Through The Fire Of Bad Governance, God Will Not Abandon The Common Man -By Isaac Asabor

There is a shared ache in Nigeria today, a quiet but heavy burden borne mostly by the common man. It is the ache of waking up each morning to a country that seems determined to make survival harder. It is felt in the market woman who can no longer restock her goods, the civil servant whose salary evaporates before the month begins, the graduate roaming the streets with certificates that have lost their power, and the retiree whose pension is treated like charity. This is the Nigeria of punishing governance, where policies are announced from comfort while pain is lived in poverty.

To pretend otherwise would be dishonest. Governance in today’s Nigeria often feels less like service and more like punishment. Fuel prices spike without warning. Food inflation mocks basic human dignity. Electricity remains unreliable, insecurity festers, and public trust in leadership has thinned to near extinction. The common man is constantly asked to “endure,” while those in power remain insulated from the hardship their decisions unleash.

It is natural, in moments like this, for fear to creep in. For anxiety to settle. For people to ask, “Has God forgotten us?” But faith, history, and scripture give a firm answer: “No”.

The words of Isaiah 43:2 speak directly to our present reality: “When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and through the rivers they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you.” God did not promise exemption from hardship. He promised presence in hardship. That promise is not selective; it applies especially to the weary, the oppressed, and the forgotten, the common man.

Nigeria today is walking through fire. The heat is real. The pain is undeniable. For millions, life has become a daily negotiation with hunger, debt, fear, and uncertainty. Yet the scripture does not deny the fire; it defines its limits. The fire will not consume. The waters will not overwhelm. Why? Because God remains present.

In Isaiah chapters 42 and 43, God reassured a battered and disillusioned people of His faithfulness, power, and intention to restore them. Biblical Israel, like Nigeria today, was not enjoying good governance. They were oppressed, scattered, and struggling. Still, God spoke comfort, not condemnation. Assurance, not abandonment. That same assurance echoes today for Nigerians who feel crushed by leadership failures.

Let it be said plainly: many of Nigeria’s problems are man-made. Years of corruption, poor planning, elite arrogance, and lack of accountability have produced the hardship we now endure. Faith does not require silence in the face of injustice. Belief in God is not a license to excuse bad governance. Nigerians must continue to speak, demand better, and hold leaders accountable. Prayer is not passivity. But despair is also not resistance.

Hopelessness is perhaps the most dangerous consequence of punishing governance. When people lose hope, they lose restraint, vision, and belief in tomorrow. A hopeless common man is easily manipulated, easily broken. That is why clinging to God’s promises in moments like this is not weakness, it is survival.

God remains sovereign. This truth is easy to say and hard to internalize when prices keep rising and hope keeps shrinking. But sovereignty means God is not confused by Nigeria’s chaos. He is not intimidated by failed policies or arrogant politicians. Time is in His hands, not in the hands of any government. He is never in a hurry, even when we are exhausted by waiting.

History shows that nations often pass through seasons of pain before renewal. Nigeria’s story did not begin with this administration, and it will not end with it. We have survived civil war, military rule, economic collapse, and international isolation. We are still standing, not because leaders were always wise, but because God restrained total collapse.

Look closely, and you will see signs of that restraint everywhere. You see it in the resilience of the common man: the trader who adapts, the farmer who plants despite uncertainty, the young person who builds something from nothing, and the communities that share what little they have. These are not signs of a nation abandoned by God. They are signs of a people being carried through fire.

The fire hurts, yes. The waters feel threatening. But scripture reminds us that adversity, when met with faith, does not destroy, it refines. It strips away illusions, exposes broken systems, and prepares the ground for renewal. The common man may bend under pressure, but he has not broken.

What Nigerians must resist is panic. Panic clouds judgment. Panic breeds bitterness. Panic tempts people to believe that suffering is permanent. But God’s promises do not expire because leadership has failed. His word does not lose relevance because inflation is high or governance is cruel. His assurances are not tied to the competence of politicians.

This is why Nigerians must pray, not as an escape from reality, but as an anchor within it. Prayer keeps the heart steady when the system is unstable. It reminds the common man that while leaders may ignore him, God does not. That while policies may punish, divine purpose still unfolds.

As a nation, we must continue to acknowledge God as the Almighty over all ages, the One who subdues nations and raises them again. There is nothing too hard for Him, not economic hardship, not institutional decay, not political stubbornness. His promises remain “Yea and Amen”.

This season will pass. Bad governance is not eternal. Suffering is not the final chapter. Morning does follow night, even when the night feels endless. Through this fire, the common man is not alone.

God has not abandoned Nigeria’s common man. And because He has not, there is still reason to endure; to hope, to speak, and to believe that restoration, though delayed, will come right on time.