Buhari @ 1: The country is hard

The quality of life in Nigeria is nothing to write
home about. Poverty has become a common
denominator as most Nigerians now swim in the
scary waters of hopelessness. No other title can
better capture what the average Nigerian has
experienced in the last one year other than to
tell President Muhammadu Buhari: This country
is hard!

It is understandably arduous for the
government image launderer, Lai Mohammed,
to defend the glaring non-performance across
sectors. What a majority now experience is
botched “change” characterised by institutional
anomie with growing lawlessness, impunity and
emergence of insurgent groups. From
kidnapping, herdsmen terrorism, smuggling,
armed robbery, demands for self-
determination, unpaid salaries, hike in prices of
everything (including Tomato!), comatose
electricity, collapsing or decrepit business
ventures, protests in first-generation
universities of Ibadan, Ife and Lagos (due to
infrastructure decay), increased domestic
violence leading to deaths, increase in ritual
killings, abductions and suicide. Added to this
awful list are phenomenal increases in
unemployment (12.1 per cent),
underemployment (19.1 per cent) and youth
unemployment/underemployment (42.24 per
cent).

Of course, one cannot leave out the large pool
of internally displaced persons and the daring
Niger Delta Avengers. The NDA has
demonstrated its capability and the
consequences are legion. Buhari must learn to
negotiate peace and not force peace as a
converted democrat which he claimed to be but
rarely demonstrates. The worthlessness of life
in Nigeria needs a policy review and not the
nebulous afterthought of allocating N5,000 to
the “poorest of the poor”. This amount cannot
even buy a basket of tomatoes!
Of course, the anti-corruption fight is ongoing
but its benefits still remain elusive to Nigerians.
Corruption is getting more entrenched as
people now devise innovative ways to survive
the hardship foisted on them. Yet, the “sacred
cows” continue to regenerate. The figure of
those murdered via herdsmen terrorism in the
last one year is indicative of the failure of the
state in its core function of securing her citizens.
Sadly, the political-economy or ethno-religious
posture of Buahri on this issue is reminiscent of
Goodluck Jonathan’s attitude when Boko Haram
was birthed.

I have come to see that there are two
differentiated levels of citizenship in Nigeria:
the “ordinary” Nigerians and “Real” Nigerians.
The blood of the former (the masses) is drained
to nourish the lives of the real Nigerians (elite,
public servants and their allies). It should be
noted that a differentiated citizenship is being
created which will lead to the creation of more
insurgent groups.

Nigerians have continued to subsidise bad
governance in the last one year. With more
afterthought policies, it seems the Buhari
administration is saying to Nigerians: “Now Your
Suffering Continues”! This ought not to be owing
to the trust reposed in this government arising
from the notion of it being on the side of the
downtrodden. But I had warned that there was a
limit to trust as we needed to characterise the
men in the corridors of power. The cabal that
was protested against in the oil sector are still
holding sway and the All Progressives Congress,
which asked the Jonathan administration to
prosecute and deal with the cabal and fix
refineries, has gone back to eat its vomit. The
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe
Kachikwu, and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo
seemed to be far from the reality on the ground
when they said “we share your pains” to
Nigerians after they forced N145 fuel price
down our throats. They do not know and
certainly feel no pains! Do they know how
parents have lost the respect of their children?
Do they know how many families have become
shattered? Do they know that money lenders no
longer offer services to government workers
after unmet timelines?