The present government of Nigeria led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was inaugurated on the 29th of May, 2023. With the bitter economic experiences of citizens in the last days heralding the last moments of President Muhammadu Buhari in office, the people were hopeful that the presidency of Jagaban would usher the nation into a state of economic Eldorado.
However, the citizens’ hopes became dashed when the new leader announced the immediate removal of petroleum subsidy. Since then till this day, the nation has remained a centre for world economic research as hardship in the land continues to escalate. Prices of goods and services are high and unstable – two most dreaded factors in determining the growth of an economy.
Amidst these, the budgets of the federation right from the day Tinubu took over the baton of leadership have been, to say the least, confusing. The N50bn supplementary budget of 2023 approved for the immediate rehabilitation of all dilapidating federal government roads is yet to translate into the realization of its purpose. Travellers from and to Onitsha in Anambra state are not having it easy, using the Benin-Onitsha express way. What started like small vehicular hold-ups occasioned by minor pot holes are now causing ‘large basin’-inspired gridlocks on daily basis.
Though the 650,000 barrels per day refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote appears to have arrived the nation’s economic scene with lots of positive expectations, the present price and other wars between it and NNPC Limited is making the joy of competition in economics a sour taste. Petroleum products-based business owners are groaning in financial pains as a result of incessant price adjustments that have not even restored the hopes of citizens.
Security – the primary responsibility of government is presently a very scaring menu on the table of foreign investors who frequently receive notes of invitation from governments of Nigeria to invest in what used to be the largest economy in Africa. Instead of receiving these intending investors from overseas, the nation is experiencing capital flight resulting from harsh operating environment where national electricity grid has collapsed for more than 15 times since Tinubu became Nigeria’s president.
Majority of the state governments are in arrears in terms of payment of salaries and pension to deserving members of their societies.
When many Nigerians, including Senator Ali Ndume, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and others complained about the lopsidedness of the federal government’s appointments, an aide of the president, Mr. Sunday Dare offered a defence. In doing so, he presented the list of federal government’s political appointees. His defence worsened the people’s confidence on the president’s promise of treating Nigerians as a people of one nation. Whereas Tinubu’s south-west geopolitical zone has over twenty political appointees, the south-east has only sixteen.
These are just a few of the challenges plaguing the country. But instead of striving towards resolving them, the political leaders are busy preparing for the elections slated for 2027. Defections from one political party to another are presently the order of the day. Even those that were not known to be card-carrying members of political parties now organise sensational defection rallies to further enhance their chances of personal repositioning for juicy rewards from the ruling class.
Those who are boasting of ownership of political structures that are formidable enough to win future elections seem to have relegated the wellbeing of their people to the background. They often act as though the future is made for them alone.
When some of these people talk about coalition of political parties with intention to wrestle power from the APC at the national level or other politicians at different levels, they hardly sound like sane people with realization that the society is fast becoming wiser than it was some years back.
Even if the people are not wise enough to know that the politicians who are busy moving from one corner of the nation to another with messages that are at variance with what they said and did in 2023, the politicians know that they are pretenders cashing-in on the gullibility of citizens.
In the meantime, many Nigerians are dying of hunger. Apart from food scarcity, they are equally thirsty for good governance and healthier living. Anything short of these can only be viewed as being akin to sacrificing the weightier matters on the consuming altar of 2027. Only the living can vote for healthy politicians in the years ahead.
