Under Tinubu, Don’t Ask Anyone If They Are Fine -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Take away those bigoted clerics who have seemingly sold their Hereafter for some worldly gains and some politicians who are a minuscule dot in the large population of suffering Nigerians, and who, against their conscience, continue to say all is well (and that they have no complaint), Nigerians are fed up with this government. I am yet to see a reason (I mean one reason) to be convinced that this Tinubu regime cares about governance. What it prioritizes is politics and politics. After politics, in this regime, it is still politics. Anyone who is still in doubt that too much politics suffocates democracy and destroys the state should study and understudy Tinubu’s Nigeria.

Commentators have raised concerns about the steady slide of Nigeria into a one-party system under this regime. They are right. But I wouldn’t have bothered much if that makes life easier and better for the generality of the masses. Should we accord plausibilty to the Benthamic argument, we may conclude that a regime needs not be a democracy to be popular; it only needs to ensure greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. This is obviously not the case under Tinubu. The greatest number of Nigerians are in pain. Some regime apologists initially thought it was a temporary pain (T-pain). It has now dawned on them that it is a Real Pain. This is more than T-pain.

The hardship is overwhelmingly unprecedented. The hardship is traumatizing. It becomes even more traumatizing when one realizes that, to this hardship, there may be no end in sight as the regime continues to ignore the masses’ interests in its politics that hardly produces good policies. Subsidy was discontinued, as they said, to save money to benefit the masses. If despite all the money ‘saved’ from subsidy, government still needs to take loan, in trillions, to run itself, there is definitely fire on the mountain.

In a Daily Trust’s news caption, we read “Nigeria’s debt to hit N162trn as president seeks N17trn loans.” This is if the lawmakers ultimately give a nod to the loan approval request puts forward to them by the executive. Someone said: “Who are they not to approve it?” I can’t argue otherwise. For, under this regime, presenting loan approval request by the executive to the lawmakers is as if the executive presents loan request approval to itself.

In eight years, Buhari increased Nigeria’s debt by roughly 600 percent. As at When he took office in 2015, the country’s debt stood at approximately N12.06 trillion. By the end of his tenure, this figure had risen to N87.4 trillion, representing over a 600% increase. President Bola Tinubu regime, continuing from where Buhari stopped as promised, has been traveling northwards to worsen Nigeria’s debt burden. In just two years, the country’s total public debt has risen from N87.379 trillion to N144.67 trillion, representing a 65.5% increase. This immediately transformed former President Jonathan into a saint.

As if President Tinubu is not convinced that Buhari had sunk Nigeria enough before he left office, his attempt to sink it deeper, through excessive loans, calls for serious reflection. What is even more saddening is that there is nothing to show for these loans as they continue to loom larger. No infrastructure to show. No industrialization on a large scale. Perhaps the loans, despite saving from removal of subsidy, would be used to pay workers’ take-home pay which hardly takes them home.

As Muslims set to celebrate the Eid-ul Adha festival next week Friday (6th of June), the civil servants among them are not sure if the Muslim-Muslim Government would pay them their May salaries at the end of the month. This is not because the month of May wouldn’t have ended before the festival but because months in Nigeria, at times, do extend to about forty days. We are in a deep mess.

In the present day Nigeria, the middle class has completely disappeared. One is either rich or poor. Even the rich, except the super rich, now pretend to be poor to protect their little riches from the prying eyes of embarrassing beggars who now litter the Nigerian streets. Gone are the days when one calls to ask family members if everything is okay. It is ill-advised, at the moment, to ask people if they are fine. People, already pauperized, would seize the opportunity to list all their problems not knowing that you also have a mountain of problems. Even those who are fine, under President Tinubu, are afraid to say they are fine. Not because they are not grateful to God Who keeps them moving despite all the odds but because it can be risky to openly claim one is fine in the midst of hungry and angry Nigerians who struggle to feed.

What is more, begging is digitalized. With the aid of ICT, you are easily reached by family and friends just as you can also easily access them. Rate at which people beg for money via Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media platforms is alarming. I have personally developed phobia for picking up calls from suspecting beggars who do not know that I am also a beggar. Even those that one would never expected to beg would call to beg. Note, not because they are not working. And when I also beg, it is not because I am not working too. It is because it does not pay to work or to be employed under Emilokan Regime. Most employments in Nigeria, as I write, are not gainful employments. Except one is employed as a political appointee (being an Emilokan disciple), it is difficult to be gainfully employed. It is so terrible!

I have seen people penning tribute to extol President Tinubu’s ‘sterling’ performance after two years in office. Most prominent among them is the former president Muhammadu Buhari who laid the foundation of modern day hardship in Nigeria (that is if we all agree that the real democratization of hardship became intensified begining from 2015 when Buhari came on board). It was during Buhari regime that Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world. In a statement by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari was reported to have said Tinubu’s bold reforms are yielding fruits. Hmm!

He urged Nigerians to continue to give support for the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government. “Okay, noted, sir” was my response when I read the latter part of the statement. No one should blame Buhari. Possibly, he dictated that statement to whoever wrote it on his behalf from his comfort zone. Hereunder is my humble tribute to President Tinubu’s two years in office on behalf of majority of Nigerians who live in the opposite zone of Buhari’s comfort zone.

Dear President Tinubu, as you clocked two years in office, I thank you on behalf of Nigerian masses for making life unbearable—through your ill-informed and rashly formulated policies. Life has become unbearable so much so that people are now afraid to ask about the living conditions of those they should care for.

However, like Buhari, I am wishing you a heartfelt congratulation on your two years in office. May you keep leading with wisdom and care. Dear sir, the remaining two years (or is it six years?) is enough for you to make Nigerians happy if you so wish. I hope we can hope against hope to witness a better Nigeria under Your Excellency. Our dear President, may God help you.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com