So, now it’s like Akinwumi Adesina like Peter Obi?

The Federal Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu acted typical recently. The government behaved like the man who has an important errand but chose to be watching every dance performance he sees on his way. By the observation of our elders who own that profound suasion, the man on a mission can hardly get his job done if he remains distracted by everything he encounters on the way to his assignment. Our government seems to have adopted this style of the unserious man on a serious mission.

They have been straining themselves to respond to nearly everyone who speaks out against the current economic hardship in the country, as well as the worsening security situation. The spokespersons of the Tinubu government have recently increased the width of their targets to stretch beyond Peter Obi and the Northern turncoats. They have now extended to some of those Nigerians they should ordinarily be listening to so as to learn a few things from dispassionate observation.

Now that they have extended their cracks to those who should be contributing ideas to our quest for a better Nigeria, such individuals would either recoil like the excited snail and keep their informed views, or speak their minds and damn the consequences. Well, only the white-livered would be expected to pull back.

Akinwumi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), said recently while giving a keynote speech at the 20th anniversary dinner of Chapel Hill Denham, that Nigeria was not making the desired progress, and that this has remained a sustained problem that keeps dragging the country outside of the circles of great, developed nations of the world. That’s no lie.

We all know this is no lie, and the government spokespersons themselves and sundry representatives of the government also know this. By his truth, delivered in his usual firm manner, Adesina stirred the establishment. That Nigeria has perpetually been floundering despite the sheer size of the potential is not new to any discerning person, how this isn’t taken in good faith by the current government is a surprise.

To Adesina, Nigeria’s per capita income has plummeted thereby leaving the country and its citizens “poorer than they were at independence.” He said: “Our GDP per capita in 1960 was $1,847. Today, it stands at $824. Nigerians are worse off than 64 years ago.” Adesina identified poor fiscal discipline, policy inconsistency, weak governance, and a lack of economic diversification as major causes of Nigeria’s economic decline. He placed the country side by side with South Korea and said both countries had similar GDP per capita in 1960, whereas South Korea’s figure has since soared to $36,000. “Underdevelopment should not be accepted as our destiny. We must break free from this pattern,” was his submission.

The government and its acolytes might argue that our mouths are reeking. We may not know like they do. They might also see us as politically-ingrained stakeholders, and assume that Nigerians who are not in the same seats as they do not know their economic right from left. However, could the same be said of Akinwumi Adesina? He is currently on his second tenure as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and earned that right to be re-elected. He is one of our best legs. When he was made the President of AfDB, no Nigerian could counter the fact that he was one of our best feet forward in economics and economy. He is still one of our shining stars and frontline examples when we have the opportunity to brag about “good people, great nation”.

In terms of educational and social pedigree, Akinwumi Adesina and Peter Obi they called with the same line, are among those Nigerian citizens of whom some of us can loudly raise our street anthem O se Olorun ò b’ojú mi je… (Thank you God, you have not let me be put to shame). We would even accompany the song with a carefree dance. The same could be said of Peter Obi to whom the presidency compared Akinwumi Adesina. Why would the government say that the AfDB president spoke like Peter Obi? Oh, Obi is a politician whose thoughts must always be viewed through the prism of politics. Or, are they saying that Adesina and Obi are now on the same political floor as their doormats and those of their attack gangs? We need to understand the comparison or we repeat our street song…

To extend the very popular street anthem in the South West of Nigeria, one may ask: should we sing the preceding part of the song to those who are querying Adesina on what he said about our country and its economy? For sure, the musician, Sule Alao Malaika, and his numerous fans would want the song played for our traducers to hear what he said about people who do not wish us well. Do not forget that Adesina in that same speech outlined five key priorities — universal access to electricity, quality infrastructure, rapid industrialisation, innovation-led growth, and competitive agriculture — as areas we must tackle properly to be able to compete with our peers. Please, I ask again, where is the lie in what the man said?

The argument here is that people in government should know that a rising tide only lifts half the boats. Why would you expect an Akinwumi Adesina not to speak up when he and many others know the potential we have brazenly failed to explore? Why would you beat a child and expect the child not to react? Even in a dictatorship, there are levels people can attain in reaction to the level of hardship they are facing in their social and economic lives. Does it mean that it is only Peter Obi who speaks with figures? This question is directed at the spokespersons of the government who react to all and sundry when Nigerians express dismay at the turn of economic fortunes in the country.

The name speaks before the man does. Akinwumi Adesina only said that the economic weather in Nigeria is inclement. He spoke the truth and supplied both stats and suggestions. Is the government saying that the economic weather is clement or that it is inclement but we should not talk about it? Even President Tinubu himself lamented what the Buhari he gave us did to the economy which he inherited. He said so in Awka on Thursday.

President Tinubu, while in Awka, the Anambra State capital on a visit, openly said he inherited an economy that was in coma. He said: “We met near-insolvent public finance, a decades-old monster of unsustainable multiple subsidies, a chaotic and debilitating forex regime.” He however did not leave it just at the level of lamentations, he thumped his chest to say “Just as we tamed the Atlantic in Lagos, many of these monsters have been tackled.” The report says Tinubu’s Anambra speech was “one of Tinubu’s strongest public acknowledgements yet of the fiscal challenges he inherited from his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, under whose administration public debt ballooned, subsidy spending soared, and inflation worsened.” Quite true that…

Culturally and in terms of quality of life, there must be a multitude of Nigerians who would readily agree that the life they remember as younger people, whether in the 1960s or thereafter, was better than the experiences they are grappling with today. Mr. Bayo Onanuga too might fall into this category of people. It might be a psychological thing. Let psychologists decide why we remember the past with better feelings than when we compare it with the present. But psychology or not, the country is currently not faring better and there are hardly any visible paths in sight to a better standard of living for the ordinary citizens. Try as the government might in explaining what we have ongoing, and what results we should expect, until their seeds germinate, Nigerians will not keep quiet.

And I believe that strong voices as those of Adesina and Obi are needed to join others in order to hasten Nigeria to the desired destination.

While we might attempt to applaud the president for his speech, should we also applaud the fact that in real terms, the economy is nothing to write home about? The impact of inflation on the take-home pay of the ordinary Nigerian is such that working people are not confident enough to take certain ordinary steps because of the lightness of their pockets. When you feel like your pocket is heavy, beware lest you crash into the abyss of inflation. That is the new reality in Nigeria.