How we fared in 2019, Nigerians speak

FORTY-EIGHT hours from now the world would welcome a brand new year. However, the last 363 days had been eventful, positively and negatively. Nigerians generally have one or two things to say about how they had fared in the last 12 months.

Businessmen and women, civil servants as well as self-employed people reviewed the year in separate interviews with Sunday Tribune and gave their verdicts. Most of them complained of being financially handicapped.

Mrs Rahim Tanwa, a business woman, said: “We have been managing so far; a lot of people complained about the price of food. So, there haven’t been enough sales to keep body and soul together. Most customers buy on credit and still beg for more without paying their debts. The situation is very bad. From the beginning of this year till now, sales did not increase at any point.”

Her view was not really different from that of another business woman, Mrs Okunajo Oluwapelumi, who said many of her customers had to cut cost to be able to sustain themselves and their families.

“The financial issue is very complicated. A lot of customers are complaining. Sales in the last year were way better. People wished to buy food because they cannot go without food but the money was not available. A lot of my customers told me they had cut costs on foodstuffs because it was becoming too expensive and this had really affected my finances.

“My customers substituted the expensive food items for the cheap ones like rice for spaghetti. This started when the Federal Government closed the nation’s border. Sales had been bad but I thank God that I have been able to make ends meet,” she said.

The economic crunch was not without its impact on students also. Akinboyejo Folayemi and Aremu Victor, both students, explained to Sunday Tribune how they were able to squeeze through the year.

Akinboyejo Folayemi said: “It was by God›s grace that I was able to cope. It has not been easy but I thank God. Sometimes getting money from my parents to buy food was difficult. I have been engaging in some side jobs to sustain myself in school. Ever since my school fee had been increased, the already bad financial situation became worse, more so that my parents’ salaries did not increase but their expenses increased by the day.

Victor Aremu on his own part has been coping just fine only because he was into betting through which he got some money to supplement what his parents give him.

“I gave been coping just fine. Things have not been too hard. As a student, most of my money comes from my parents. I do a little freelance here and there, and a little bit of sports betting.

I›m not rich but I›m comfortable,” he told Sunday Tribune.

Another student, Folorunsho Omotola Olugbenga, an undergraduate student of Tai Solarin University of Education, said though the year had been stressful, but he was able to pull through due to his personal efforts to overcome financial handicap that starred him in the face.

“Financially it was difficult, but I was able to make use of my business acumen by meeting the needs of my classmates. When you give them what they need, they pay you. I ventured into farm business and also engaged in project management for people. That was how i had been able to survive,” he said.

Omolara Ogunsola who is a student of Obafemi Awolowo University also spoke on how she survived financially on campus and how she augmented what her parents gave her in order to be able to meet her needs.

“Coping as a student in 2019 had been quite difficult, because the money I was receiving from home was not adequate to cater for all my needs. I had to go into catering, baking of cakes and making small chops for people. I also I sell perfume and other things; through these I was able to sustain myself in school,” he said.

For Mrs Ajewole Omotilewa, the economy had been anything but bearable because inflation affected the cost of so many consumables which made many consumers to shun many of the items they should have purchased with ease.

“Economically it’s been very hard. The hike in the prices of goods has not been favourable. In some cases the higher the prices the lower the profits. Take rice for instance; the demand has been on the low side now because people tend to go for substitutes. I used to sell bags of rice in a week, but now I hardly sell the same number of bags in a whole month.

For Mrs Ogunsola business has not been that gloomy as people may want to paint it. According to her the economy had been manageable noting that though sales might not have been on the high side but it was better compared to last year.

“Though there were hikes in prices of goods as commodity prices had been fluctuating, but this year had been better,” she said.

Business man and land surveyor, Dr. Tunde Alade, said though the year started for him with anxiety as the general election approached, respite however came after the poll as soon as the various new governments settled down to business.

“After the election, there are some changes; I think Oyo State was one of the first states that had its cabinet in place soon after the election. It’s kudos to the government and it shows the government was really ready to do something for the common man.

In his own submission, Tolu Oluwaseun, a Master Degree student of Political Science at the University of Ibadan noted that many Nigerians were affected by Government policies in the course of the year leading to several fallouts just as he said government did not deliver much on its electioneering campaign promises to Nigerians.

“During the course of the year, the government embarked on the closure of borders. Though it’s a good move, it hasn’t worked as it should be. Imagine, we closed the borders and it didn’t affect the state of our internally produced goods which have been very expensive due to artificial scarcity. But I feel this isn’t the fault of the government alone, we, as citizens also have our own share of problem.

