In April when I traveled to Benin City, a place I call my third home after Delta and Lagos, I was literally taken aback by the horrifying cost of living. At every point of purchase, I kept shouting Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, as if the Son of man was being taken to Golgotha for another crucification. The height of it was the ferocious cost of transportation. I wondered in outright bewilderment if that was the same city I schooled for four years and have visited every year since I graduated in 2015.
Overtime, there have been sordid tales across the nation about the highly lugubrious and repugnant cost of living. Though believable, I had never thought that it was messier in some places than what we read in the news, especially on social media until my recent visit to the ancient city of Benin. What I saw seemed surreal and somewhat inexplicable!
I kept asking my friends in the city how they are able to deal with the situation and the common response across board was ‘we are SURVIVING’. While in the city, I wondered how one who is earning the minimum wage can deal with such outrageous cost of living and remain silent like a lamb being taken to the slaughterhouse.
‘We will survive’ has become a common phrase that we use to console ourselves each time the government unveils a draconian, evil, wicked, insalubrious policy that will take a toll on the souls of the citizens. And like a people who are incapacitated, we bottle the challenges and adapt like chameleons.
And, this is no thanks to the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, who dealt with us mercilessly and made us believe that you can cry blood without making a noise. How do you explain it that despite eight years of misrule, enacting policies that had gross implications on the wellbeing of the masses, there was no single uproar against the inept government? How do you explain it that despite collapsing all sectors, Buhari completed his eight woeful years without any uproar from the people he subjected to pains, agony and thorough torture?
The height of it was when Buhari, in conspicuous connivance with Godwin Emefiele, deprived Nigerians access to their money due to a failed naira recoloring policy. Yet, all that Nigerians could say were ‘it is well, we go survive’. And so for eight years, WE SURVIVED under Buhari because we don’t know our rights and we also don’t know that the most revered office in the land is the office of the citizens.
In continuation of Buhari’s failed system, the King Maker, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who rigged his way to the throne has begun on that trajectory, promising that he is taking baby steps to fix the wailing African giant.
The removal of the fuel subsidy, a development that the toothless Nigeria Labour Congress had initially waged war against but had to rescind after the Union Leaders’ palms were greased by the powers that be, has orchestrated an all-time hardship in the land. Among others, the decision has forced many to park their cars, forced some to convert their generator mitochondria to that of gas, skyrocket the cost of transportation to all-time high and above all, shoot the prices of food items – leaving the poor to gasp for air. “Tinubu, why are you suffocating the poor?” I thought Jagaban promised to allow the poor breathe? Amidst all these, Tinubu has not in any way cut the excesses of governance – and so, he and the privileged few continue their flamboyant lifestyles while the masses shoulder the brunt of affliction.
As though that was not enough, the King maker who is now the King subtly removed education subsidy and shot tuition fees beyond the reach of the common man. To avoid eyebrows, he swiftly signed the education loan bill – a bill that has been adjudged by the highest scholars’ body, ASUU as inimical. It is even more nauseating that the conditions attached to benefiting from the bill are beyond the reach of the common man.
Barely a month in office, Tinubu has introduced a handful of policies, taxes, tariff hikes that only have gross implications on the masses. So far, not even a single move to ameliorate the pains, sufferings and torture of Nigerians – the hardship bites harder! Yet, all you could hear Nigerians say is ‘We go survive. If we can survive Buhari, we go survive Tinubu.’ And for those who are skilled at catching cruise, they will say ‘may this government favor me’.
To earn applauses from those who are NOT knowledgeable about how the Nigerian government system works, Tinubu suspended the likes of Emefiele of CBN and Bawa of EFCC. To some Nigerians, this expected move demonstrates that Tinubu is working and fighting corruption. Yet, they fail to ask why he has NOT suspended or removed the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu. It is only natural for a new government to remove office holders from the previous government especially if such people do not align with them and install its own people so Tinubu has done NOTHING special by removing Emefiele and Bawa.
I am often appalled when I hear some Nigerians say ‘It is well, we go survive’ each time the government unveils a wicked policy that will have gross implications on the masses’ wellbeing. We were NOT created to survive so why are we allowing ourselves to be subjected to SURVIVAL in our own land in the hands of a few Mephistophelean leaders?
How can a few people in government drag us to the ground, feed us with mud and there is no single reaction from us? The constitution has empowered us to demand for our rights and hold the government accountable. The government should be answerable to us and not the other way round. We must arise in our might, with singleness of purpose and demand a functional system that works for all. Nigerians, ARE WE GOING TO SURVIVE FOR ANOTHER EIGHT YEARS?
Stanley Ugagbe is passionate about effecting change through writing. He can be reached through ugagbestanley@gamil.com
