The government wants Nigerians to starve in silence
Lagos – A professor of Political Science and member of governing board of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Jibrin Ibrahim says Nigerians are angry because they are being deceived by the President Bola Tinubu government.
Ibrahim made the observation during an interview on local broadcaster, Channels TV’s Politics Today.
He lamented that governance was collapsing in Nigeria, saying that the government had failed in its promises to cushion the suffering of Nigerians.
“When they removed the fuel subsidy, they said in weeks we will have CNG buses and the price of transportation will crash. They said this 13 months ago. Nigerians have not seen those buses. It is called waiting for Godot in literature.
“When you are told continuously that you will see them and you wait for weeks, months and a year and nothing is coming. You know that what you are told is just a narrative not based on reality,” he said.
The political analyst noted that patients in hospitals are dying on a daily basis because they don’t have money to buy medicine, pointing out that Nigerians are starving because of the economic situation in the country.
According to him, the government wants Nigerians to starve in silence.
Similarly, the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare said on Wednesday that Nigerian politicians were not living lean or sacrificing like the rest of the citizens whom they asked to sacrifice for the country by enduring the biting economic hardship.
The cleric and politician said this at the Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024 held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event, organised by the Wilson & Badejo Foundation, was to honour the memories of former General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Wilson Badejo, and his wife, Yinka.
Bakare delivered the keynote address with the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation.”
He stressed the need for dialogue rather than confrontation to resolve the challenges facing the country.
Bakare said, “All parties must approach the dialogue table with open minds, effective communication and empathy. Open and honest communication helps to establish transparency, making intentions and actions clear. When leaders communicate transparently, they demonstrate that they have nothing to hide, and that builds trust.
“Empathy is a bedrock of dialogue. It requires us to see beyond our own perspective and seek to comprehend the experiences of others. The ability to feel with others, to share in their joys and sorrows.
“It also means sitting where the people sit, as in the book of Ezekiel – feeling their pains and sharing their burdens. An empathetic leader does not feed fat while asking the people to tighten their belts. Nigerian political leaders have mostly not demonstrated empathy. Otherwise, how do you live so large while your people are ravished in (penury)?”
According to the cleric, who also spoke on the heels of the #Endbadgovernance protests in Nigeria, hunger knows no religion, tribe or political party.
He noted that at the root of even a religious crisis was a struggle for economic resources that manifested itself in politics.
“And you say, why? Because politics is the authoritative allocation of value.”
He stressed, “This is why it’s often said that hunger is a unifier. This is why citizens are responding or reacting to the hashtag #EndBadGovernance protests across the land, from the North to the South, to the East to the West. Hunger does not ask whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, male or female, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, APC, PDP, or Labour Party.”
Bakare also said he did not believe the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party had any ideology.
According to him, the two major political parties are the same.
“The process of disagreement of methodologies is the way political parties are formed around ideologies. I don’t think the PDP and the APC have any ideology.”
He cited the fact that the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, had been a member of the APC before joining the PDP.
Bakare said, “Obaseki contested on the platform of the APC for his first term and he won, and he contested on the platform of the PDP for his second term and he won. What’s the difference between the APC and the PDP? Two sides of the same coin.”
Bakare, who contested the 2022 presidential primary of the APC but lost, has been known to be outspoken and critical of the ruling class, especially the APC government.
Last August, the cleric said the results of the 2023 elections revealed that Nigerians were tired of the ruling APC.
During his speech with the theme, ‘Vice, Virtue & Time: Three Things That Never Stand Still,’ the cleric said the APC he joined to form had deviated from the principles it was founded on.
Amnesty International on Wednesday, accused Nigerian security forces of killing at least 21 protesters during a week of economic hardship protests.
Police and other security agencies clamped down on protests after thousands of people joined rallies against government policies and the high cost of living since last week Thursday. Protests have since dwindled significantly.
Security forces have denied responsibility for deaths during the protests.
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.
The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.
Although President Bola Tinubu increased the minimum wage — after strike action and months-long negotiations with labour unions — from N30,000 to N70,000, his government has increased spending for officials at a time of nationwide starvation.
For workers earning the new N70,000, or $43, per month minimum wage, capricious inflation and naira value have inflicted too much damage for the changes to make any difference in their lives.
The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by Mr Tinubu, elected 14 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.
A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with armed kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.
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