Today, I have been doing a lot of thinking. A lot of thinking about Nigeria. First, I am largely disappointed. I did not expect much from a new government but then I did not expect that they would do worse than the former.
However, expecting a power hungry old man to do any differently than his true character amounts to naivety. My real disappointment comes from other people. The pa Buhari led FG has withdrawn subsidy on petrol. This means that Nigerians now must pay no less than N145 for a litre of petrol.
While pa Buhari and his party the APC were in the opposition, they screamed all manner of absurdities against such a move by the immediate past government. Naturally, their message resonated with us. Jump forward to 2016 and tables have turned. The same people now make excuses for the same action.
There is not enough FOREX as a result of dwindling oil prices to finance importation of petrol by marketers. Therefore, let the marketers source the FOREX independently and sell the products to Nigerians but the prices must not exceed N145/Litre. This is the official government excuse for its latest assault on the Nigerian people who have already suffered enough.
Realising that the domestic policies they have put in place are not coordinated and that the economy is in dire straits, the government quickly needed to convince the people against an impending strike action by her leading labour unions. They turned to several opinion leaders and media houses.
And before you can say abracadabra, all manner of historical fiction and info-graphic of absurdities appear to litter our newspapers and social media. The whole essence of these narratives being that the government was wrong in 2012 while this government is right for doing the exact same thing.
All manner of opinions are put out by people who should task the new government to live up to its message of change. This is the cause of my sadness. If GEJ the weak and corrupt inflicted a fuel price hike in 2012, then by all stretch of the imagination, PMB the strong and incorruptible should reduce the price of petrol from N86 to N50 not increase it N145!
Nigerians are suffering and will suffer from the mess of this wicked act of government. The proposed N500b palliatives will not relieve this suffering as this new government has demonstrated by its inability to coordinate a workable domestic policy or put together a meaningful budget that it cannot translate that plan into results.
The hypocrisy of social media opinion leaders is however, a matter of graver concern. Why have they suddenly become supporters of a similar action when the result will be the same? Why do they believe this government and doubted the other when the actions are the same?
Blind trust, blind loyalty, bribes and sycophancy are partly responsible. These same people invoked all manner of curses on men of God who sued for patience in 2012. These same people accused the government of living in ostentation and financial recklessness and while it is visible to the blind that the same level of financial recklessness persists there is no talk about those.
While this new government has not shown any form of prudence with its spending or demonstrated a willingness to amputate waste, our heroes of 2012 are preaching to us a new gospel: GEJ the demon inflicted pain on you by increasing fuel price, GMB our patron saint is soothing the pain by increasing fuel price.
Where do we turn to for support in these hard times? The opposition has been labeled devious, corrupt and are unable to speak confidently. That serves them right for wasting their mandate and abusing our trust. But worse still is the media trial and persecution of all that is in the opposition.
The NLC and TUC used to be last resort for the down trodden on these issues. Not anymore. Since the comrade governor left the NLC, its vibrancy has become a thing of the past. Worse still is the factional nature of the NLC meaning there is not one voice from organised labour. Where do we turn to for new solutions as the old heroes are now new liars.
Nigeria needs new heroes. Nigeria needs restructuring. Nigerians need relief from her own governments. Where a people have no where to turn to, desperation will turn them against their assailants.
However, expecting a power hungry old man to do any differently than his true character amounts to naivety. My real disappointment comes from other people. The pa Buhari led FG has withdrawn subsidy on petrol. This means that Nigerians now must pay no less than N145 for a litre of petrol.
While pa Buhari and his party the APC were in the opposition, they screamed all manner of absurdities against such a move by the immediate past government. Naturally, their message resonated with us. Jump forward to 2016 and tables have turned. The same people now make excuses for the same action.
There is not enough FOREX as a result of dwindling oil prices to finance importation of petrol by marketers. Therefore, let the marketers source the FOREX independently and sell the products to Nigerians but the prices must not exceed N145/Litre. This is the official government excuse for its latest assault on the Nigerian people who have already suffered enough.
Realising that the domestic policies they have put in place are not coordinated and that the economy is in dire straits, the government quickly needed to convince the people against an impending strike action by her leading labour unions. They turned to several opinion leaders and media houses.
And before you can say abracadabra, all manner of historical fiction and info-graphic of absurdities appear to litter our newspapers and social media. The whole essence of these narratives being that the government was wrong in 2012 while this government is right for doing the exact same thing.
All manner of opinions are put out by people who should task the new government to live up to its message of change. This is the cause of my sadness. If GEJ the weak and corrupt inflicted a fuel price hike in 2012, then by all stretch of the imagination, PMB the strong and incorruptible should reduce the price of petrol from N86 to N50 not increase it N145!
Nigerians are suffering and will suffer from the mess of this wicked act of government. The proposed N500b palliatives will not relieve this suffering as this new government has demonstrated by its inability to coordinate a workable domestic policy or put together a meaningful budget that it cannot translate that plan into results.
The hypocrisy of social media opinion leaders is however, a matter of graver concern. Why have they suddenly become supporters of a similar action when the result will be the same? Why do they believe this government and doubted the other when the actions are the same?
Blind trust, blind loyalty, bribes and sycophancy are partly responsible. These same people invoked all manner of curses on men of God who sued for patience in 2012. These same people accused the government of living in ostentation and financial recklessness and while it is visible to the blind that the same level of financial recklessness persists there is no talk about those.
While this new government has not shown any form of prudence with its spending or demonstrated a willingness to amputate waste, our heroes of 2012 are preaching to us a new gospel: GEJ the demon inflicted pain on you by increasing fuel price, GMB our patron saint is soothing the pain by increasing fuel price.
Where do we turn to for support in these hard times? The opposition has been labeled devious, corrupt and are unable to speak confidently. That serves them right for wasting their mandate and abusing our trust. But worse still is the media trial and persecution of all that is in the opposition.
The NLC and TUC used to be last resort for the down trodden on these issues. Not anymore. Since the comrade governor left the NLC, its vibrancy has become a thing of the past. Worse still is the factional nature of the NLC meaning there is not one voice from organised labour. Where do we turn to for new solutions as the old heroes are now new liars.
Nigeria needs new heroes. Nigeria needs restructuring. Nigerians need relief from her own governments. Where a people have no where to turn to, desperation will turn them against their assailants.
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