‘Also, the proposed hate speech bill and social media regulation by the Federal government was tragic as it showed that we are going backward as a country. This is because free speech and the social media is practically the only thing that we have to make collective voices in the country. Taking away this free speech clause will be chaotic as it will mean people no longer have voices in our democracy. The implication is that the people will not be able to even organise peaceful protests or converge without being ridiculed, harmed or harassed by the police,” he said.

A facility officer at Intranet solutions, Ibadan, Gideon Taiwo also berated government’s attempt to punish what it considered as hate speech.

“There are lots of things going wrong in the country. The youths are not gainfully employed while several government policies have not been really palatable. An example is the Hate Speech bill. The only instrument the masses own to have a say in governance is free speech. But government was proposing a bill that will pocket the people and prevent them from talking. Government should have a listening ear and make amends when they go wrong,” he said.

Major events of 2019

January

January 27 – two bombs went off in a church in the Philippines. Officials suspected the attack as linked to terrorism and estimate that 20 people died and another 100 wounded.

January 19 – Nigerian troops killed 8 Boko Haram militants in Kukawa, Borno State.

February 

February 23 – General Elections began in Nigeria

February 15 -. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency

March

March 10 – Boeing 737 on Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya, crashed after takeoff; all 157 people on board lost their lives.

March 16 – Fulani Herdsmen attacked Sanga in Kaduna, killing 10.

April 

April 17 –  115 Shia IMN protesters arrested during a protest for the release of their leader Sheik el Zazaky and his wife. Mo Abudu becomes the first Nigerian and African to receive the Médailles d’Honneur.

May

May 18- Bayern Munich won their 28th Bundesliga title

May 20- Messi was crowned La Liga top goal scorer for the sixth time.

May 20- Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt doctors, nurses top list of banned practitioners in U.K.

June

June 21- Nigerian man killed by car in Indonesia while running from Immigration.

June 22- US called off planned strike on Iran, 10minutes to strike.

June 27- Yemi Osinbajo met American Vice President, Mike Pence.

July

July 1- The Deputy President of Nigeria Guild of Editors died in road accident.

July 1-Ethiopia began seizure of undeclared currencies by Transiting Nigerians.

August

August 3- Sowore Omoyele was arrested by the DSS ahead a planned nationwide revolution now.

August 19- Burna Boy, Davido, Nasty C lead nominees for the 6th AFRIMA Awards.

Aug 26- Buhari went to Japan for the 7th Tokyo International Conference.

September

In September, the Xenophobia attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa broke out and hit devastating state as the days gone by, gaining global traction across the social media. Days after the massive annihilation of Nigerians in Johannesburg, Nigerians, in reprisal, descended heavily on the South African businesses in Nigeria. In the process, expensive items were stolen from foreign malls like Shoprite while MTN was forced to close down their offices nationwide as the unrest hit its peak.

Also during the month, 21 Ibadan Obas dropped their crowns and reconciled with the Olubadan of Ibadan land, HRM Saliu Adetunji while hash tag ‘Sack Buhari’ massively trended on Twitter.

October

In October, the Big Brother Naija show ended and Mercy Eke emerged victorious, clinching the sum of N30 million in cash and another N30 million worth of prize.

Also, during the month, President Buhari’s rumoured taking of second wife and wedding with the Minister of Women Affairs and Poverty alleviation, Sadiya Umar Farouq, while the Federal Government insisted on upholding the border closure even as many Nigerians and neighbouring countries decry economic hardship.

The British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) carried out a documentary on an alleged sex scandal involving a lecturer at the University of Lagos and a female student while Lionel Messi won his sixth Golden shoe award, while court ordered the seizure of former Kwara state Governor, Bukola Saraki’s houses in Ikeja, Lagos.

November

November was also a very busy month. Chief among the events that happened in the month was President Buhari’s signing of the amended deep offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Bill in London which attracted huge knocks from Nigerians.

The hate speech bill also resurfaced at the National Assembly to the displeasure of many Nigerians.  The later part of the months witnessed the preparation and conduction of fresh polls at Kogi and Bayelsa states.

December

In December, RevolutionNow Convener, Omoyele Sowore, was re-arrested during an invasion of the high court by officers of the Department of State Security. International pressure eventually resulted in his final release and that of an ex-National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki.

Donald Trump became the Third US President that will be impeached; the General Overseer of the Sotitobire Miracle centre in Akure, Prophet Alfa Babatunde was arraigned before a magistrate court in the Ondo State capital over three-count charge of felony, destruction of evidence and kidnap of a one-year old toddler, Gold Kolawole.

The Supreme Court also upheld the victories of Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde; his Ogun State counterpart, Dapo Abiodun, as well as that of the Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo Olu among others. President Muhammadu Buhari later in the month signed the 2020 budget of N10.59 trillion; the ICPC also uncovered how lawmakers embezzled funds meant for constituency projects. The Central Bank of Nigeria categorized the BVN into Premium and Lite also in the month.