Another December of misery

It’s Christmas once again, that season defined by the  holiday mood, and Nigerians are once again holidaying their suffering and smiling. Apparently, it is not December itself that is not decembering: it is the decisioners, as ace columnist Tony Afejuku labels them,  that have failed to december the land, bringing decemberingly hideous thoughts to mind. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, inimitable in his poetry, saw tomorrow within his blaze of marijuana fire. Poverty, I mean the naked flesh of poverty in the sense dramatized by Festus Iyayi in his epochal novel, Violence, has seized the land. Let us take a quick detour into the discourse world of Iyayi’s novel: “Nervously Adisa took up the glass and tasted the dark liquid. It was good on her tongue (p.124).” That is Adisa, a poverty-stricken woman about to be coerced into adultery, having a malted drink for the first time. Iyayi came to mind as I heard a casual worker lament recently that she had been facing a big battle for three days. The battle? Her inability to afford a bottle of Coca Cola that she craved very badly. The battle was won but the issue, apparently, is why there ever should have been such a battle, and it is the meat of this piece.

Across the land, hunger rules and families are ruined. Recently, I brazenly ordered a lecturer friend being owed months of salary arrears to go buy me N1,000 airtime at an impossible spot, then vanished into the thin air. How else do you gift a friend a thousand in this Buhari economy without sounding rude? As a child I used to enjoy the “Odun yi o ye!” (This yuletide hasn’t failed!) chants of market women, particularly dealers in body wear, as November negotiated the sharp bends of December and the Christmas season compelled goodies in this very city. Excitement, gaiety and mirth were in the air and it was the khaki goons, not our garrulous Babaringa lords, that held the reins. We changed clothing like Chameleons. Now, democracy won, poverty strikes like never before as entire families go for days without food. Christmas decorations are impoverished and completely lacking in colour, but today’s teenagers think they are having themselves a great ball. This is, like last year, a dark December, only that it is millions of shades darker, and 2022 promises utter damnation.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s rule has come with unceasing pain, and there’s no better illustration than the cost of a bag of rice, which is in deadly contest with the minimum wage. In 2015, a 50kg bag of rice cost about N8,700. These days, it costs N28, 000 or more (2021). Indeed, if anything illustrates the misery of Nigeria and Nigerians, it is the horrendously appalling conditions in which the vast majority of Nigerians remain trapped. Sadly, in the face of statistics confirming his gross unsuitability for office—Nigeria is the global capital of poverty, out-of-school-children, open defecation, poor electrification, among others—our Daura General keeps blaming middlemen, past leaders and the opposition parties. Hear this one: “We are also engaging with food producers, associations and groups to tackle the issue of exploitative behaviour by middlemen and other actors, which is one of the factors responsible for the high food prices being experienced.” It’s 1984 all over again.

The Presidency is aware of inflation, so Nigerian taxpayers will pay through the nose to feed their president and his deputy in 2022: N457 million. That is more than twice what was allocated for food in 2021, when the figure was N195.5 million. Food inflation reached its highest level in 12 years in March, with the average price of food 22.95 per cent more expensive than last year. In September, as indicated by the National Bureau of Statistics, headline and food inflation stood at 16.63 per cent and 19.57 per cent. The naira has consistently fallen ( by 32 per cent between September 2020 and October 2021) at the parallel market and the Giant of Africa keeps depending on imports to meet the local domestic need for fish, sugar, wheat, and maize and soybeans. Newspapers, deliberately sabotaged by their government, cannot import newsprint, and spend earnings on buying newsprint at cut-throat prices locally, which is one reason salaries are effectively on holiday.

A consistent network of poor choices, including the closure of the country’s land borders, policy summersaults, blockage of food importers’ access to foreign exchange and, worse still, the menace of Fulani terrorists that has crippled food production, turning farmlands into sites of genocide, ensures that the suffering and smiling by Nigerians continues. According to the World Food Programme, over 13 million Nigerians were food-insecure during the lean season with some 4.4 million in the North-East. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says food insecurity has been on the rise since Buhari came into power in 2015, as food production fails to match the rapid increase in population figures. But all that the Presidency sees are middlemen and their antics.

To my mind, sad Decembers arise because of the election of pathetic leaders. Chile, sticking to its liberalism, has just elected a 35-year-old president but a 40-year-old aspiring to the Nigerian presidency would be generally reckoned with as a clown. Effective governance is not necessarily about age but Nigeria does not need to keep recycling old rogues. People who cannot manage companies should not be called upon to manage countries.

Honour to whom it is due

Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, made workers smile this generally sad December. In a clime where receiving salaries is treason, Oyo workers have a 13th salary to enjoy. Roads are opening up everywhere. That’s so good to see. And then who can forget Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo State who has, throughout this year, has stuck his neck out for the good of the Yoruba people and the nation at large? At the risk of his office and party affiliation, Akeredolu has consistently spoken truth to power. His press releases demonstrate conviction, passion and erudition. History is taking notice.