By Adadareporters
This morning, I picked up my gas cylinder and proceeded to the filling station. On getting there, I was informed that 1kg of gas cost a thousand naira. My initial plan to fill 5kg was reduced to 3 kg with immediate effect. While at the filling station, another customer came to fill her 3 kg cylinder, and she asked the attendant to fill a gas worth five hundred Naira (N500), which is half of 1 kg. Being a familiar face in the neighborhood, I jokingly asked why she preferred to fill N500 gas, and she askance replied, ‘Enitokanlomo.’
For my non-Yoruba audience, ’emilokan’ is a Yoruba word that depicts ‘it is my turn’ and enitokan-lomo in this context is another Yoruba metaphorical word which means ‘Whoever is affected by the current situation knows where the shoe pinches.’ The woman filled what she could afford at that moment and just like her response, she knows where the current economic downturn is pinching her. The current situation is not friendly. Enitokan-lomo!
Kofi Awoonor in his Song of Sorrow poem writes ‘Dzogbese Lisa has treated me thus, it has led me among the sharps of the forest, returning is not possible and going forward is a great difficulty…’ Nigeria is actually in the sharps of the forest, returning is not possible and moving forward has become a mirage. Nigeria cannot go back to the military regime or the colonial era and despite the independence and democracy, the country is not moving forward. It is the usual lamentation of the ‘Nigeria Go Better mantra’ over the years.
Recently, it came to light that the current administration spent $507,384, which is equivalent to nearly 400 million Naira for hotel accommodation in New York when the President and his team attended the UN General Assembly in September. It was also gathered that the federal government has requested a $1.5 billion loan to buy new cars for government officials, including SUVs for each of the 360 members of the House of Representatives, which will cost N160 million per car.
As usual, in defense of profligacy spending, the Senate has come out to justify the decision to buy imported sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for lawmakers in the two chambers. Sunday Karimi, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, explained that the leadership of the National Assembly made the choice for the lawmakers based on considerations of durability and maintenance over four years.
In his counter-criticism of the public outcry surrounding the purchase of the SUVs, Karimi flayed critics to adduce to the ministers who ride about four official vehicles. Where is the difference? All feeding large on the taxpayers’ money; of course, we all know that heaven will not fall. It is the story of birds of a feather that flock together.
Nigerians are made to believe that fuel subsidy is evil and anti-masses, while Mr. President at the point of inauguration declared its total removal. Ever since this official pronouncement on national television, the gown of our nightmare remains unchanged. Things become more exacerbated. The price of goods and commodities is mounting Mountain Everest and Kilimanjaro. If the subsidy is truly anti-masses as portrayed, the masses are not supposed to be suffering after its removal. Tell the President that the endurance talk and consolation sermon are already falling on deaf ears. People are not smiling.
As reported in Premium Times on October 7, 2023, the National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, revealed that the Nigerian government has restored subsidy on petrol, despite the official government policy of breaking with the subsidy regime since May.
The Daily Trust report of September 21, 2023, also chronicled the revelation of a subsidy payment of N169.4 billion in August to keep the pump price at N620 per litre.
Similarly, in the Punch news of October 11, 2023, the oil marketers countered the Federal Government’s denial of the reintroduction of subsidy. As against the claim of Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL who denied the subsidy payment, the marketers claimed that the current pump price of petrol should not be less than N800/litre if there was no subsidy on the commodity. It has been a loggerhead between marketers and the Government on subsidy payment and removal. Who is deceiving who? Why the removal since there will be continuous partial payment? Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, says, “Three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon, and the truth…”
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed to 26.7% in August 2023, from 24.08% in July and marking the highest rate since September 2005, reflecting the impact of the removal of fuel subsidies, the devaluation of the official exchange rate, and security issues in food-producing regions.
A Déjà vu of the endurance sermon lasted eight(8) years during Buhari’s administration and ended up in disappointment. Many of Buhari’s loyalists who preached endurance eventually buried their heads in shame. The reality of today is that the floor of the mandate we are standing on is hot and burning us to the marrow. The poor are no longer breathing, they are gasping heavily as many have been streamlined to the extreme poverty level. Nigerians are not asking for too much. Good governance and better living conditions for all and sundry. Some easement we require.
A quick reminder to Mr. President that it is not yet a victory when the masses are drenched in pains of hunger and insecurity. The renewed hope is still in anticipation; we are anxiously waiting for it to manifest. Lest I forget, congratulations to the President on the Supreme Court victory. May God use him to lead us to the right path.
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