BOLA TINUBU: DEAD DUCK AND SILENT PATRIOTS

Government decisions and policies have a direct impact on the lives of the citizens as individuals and the wellbeing of the nation and the people.

When the policies impact negatively on the people the citizenry becomes restive. Sometimes some policies of government do not go well with the will of the people. The policies may at times be well intended but end up hurting to the populace. This may be due to wrong implementation strategies. Not consulting with the right people on the mode of implementation and effects may also be responsible.

The government may however be called to order by a viable legislature, being the representatives of the people. However in most African Nations the legislative arm does not live up to its duties. They are merely an appendage of the executive.

The opposition therefore gets saddled with the responsibility of coming to the rescue. They however may be tagged biased.

The last card is when the citizens resort to self-help.

From the colonial era through the years of military interregnum the lot had fallen on Workers Unions and the Civil Society Organizations. Their weapons have always included strikes, protests and civil disobedience.

Government has had to negotiate and shift their stands if not totally take a U-turn.

The Goodluck Jonathan led government in Nigeria had contemplated removing subsidy on petroleum occasioning a marginal increase in the pump price of the product. A number of palliative measures had been put in place under the SURE-P programme. This programme was to use the money saved from subsidy removal to provide cushioning effects for whatever pains the increase would have caused.

When the subsidy removal was finally announced in the new year of 2012 all hell was let loose.

The Unions, the Civil Society, Student Unions, Professional bodies and the general public hit the streets. Leading the protests was a group that named itself THE PATRIOTS. The slogan OCCUPY NIGERIA caught up like wild fire.

Leaders of opinion, Opposition leaders, Legal luminaries and the giants of the academia joined in. A Nobel laureate, Celebrities, the Media (Print, electronic and Social), Nollywood stars and the Music industry gave their backing.

Speeches were given. Songs were waxed as hours went into days.

Economic and social lives were brought to a halt.

The country stood still and the Jonathan Government was brought to its knees.

The song was “NO TO SUBSIDIES”, “REMOVE CORRUPTION, NOT SUBSIDY”

Various speakers told the world there was nothing like subsidy, hence there was nothing to remove.

Championing the “OCCUPY NIGERIA” were people like General Muhamadu Buhari, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Professor Wole Soyinka, Fawehinmi’s son, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Fela Durotoye and many others. They hit the streets and they really moved the people against the government of the day.

Muhamadu Buhari later became the President of the same Nigeria they OCCUPYed. The narrative changed. Talk of subsidies and how much the government spent on subsidies became rife throughout the 8-year tenure. In the last days of the Buhari administration fuel prices and availability, and a NO CASH policy boomeranged leaving the people distraught and frustrated. Yet nobody thought it was necessary to OCCUPY NIGERIA.

He was succeeded by his co-PATRIOT Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu announced removal of subsidy the minute he was sworn in as President.

The ripple effect was immediate. Price of Premium Motor Spirit went up. Goods and services became more expensive. Life became unbearable. Petrol pump price shot up from 180 Naira to 500 naira per liter. The government owned NNPCL announced the increase. The ooohs and aahs had hardly died down when the price was jerked up to between 600 naira and 650 naira depending on the location. At a stage in recent times pump price of PMS went as high as a thousand Naira per litre.

With food inflation at 40.53% and headline inflation at 33.69% the situation is dehumanizing.

Most policies that have been pronounced by the government since then have all made life worse for the common man.

The government, unapologetic, termed these policies as necessary evil.

A number of perfunctory palliatives were announced which again took little or no cognizance of the lower class but gave chunks to the high-earning legislators who are not really affected by the galloping inflation created.

Basic necessities of life are now beyond the reach of the average Nigerian.

But one thing surprises me. That the current administration inherited an economic mess was not news to the majority of Nigerians, rather what most people found amusing is that the current administration found it convenient to blame the previous administration for the economic mess the country is currently in while playing down the fact that they were active enablers and supporters of the Buhari administration that they are now blaming.

Rather than for the current administration to address this issue of fiscal indiscipline and cut down on government excesses and excessive borrowing, they have continued in the footsteps of the Buhari administration and doing the same things done then to plunge the country into the current economic mess that we are in.

Organized labour huffed and puffed each time a strike was called but don’t achieve the expected goal. The strikes don’t have the desired effects because Labour’s demands are not well thought out. A wage increase is definitely not a panacea for the multifaceted problems at hand.  Rather than solve them it will only increase inflation when market forces react to the wage increase. Besides, their demands only address a small percentage of the population, the civil servants. That is why they don’t get the support of the populace in their misplaced agitations. They can only achieve little or next to nothing.

In situations like this political opposition also plays a role. Multi-party democracy envisages virile and strong opposition. This has not been the case in Nigeria’s situation. Infighting and internal divisions within opposition parties in Nigeria have indeed weakened their unity and effectiveness, making it harder to present a cohesive alternative to the ruling party. Cases of corruption and a clear violation of laws by opposition figures are also providing ethical challenges that make it difficult for them to challenge the government.

Internal crisis and corruption allegations rocking the leadership of the opposition parties makes one wonder how such opposition can hold the government in power to account.

Apart from half-hearted, non-commitant press releases once in a while, the political opposition has been quiet and ineffective.

When labour and the political opposition fail, people look up the Civil Society. Here again they are disappointed. The PATRIOTS of yore are nowhere to be found. Those that are not in the present government are acquiescent and complicit.

Apart from Presidents Buhari and Tinubu, where are the other “PATRIOTS” who OCCUPYed Nigeria in 2012?

• Professor Soyinka
• Dr Ezekwesili
• Pastor Bakare
• Dr Tunji Braithewaite
• The Musicians
• Nollywood Actors
• Gentlemen of wig and gown
• Great orators like Fela Durotoye
• The Civil Society
• Faith based Organizations
• So many others

They all have suddenly gone silent?

Where then lies hope talk less of RENEWED HOPE.

When every form of opposition and confrontation has failed, what choice has the common average Nigerian?

The legislature? No!

The courts? Not with the Judiciary in such a terrible state.

Looks like cul-de sac?

No, it’s rather a maze. There must be a way somehow, somewhere.

• A NEW POLITICAL OPPOSITION STRUCTURE?
• FRESH AND COMMITTED LABOUR LEADERSHIP?
• A NEW FOCUSED AND PATRIOTIC CIVIL SOCIETY?
• A CITIZENRY DETERMINED TO GET OUT OF THE DOLDRUMS?

Methinks a combination of all of them is the way out.

Until then, we are all DEAD DUCK.