the act. The practice now is for people to arrive at any and every ceremony with small coolers and take-away plates not only to eat, but to collect the food they will eat with their children on getting home.
Some even go as far as invading social events with their children to enable them savour of the available food served. It is real. Ironically, these are habits our society hitherto frowned at. But they are quickly becoming the norm as general living conditions deteriorate.
Mama Job (not real names) had a thanksgiving party in Lagos for her son who recently graduated from a military academy in the country. During the thanksgiving outing ceremony at the church, she noticed a long queue of relations, friends and well-wishers, many unknown to her family. She took it as the usual show of solidarity associated with such church outings.
After the church service, they retired to their family house for entertainment. By the time she came down after spending some time in their apartment upstairs, she discovered to her surprise that available seats had been taken over by faces largely unknown to her, being served food and drinks.
Meanwhile, much of the dignitaries she was expecting had not arrived. But for her quick intervention, everything could have been consumed before the arrival of the main guests. Of course, they ran out of drinks and had to rush to a nearby outlet to buy more for those they were really expecting.
Somewhere in the southeast very familiar to this writer, a family that lives near the market recently had a social event. The occasion proceeded well without any incident. But when it got to the point of serving food, some people in the nearby market were seen filing in to help themselves.
A friend of mine who was overseeing the sharing of the food, fled the scene in style when he noticed confusion was about to set in given the limited provision by the organisers. These are just few examples of the extent hungry Nigerians go to help themselves with free food anywhere they find one. Just organise a party in your village or elsewhere and feel the pulse!
Hunger is real with the prices of foodstuffs gone beyond the purchasing powers of the citizens. The federal government recognises this reality and has sought to mitigate its effects through social intervention measures. But these measures have yet to make any difference.
That accounts for rising agitations for the reform policies to be given a human face; some pushing for outright reversal to allow the citizens breathe. But the Breton Woods institutions advise to the contrary.
The World Bank said, “Nigeria must stay the course for another 10-15 years of focussed reforms… the difficult decision taken today will not yield immediate results, but they will set the foundation for a more prosperous and stable Nigeria”. It also spoke against back-tracking the reforms as it would have disastrous consequences for Nigeria’s economic future.
Reversing the reforms may not be the option. But the challenge is: How the citizens will fare if the reforms are sustained for that length of time in the face of the debilitating existential challenges they brought in their wake? This puzzle resonates given the inability of the gains from fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira to translate to the overall benefit of the citizens as touted. Rather, they have made living conditions worse.
But we are at the crossroads because the fundamentals for the reform policies to endure were not in place before they were introduced in the manner they came. Had there been incremental and sustained efforts overtime by the leadership of the country to put in place the necessary infrastructural and social support facilities, the biting effects of the policies would have been mitigated. But they would not have that. Rather, policies meant to build sound and prosperous future for the country were brazenly opposed on the guise of political expediency. This country is yet to recover from elite dissonance even in matters where the national interest was at stake. The inability of the political elite to form broad consensus on irreducible decimals for sustained national growth and development has been the real challenge.
It is not for nothing that the World Bank called for elite support for ‘unpopular policies’ that hold the ace for a sound and prosperous future for the citizens. Will this ever happen?
