When Karl Maier wrote ‘This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis,’ 2000, we never knew that Nigeria was still a paradise then. Today, the country’s currency, the Naira, is not the only thing in a free fall. Almost everything, including the economy, security, health, education and many other sectors, is collapsing. Simply put, Nigeria is in a free fall.
Bad leadership is the major problem. Every successive government performs worse than its predecessors. Looking back, it does appear that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, with all his imperfections, is the best leader we have had since 1999. The late Musa Yar’Adua’s administration was short-lived. He died after spending only three years in office. Goodluck Jonathan who took over from him was described as weak and clueless. Insecurity was high, as it was during his tenure that Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 Chibok schoolgirls. Nigerians agitated for change. When Muhammadu Buhari came with his change mantra, many Nigerians were deceived. They saw him as a no-nonsense retired military general, who would sanitize the country. By the time Buhari’s tenure ended in May 2023, so many things had gone wrong. He promised to fix the economy, to fight corruption and insecurity. He left Nigeria worse than he met it.
Bola Tinubu came with his own promises last year. Many Nigerians were not deceived though. They didn’t vote for him. But a combination of poor electoral and judicial systems denied them their rightful choice. Nevertheless, the wish of many of us then was, “Anybody but Buhari”. Now, it is becoming apparent that Buhari may end up being a saint.
We had the first inkling that we may have entered a vehicle with knocked engine on Tinubu’s inauguration day. He gleefully announced that fuel subsidy was gone without considering the grave implications of the sudden announcement and without palliative measures. Nigerians are still battling with that singular pronouncement. The first casualty was Nigeria’s number one product, fuel, which rose from about N158 a litre to over N600 a litre. Prices of other commodities followed suit.
We are all living witnesses to the unprecedented high inflation that has crippled the country. In December 2023, inflation rate rose to 28.92 per cent, its highest in over 27 years. In November, it was 28.20 per cent. Food inflation rose to 33.93 per cent in the same December from 32.84 per cent in November. When Tinubu took over in May last year, the rate of inflation was 22.41 per cent. When the All Progressives Congress (APC) government took over from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in May 2015, the inflation rate was 9 per cent.
If you visit the market today, chances are that the prices of those essential commodities you bought yesterday may have moved upwards. A bag of 50kg of rice is a typical example of how prices of things have changed. In 2015, the price of that commodity was less N10, 000. Today, it goes for an average of N50, 000. Meanwhile, the minimum wage remains N30, 000. The Federal Government and the labour movement are still debating how much to review it to.
Naira has received the worst pummeling in recent times. From less than N200 a dollar a few years ago, the exchange rate now is over N1, 400 to a dollar. There is no hope for redemption as we don’t have the production capacity that will shore up the value of the Naira.
As President Tinubu junkets around the world under the guise of looking for investors, a number of companies are either folding up or bidding goodbye to Nigeria. Pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of them. Procter & Gamble is another. The exit of some of these companies has worsened the rate of unemployment in the country.
It has also worsened the rate of insecurity. Today, our hearts are in our mouths. Kidnapping has become a lucrative business. The danger now is that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which used to be very secure, has also fallen into the hands of kidnappers and terrorists. People now stand the risk of being abducted in their houses as happened to the Al-Kadriya family and some others. Recall that six sisters and their father, Alhaji Monsoor Al-Kadriya, were kidnapped from their home in Abuja last January. The kidnappers killed one of the sisters, Nabeeha, when the father could not bring the ransom demanded from him on time. The other sisters have been released though.
The South-West also used to be relatively safer than other zones of Nigeria. Today, the story is changing. Two monarchs were killed in Ekiti State last month. Some schoolchildren were also abducted in the same Ekiti at the same period. Happily, they were released yesterday being Sunday, February 4. Unfortunately , their driver was killed. There are other heart-rending incidents which I don’t want to bore you with.
The tragedy in all this is that the man who should be directly in charge of finding solutions to these problems appears not bothered. At a time when he should be visiting victims of the wanton killings in Plateau State and elsewhere and giving them message of renewed hope, our President travelled to Paris, France, on a private visit. We were not told the nature of this private visit.
We were simply told he would return first week of February. Serious leaders do not travel to other countries and stay for days or weeks in the name of private visits when their country is burning. I can’t remember any country’s president who has paid us such a visit in Nigeria.
Besides, there is nothing private about a President’s visit. If the President is sick and needs medical attention abroad, his countrymen should know. Namibian President, Hage Geingob, announced recently that he would be visiting the United States for a specialized medical treatment. Nobody has condemned him for that. Rather, he received encomiums for informing his people about his health plight, which happened to be the discovery of cancerous cells in his body. Unfortunately, Geingob died yesterday, February 4, 2024 at the age of 82. King Charles of England similarly informed his people about his treatment for enlarged prostate last month. Last week, the United States Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, apologized to his people for keeping his recent hospitalization secret. He had prostate cancer surgery last December, but developed complications which brought him back to the hospital last January. He faced serious criticisms for not disclosing his health condition.
The current leadership should rescue Nigeria from her free fall. The President should wake up from his slumber; else the entire nation will be consumed. And nobody will be safe from the looming danger. Tinubu should be reminded of the popular saying of the 33rd President of the United States, Harry Truman: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
•Casmir first published this piece in the Daily Sun of Monday, February 5, 2024
