ONE month has passed since the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came on the scene. It is needless to remind ourselves that Tinubu took the oath of office and thereby became the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2023. Since that day, Nigerians have been holding their breath in anticipation of how well his government would pilot the affairs of the country. In real, practical terms, it is, at best, still more hazy than clear how Nigerians would explain or define the activities of Tinubu’s government in its first month. They are unsure how exactly they would define the administration so far. However, even in their confusion, Nigerians are still hopeful in their undefined waiting. If the truth must be told, the majority of Nigerians are still waiting to exhale.
‘Waiting to Exhale’ is the title of a 1995 American romance flick that was directed by Forest Whitaker, and was produced by Deborah Schindler and Ezra Swerdlow. The award-winning film starred these three women, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon and Whitney Houston among other big Hollywood names. It brought careers, family and romance into focus. There are many themes in and various emotions from the movie. One of them is that a group of female friends believe that there were very few good men and the scarcity of good men leads them into a potpourri of actions that include cheating with married men. They are expecting that these men would sooner or later leave their wives and settle with them eventually. They were waiting to exhale on another’s misery and then say in their heavy exhalation ‘I’ve got it!’
It is about the same thing in Nigeria so far with the evolving administration of Tinubu. Nigerians are torn into various expressed and silent emotions about the administration. Not a few Nigerians have opinions about the one month of Tinubu’s government and when you also add those who do not have opinions, everyone is simply waiting to heave a sigh of relief. We are all waiting to exhale. Some have simply but firmly rested on the spiritual plank. They propagate the vague and selfish prayer: “May Tinubu’s administration favour me and my family.” These are the people who are classed with the women having illicit relationships with other people’s husbands and are waiting in the hope that these men they are cheating with would eventually become their husbands, somehow.
There is a category of Nigerians who are looking in the direction of the election petition tribunal for their turn to exhale. Those ones are looking up to the presidential election petition tribunal from where they think their help would come. They are also like the frolicking women who are waiting to cash-in on other women’s misfortune in some way. These Nigerians and their like are, somehow, waiting for the tribunal to do that which many have come to see as the impossible. These people are also waiting to exhale. The conclusion of the petitions is at hand and a verdict by the judges is expected. It is sure that in some weeks, they would have their judgement. Unlike in the case of those who are praying for the government to favour them and their families alone, we will have a judgement day. Those of our brother and sister prayer warriors might be in their prayerful delusion until President Tinubu finishes his tenure.
We can lump those who are asking for increased wages and those seeking a reversal of the fuel subsidy removal together. With them in one loop, it is easier to use one speaking period to tell them that President Tinubu said he had to take steps to stop the bleeding of our finances through speedy action on fuel subsidy. Perhaps, when the effects of these speedy and sudden actions heal, he might consider a hike in minimum wages and a redirection of our finances. But before then, we have hope that the country would be the better for it in the end. Even if good men are in short supply, hope and expectation are not in short supply in Nigeria. We thrive on hope and live in hope until our expectations are not met and our hope in our leaders is dashed.
We have been admonished on more than one occasion that we should suffer now and enjoy the fruits of our suffering later. That has been the thrust of everything the Tinubu government is telling us. Last Thursday, at a reception in Lagos, he said a lot needs to be done as preliminary work to “re-engineer the effectiveness of the control and management of our resources in order to meet the obligations to Nigerians by political office holders.” Although this bends more towards sophistry, we still believe him.
Agreed these actions are already off the ground and running, there does not seem to be anything to cushion their effect. There is nothing that looks like a safety net that is coming along with these re-engineering processes. The re-engineering processes are choking and Nigerians really need to breathe! If the policies are for the good of Nigerians, they should be alive and healthy to enjoy them when they eventually become effective. The government is, so far, undefined, indistinct, vague and condescending.
When Nigerians squirm painfully under the weight of crippling poverty and abject neglect, it is because these things are alive and active in the country. Recently, the World Bank made public a document in which it said Nigeria is one of the three countries with the highest level of poverty in the world. This is after a February report by the same World Bank said 12 per cent of those living in extreme poverty out of the entire world population are in Nigeria. The bank put the poverty threshold at $1.90 per day and said about 71 million Nigerians are extremely poor. The sudden, vicious pulling of the plug on fuel subsidy in Nigeria has not helped these figures in any way. If anything, that action exacerbated the already ugly situation in which we were also serenaded with aloofness under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari. The expected hike in electricity tariff and the planned introduction of a value-added tax on diesel, all in the face of an abject public electricity power supply, are also not going to help our economy. For instance, When schools vacate for the third term holidays, are parents going to pay the same fees when they resume? I do not think so. Also, manufacturing might further dip just as the floating naira/dollar relationship will heighten inflation. The poor are at the butt of this. The poor may not be able to breathe!
There is no cabinet yet and the government cannot be said to have effectively taken off. Those who are considering what the government could do about alleviating the pangs of these government policies. Some Nigerians have asked about mass transit in the meanwhile but governments are only mouthing it. What about looking at properly energizing the informal sector of the economy? What are the pointers to the fact that the people in government are on the same page with Nigerians regarding expectations on both sides? The government is charging the people to endure more, but those in government have not ceased their obscene display of illicit wealth. There’s a disconnection somewhere in this line.
President Tinubu needs to match words with action. Every day, things are getting more difficult for ordinary Nigerians. The economic situation is getting tougher and pressing harder on the masses. Nigerians need to see reasons to exhale. So far, they are not breathing. The poor should exhale.
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