Bola Ahmed Tinubu has marked his first anniversary as president of Nigeria. The silence with which he marked the anniversary is so appropriate, and I congratulate him on reading the times right. While his media aides, Bayo Onanuga and Ajuri Ngelale battle themselves in the open over what the president would do or not to mark the anniversary, the old man chose not to insult Nigerians.
There is nothing to celebrate. So, why disturb hungry Nigerians with a silly national broadcast – all sound and fury signifying nothing, a tale told by an idiot, according to Shakespeare. Tinubu spared us the gratuitous insult of hearing from him that life has become so good for us since he came to power, while every Nigerian, including his aides know otherwise. Yes, his aides too, because while their immediate families eat the crumbs from the master’s table, their relations and inlaws see what other Nigerians see.
A ‘painter’ of garri (a custard tin measure) sold for N3,600 at Umuguma, Owerri on Monday by noon. The morning price was N3,900, but buyers resisted. The resistance was not out of outrage, but simply that they had no budget for it. So, after hours of poor sales, the sellers dropped the price to the closing price of the last market day, N3,600. A painter would barely feed a family of four twice. May is just ending and one wonders what the price would be by July when food inflation usually peaks.
Last year, garri prices peaked at N1,200 per painter. Nigerians are.already buying at three times last year’s peak, without any increment in income. In other countries, including Sudan, a 25% hike.in the price of staple food is guaranteed to trigger street revolts and revolution -.ask General Omar el-Bashir. But in Nigeria, it is said that when pushed to the wall, we break the wall and enter! Therefore a 200% spike in the price of staple food is nothing, particularly when the president is from a vocal ethnic group. People in government call that resilience. Objective observers call it stupidity. The present minimum wage of N30,000 (paid by just a handful of states) will buy just eight painters of garri, without a mention of the soup to eat it with. But Nigerians are resilient; even at N10,000 per painter, nothing will happen. We haven’t started eating out children yet as recorded in the Bible. There’s still elbow room. No wonder the government proposed N60,000 new minimum wage (16 painters of garri without soup) which labour turned down. Labour demands N497,000 minimum wage.
I have dwelt this far on garri for the simple reason that it’s the basic Nigerian staple. Rice which was everyone’s favorite has receded to the table of the rich. A painter of rice costs twice that of garri. At this rate, we are receding to the era of.my childhood when rice was for special occasions and ceremonies. As for yam, I’ve just noticed that sellers have.resorted to cutting them in bits for sale as most people cannot afford the N5,000 per standard tuber. Beans? Just don’t go there. This plant protein that ensured that kwashiorkor was kept at bay, has practically gone.off the table.for most people.
So, what would Tinubu have told us about food?
How about fuel that was about the only thing Nigerians enjoyed given the petroleum endowment of the nation? With a wave of the hand, Tinubu cancelled the subsidy on petrol and.prices tripled from an average of N200 to over N600. We were told that the removal of the subsidy was good for us, as the subsidy actually benefitted the rich more than the poor. We have been at it for a year now, but the government is yet to show us the benefits. Scandalously, the World Bank is again talking about Nigerian petroleum subsidy again! So, this subsidy that successive governments since Babangida have been removing is back! And whereas in its old form,.it benefitted the poor while benefitting the rich more, this time, the poor is totally out of the picture. He can hardly pay the farrs of commercial vehicles, not to mention furlling his thoroughly beaten car.
When Nigerians cried out over the fuel subsidy matter, Tinubu told us he was working out some.palliatives. I faulted the idea. It was like cutting up a.patient in the raw, and bringing anaesthesia after.the surgery. Tinubu and his people are still in the process of working out the palliatives. Is that what Tinubu would have told Nigerians?
Shall we.talk about electricity? It is said that electricity, roads and running water are the hallmarks of cities. On these three counts, Tinubu seems intent on taking Nigeria out of the level of development it has achieved before his coming.
He has hiked the cost of electricity beyond the point that anybody who relies on naira income.can pay. Organized labour has kicked against that, and his officials are threatening months+long blackout if Nigerians don’t accept the new prices. How’s that for.governance?
For roads, Tinubu has a qualified person in Dave Umahi. His work on roads as governor of Ebonyi State commends him. But his politics are awful. And the only significant road work being undertaken now is the highly controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Tinubu is not completing the East-West road that was started decades ago and which comes.close enough to the.coast without getting mired in the swamp and creeks. It is a very expensive version with dubious benefits besides crony capitalism that he would jump at. Perhaps, he would have educated us on that. But if his.predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, could ignore Nigerians and build a railway from his city, Katsina. to Mardi in Niger Republic to benefit his cousins, why should Tinubu be obliged to tell us what he is doing with our money?
