By: Busy Brain
Like a plague of locusts, the wind of pains and pangs spread around the nook and crannies of the country. At the moment, both the needy and the wealthy are stuck in the murky water of agony orchestrated by the anti-peoples’ policy. The voice of the poor is more louder but could not effect any change, it is mere echoes of the usual lamentation falling on deaf ears. No egress at the spellbound. In Nigeria, it is really a time of sympathy, the rich also cry.
What seems like convolution to me is the nature of offense we have committed as Nigerians to deserve a conundrum and doldrum-like penance. Nigerians have had enough under a two-term administration of the current government. Eyes have seen to the extreme, it is no longer at ease. Down to the lowest class, we are all in a season of lamentation.
A year after the 2015 general election, Nigeria slipped into recession when the crude oil that made 70% of the government’s income fell from highs of about $112 per barrel in 2014 to below $50.
When the hope of change was high, the reality of recession dawned on Nigerians with a serious battle for survival. The first tenure of the change mantra was a reverie.
Nigerians embarked on another election in 2019 and in 2020, Nigeria slipped into a second recession in five years caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. 2020 was another tale of hardship induced by the lockdown and hoarding of palliative.
When an economy grows, citizens do well and get richer, even if it is marginally, as they have jobs, good salaries, and improved quality of life. Companies and investors also make profits.
The government also benefits by collecting more taxes and having more money to spend on public services, benefits, and workers’ wages.
The situation here is contrary, it is ‘monkey dey work, baboons dey chop,’ the baboons under the stench of cool breeze cascading down our rivers of hope. To actualize the first stage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that is, food, clothes, and shelter, it is really a survival of the fittest. Salary earners, market women, medievals, and geriatrics, hue and cry to bemoan the current policy and economic subjugation.
In the same 2020, the endsars brutal protest hit the ground. The protest was stirred by police brutality and extra-judicial killings coupled with the frustration of maladministration. The aftermath of endsars protest was an eyesore that ticked the clock of progress backward in some States.
Amidst the series of crises, the economic downturn skyrocketed the price of goods and services, inflicting anguish on Nigerians. Over the years, it has been a tale of lamentation from kidnapping to banditry, Boko haram killing, IPOB killing, and strike action, are corollary of ‘Change Dole.’
All the episodes of outrageous, rapacious revelations of pangs are being wrapped up with cashless policy denying masses of their hard-earned money. The court of law that is termed the last hope of the common man has been rendered useless. I think when a policy is against the total will of the masses, it should be positively reviewed if not reversed. Mr. President and CBN Governor’s body language and temerity are boldly written on the pages of history as a mnemonic, to be remembered till eternal calls. Like other trying times, this too shall pass.
Before the pool of this renewed hope simmers down, please, take your time to sympathize with Nigerians, dear people in Diaspora. Continue Reading
Contact: Nationnewslead.com
