BETWEEN THE PANDEMIC AND THE PROTESTS

The year 2020 will go down in history as what believers in astrology described as, “When the gloom is gloomiest” that is when the planet Saturn found itself in the zodiac portion of Capricorn unleashing negative energy on the planet earth. Whether one believes in astrology or not, 2020 is indeed the most tumultuous year that any of the over 7 billion inhabitants of the planet had ever witnessed. Like sheep, without firing a single bullet or deploying an army, the majority of these 7 billion inhabitants of earth, whether rich or poor, high and low, leader or led, were meekly herded into our homes for several months of lockdown. The corona pandemic I deeply believed, is God’s way in showing us he is in control and a sign for the arrogant and haughty to learn humbleness. But did we? Unfortunately No. In its second wave, the corona pandemic is spreading faster than the first wave in Europe and the Americas, while Africans carried on oblivious of the pandemic as we seemed to be more immune than the rest of the world. Who but God could have saved Africa, the poorest continent in the world?

Here in Nigeria the lockdown took its toll more as in hunger than the disease. The combined efforts of governments at all levels weren’t good enough as we saw in other countries where palliatives in various guises were handed down to the vulnerable. The world over, we saw governments making extra budgetary provisions to ease the lockdown (America approving 2 trillion) but here individuals started pouring out their contributions to government (to curry favor) instead of directly helping their communities. In my state millions were spent by two of our richest businessmen creating isolation centers instead of food items to the vulnerable that were locked without food. When people began attacking food trucks in metropolitan Kano, I personally made a passionate audio appeal to the First lady who responded with millions worth of palliatives to Kano under 48 hours, and charged her own people to distribute it directly to the needy and it reached the intended. But some of the palliatives handed out to state government from the federal government, were left out in the open as rainfall damaged many of it, while others found their way into private warehouses. Hobnobbing on one leg, the poor Nigerian masses survived the ordeal of the lockdown in extreme deprivation and hunger in appreciable dignity and restrain, while billions worth of palliatives stays hidden in warehouses across the country.

After the lifting of the lockdown across the country, the Nigerian masses emerged battered and traumatized by the lockdown, but slowly trying to resurrect a semblance of normal life through their various endeavors to eke out a living and put food on the table. Wham! Came the twin announcement in a space of 24 hours by the federal government of fuel and tariff hike on the most common commodities that every Nigerian enjoys: Fuel and Electricity. There has never been in the entire history of this country an insensitive, callous and anti-people policy announcement like this one, just after surviving the trauma of lockdown. And for what? Just to continue squeezing the masses in order to fund the extravagant expenditure of the ruling elite? Under this administration we took the abominable position of the poverty capital of the world after beating India from the top as a country with the highest number of people under poverty before the covid pandemic (89 million representing almost half the population), now with the pandemic only God knows how many millions slides into the bracket. The 2020 budget was reviewed upward in the midst of the pandemic, when the revenues were dwindling and we all know that every year over 40% of our shambolic budget goes to the ruling class as recurrent expenditure which they normally borrowed and over 25% of the budget always going towards servicing those debts. That is why we see year in year out budgets making no meaningful impact on the life of the common man.

If the truth must be told we all know that the recent EndSars protest is not about police brutality but government economic brutality on its citizens. Unfortunately unseen hands used the opportunity in their effort to create mayhem and possible regime change. Both government and its enemies underestimated the situation and responded negatively. The merchants of evil think they can topple The Buhari government through the protest, but what they failed to realize is our youth, in whichever part of the country, are angry and hungry and you cannot predict a man under the influence of either hunger or anger let alone the two together. The violent revolution people hoped for in Nigeria will not be good for everybody because even a country with less division and mutual distrust (like Libya for example) ended up destroying the country to the detriment of everyone. When the youngmen and women in the south were vandalizing and creating mayhem, their northern counterpart stays home and refused to join. Is it because they don’t feel the pain like their brethren in the south? Of course not, but the religio-ethnic card played to the gallery as they heard about the Kanu videos and Igbo rhetorics thus every responsible northerner had been restraining his ward and appealing for greater calm across the region. Had the northern youth been manipulated like their southern counterpart and took to the street, then we would have been discussing something else by now.

The government on its part is either being blind to reality or refusing to acknowledge it publicly, if the presidential speech is anything to go by. The president should have addressed the root cause of the protest by identifying and owning to the fact that the administration had failed in its poverty alleviation. Instead he went on self-glory by saying his government had introduced, more than any other previous administration, interventions for youth. If he truly believed that then the recent looting of palliatives across the country (Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau and Kaduna in the north) should serve as an eye opener for him that people are indeed hungry. The president should know that all his interventions are not working properly. The NIRSAL loan program is one of the most beautiful intervention program ever introduced in this country and had it been working as it should, I sincerely believe it could change narratives for youths in the country but it isn’t working at all. The beauty of NIRSAL is because it was designed to be adequate and sustainable to cater for enterprising youths, but it isn’t working as for over 2 years tens of thousands had applied but only a chosen insignificant few are awarded. The Anchor Borrower is also not working because as a revolving fund it is supposed to be sustainable but politicians have hijacked it and government is running it at loss. Government should disband it and focus on subsidies that only real farmers could access with a guarantee of returns. The recent agriculture grant (gps tied) for millions of farmers thay was started at the beginning of this farming season wasn’t implemented and now the season has ended. The trader-moni is too low to impact on the masses businesses (don’t give someone a fish, show him how to fish). So it is apparent, despite the plethora of intervention programs by this administration, the reality is it is mainly in name and for publicity purposes only, not actually trickling down to those who needed it. No economy can grow and reduce poverty without SME’S having access to funding, therefore government must compel banks to set aside amounts every year to allow SME’s have access to loans (banks are comfortable to enjoy interest on looted funds, but that must change if the economy is to move forward).

I can see some people holding brief for the president with lame excuses that his lieutenant are to blame. For God sake the buck stops at his table, he chose those lieutenants and stand by them through thick and thin (remember the agitation to change service chiefs?). If this government fails or succeeds, the credit or otherwise goes to the President and he is responsible for his and his lieutenant’s action even in the eyes of God.

The greatest clog in our wheels towards development in this country is the legislature. We gathered a bunch of greedy people and entrust them with our economic life, what the hausa adage described as “Entrusting hyena to safe keep your meat”. They enjoy twice the budget of the presidency and theirs is the only opaque budget without any transparency. Yet after eating their own budget their eyes spread across all the MDA’S and they became merchants of contracts running helter-skelter to garner shares. The recent NDDC saga shows how in fear of compromise they jettison the investigation in its entirety. Look at how it shamelessly drives them fight a Minister on the 774 local government jobs meant for the masses and it is rumored they have hijacked the project for their cronies. If you see any shouting bouts in the legislature be sure it is not about the masses but their interests.

My advise to our politicians is they should take this protest as a palpable warning and must heed it by reducing their greediness and channel some of the country’s wealth towards job creation and redistribution of wealth, that is the only thing we can be certain of to avert disaster in this country. Anything short of real redistribution of wealth is just going to be cosmetics that can only postpone the doom. My greatest fear is when the northern youth take to the streets, if they do, Nigeria will surely disintegrate because we have ungoverned spaces in the region, they are angrier at politicians than the southern youths and they had been suppressed for too long. The needs of the common man are simple, provide it and you can rule for eternity for all he cares, but if you continue to push him to the wall, it will be to everyone’s detriment when he pushes back.