By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo
The subsidy removal and floating of naira by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration have made a lot of Nigerians to react in different ways.To some, it is a welcome development to get rid of subsidy payment that had wrinkled our treasury over the years; to some others, it is a period of ‘Shege’ where many are expected to be suffering.
Interestingly, there is no place in the world where new economic policies are introduced without an accompanied unpalatable impact in the short run.
Some people opine that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is in a hurry to achieve everything at a go, whereas policies should be introduced one after the other. While some believe that he should be allowed to engage the issues headlong and once so that all of us can enjoy thereafter.
Petroleum prices have dropped at depots in Nigeria-IPMAN
As a committed government the welfare of the citizens should be of paramount interest all the time. Nobody should crucify those who are accusing the government of insensitivity, because proper public enlightenment programs were not in place when subsidy was removed. A petty trader in the market does not understand what subsidy means. So one would have expected National Orientation Agency to embark on public enlightenment on radio and television, using our local languages. To an ordinary Nigerian who is not having education, he or she will see Tinubu’s administration as the most wicked in our entire history. But is he truly wicked? Emphatically No.
The challenges facing our Nation are multidimensional, and president Tinubu is a prepared president coming with uncommon determination to change the narrative of governance in Nigeria. It will never be easy because subsidy regime had been enjoyed by the citizens, irrespective of their social class, over the years.
A look at the various social media platforms which are preoccupied with the issue of subsidy removal that culminated in the recent increases in the pump price of PMS would reveal that the common understanding of Nigerians over the current development is that of a renewed ‘shege’, as opposed to a renewed ‘hope’, promised by Tinubu’s administration. Many civil servants cannot go to work with their cars any longer. This is not a smiling moment, but it is a reality you and I would have to live with, if we want a better country, going forward. I was in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital over the weekend and one of my elder brothers narrated to me how a colleague of his had complained to him that he was tired of warming his car. Apparently, he has now been incapacitated to go out with his car at his will, yet he has to keep it warm. It is that bad, honestly.
Indeed, we all want a greater country where things will work out smoothly, but achieving a better nation can’t be achieved by mere conversations; we must be ready to make sacrifices. In fact, Nigerians are already making huge sacrifices by shunning extravagant life styles.They trek now like never before, because they don’t have the financial capacity to use their cars.
Above all, people I get so much worried about are the petty traders and the rural dwellers. In other words, masses are the worst hit by the effects of subsidy removal. It is really a hard time for the people, especially at the lowest social strata.
Proponents of Shege are in three categories: the ordinary Nigerians who do not understand basic economic policies, members of the oppositions who are looking for opportunities to discredit the government, and the neutral Nigerians who just believe the situation is worrisome.
Meanwhile, Tinubu’s presidency has always come up with messages of hope amid the recent challenges facing our country. The most recent was the message on Hijra where the president said, “as we persevere and struggle to confront our present challenges and the temporary pain we experience ,I enjoiin you to remain hopeful that there is light and prosperity at the end of the tunnel.My team and I are leaving no stone unturned in our bid to deliver on the promises we made ,inspite of the present difficulties.As we usher in the new Islamic year I urge you all to engage in prayers and supplications to God Almighty to direct and protect our path to greatness and prosperity in Nigeria.”
What gives me hope about Asiwaju’s presidency is the fact that he is not an accidental president. He knows his onion. What Nigerians need is to support him with prayers so that all of us will not suffer in vain. For instance, when the news of the eight thousand naira palliative proposed for the poorest households in the country hits the air, Nigerians criticized the scheme on the ground that it lacked merit and capacity to weather the current storm. Consequently, as a president who understands that constructive criticism is an integral part of modern democracy, he backed down and ordered for the review of the programme. This is an attestation that he fully understands the nitty gritty of a working and robust democracy. Hence, to the rest of us, we should not set our country on fire because of politics or hatred. Like I said earlier, poverty is no respecter of anyone. Whether you are a member of APC, PDP or any other political affiliation, what is significant is our collective responsibilities to ensure that we set our country on the path of progress. Let us not run down our country because of temporary pain.
The holy Quran has admonished us that for every hardship, there would be ease afterwards. Pains do not last forever, that is the message from our Maker.
Let us not listen to any politician that would tell us to go out and burn down the streets, because of the current situation in the country. If we do carry out their evil plan, they would leave you and I and run abroad, because they have the wherewithal to achieve that.
Let me end this discourse with the words of former president Muhammadu Buhari when he said “we have no any other country we can call our own,so we must be here to salvage her.”
