Sometimes, to really get to know how people are surviving the recession is to engage in a conversation with them. This adventure gives one the opportunity to know firsthand what many are going through in times like this.
In fact, a mere look on the faces of many tells a story of biting hardship, elevated squalor and excruciating deprivation. But one is confronted with the reality clearer when in close contact with the people who have been dealt a huge blow by these recessionary times.
Some, in narrating their ordeal with the times, wear disconsolate and distraught faces. Others who cannot hold back emotions express it all through tears. Many others too, bear it and carry on as if all is well. Another group, (those used to the sorry Nigerian situation) take it all in their chin and soldier on with remarkable equanimity. These ones are no longer perturbed no matter the situation the country sinks into.
With power supply, inexistent basic amenities, ill equipped hospitals, sickly education system, becoming the hallmarks by which the country is defined, they have become accustomed to anything and everything. They have grown thick skin to our inanities and laxities. So, even if Buhari seeks a third term after doing a second, they will still eat garri with ogbono or okra soup, depending on the one that will aid the smooth and easy passage of eba through the throat in spite of all.
The other day, I engaged a young woman, who was obviously in her late twenties in a conversation where I told her of the need to pray for our leaders. Her reaction was venomous and acidic. She thundered in a voice that reeked of disgust: “pray for who? Have I finished praying for myself; prayer is a personal thing, if one is in need, let him pray for himself.'' At a point, my probing mind as a journalist came to the fore. To elicit more points from her, I insisted on the prayer.
Of all I said, despite using scriptural anecdotes to drive home my points; all that paled into naught as she stood her ground of not praying for leaders. To her, all she cares about is how she can buy Kerosene at a reasonable rate plus garri to keep body and soul together. Again, I weighed in with the fact that if she really wants things to get better, she should see my advice of praying for leaders, especially our president as an important article in her daily routine. My last line was met with a deafening silence. As she made to leave the shop, she dropped a thunderous hiss and stomped away.
Another customer who was not even there while the argument ensued overheard my insisting on praying for leaders; her reaction was worse. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “Me, pray for leaders, I no get handwork?'' I was left alone in my viewpoint. Lonely. Startled. But I took note of their positions and the emotions they exhibited as they maintained their stance of not praying for our leaders. To cap it all, a boy who had apparently purchased Kerosene at the new cutthroat rate armed with his jerry can passed by. As if he knew that we had been talking about the price of Kerosene muttered to himself: “Kerosene, before it was N250, now it's N400.'' We all burst into bouts of laughter. It was hilarious but a definitive picture of the terrible state we have found ourselves in a country famous with the appellation as the giant of Africa.
The other day in Abuja, some able bodied Nigerians matched to the Central Bank protesting the freefall of naira against the dollar and other currencies. They brandished placards that bore different messages and inscriptions. One read: “Paracetamol sold at N700 last year, now it's N1, 200. The manner with which they carried on the protest also served to highlight the sorry state of affairs in the land. Not many Nigerians have the grace and capacity to embark on such protests especially to the Federal Capital Territory, for if all were to vent their frustrations with the turn out of the much vaunted change they trooped out to vote for back in 2015, am afraid if the government of the day will be able to contain it. The fact is that many Nigerians are bearing the harsh times in silence. They still go about their business as if milk and honey flows in the land. That palm oil now sells at N600 or above per bottle has not stopped them from buying the product with smiley faces hid under the weight of pain, anguish and heartache.
All we hear from those saddled with the responsibility of ameliorating our situation are high sounding grammars that have done us little or no good at all. Power supply has fallen to a zero level. The basic things that make the ordinary Nigerian turn a blind eye to government's misdemeanours and benumbing thievery are absent. And if the people now feel the pangs of hunger more than they should, is it not a pointer to the fact that sooner or later, they may not have the nerve to bear it again and possibly rise in stoic defiance against the government?
One may say God forbid, but why can't the needful be done? The nation is sinking and we are observing events in silence. For one, the government of the day must as a matter of urgency arrest this glide. The hungrier the citizens, the angrier they will be. Buhari and his team must sit their butts down and rejig their formula of governance.
It is the height of foolery for one to still think that Nigerians will be goaded by the gospel of the Daura born former Head of State being a man of probity and integrity when the election bells ring in 2019. If there is no instant turn around in the economy, I dare to say that no sane Nigerian will stand in the scotching sun to vote for Buhari or the APC. Nigerians had invested their hopes and aspirations in this team; alas, what they are experiencing now is far off from what they bargained for. It's a pathetic situation if not demonic to allow a people suffer like this. It's uncalled for and smacks of a government that is short on ideas and vision for a country badly in need of real and positive change and not political change of guards that one is seeing today.
Again, one of the sad and expected manifestations of the recession is the rise in petty crimes. This trade is mostly carried out by youths, those we call miscreants, street urchins and many of such unpalatable titles.
I was alarmed recently to learn recently that Kerosene, a staple commodity used by majority of Nigerians sells at N400. At first, I found it pretty hard to belief that Kerosene could sell at such exorbitant and unethical rate. In times like this, one is left to wonder how the low income earners survive the harsh economic times. Imagine a woman who sells, say oranges by the road side daily and at the end of the day, makes a profit of maybe N1000. How much will she have left if she buys two litres of Kerosene at N800? If she has children to feed, how will she manage her meagre resources so as to provide for her children?
You will tell me the husband is there. Fine, what if the husband falls into the league workers whose salaries are not paid regularly or not at all? He has mountainous bills to pay. There is the school fee that stares him in the face. House rent gaze at him even as his landlord adds salt to injury by waking him up with a knock on his door asking for electricity bill that is not even available. The situation, to say the least, is pathetic and one that raises doubts about the ability and capacity of this administration that rode to power on the crest of change to salvage the situation. Perhaps, what Nigerians failed to ask these change merchants is the kind of change they were going to offer us. Maybe, we would have asked for a positive change. But we did not.
They preached the gospel of change and we fell head over heel for them. Now, we are gnashing our teeth in hunger, regret and tears. We have been left bruised and bloodied. One only but wonders why how long Nigerians will wait before we finally have the change we were promised with so much fervour and éclat.
Hardship or poverty is not and can never be a license to commit crime, yet we cannot run away from the fact that it nurtures the zeal to pilfer and cause mayhem all in a bid to survive. The youth of today, especially those ones whose background and upbringing is nothing to really write home about and have also refused to do themselves any good, have found crime as an escape route from the crippling economic climate. With marijuana, dry gin and all manners of concoction becoming their inseparable allies, they resort to snatching handbags from innocent and defenceless women, stealing of phones and selling same out at giveaway prices, they continue to carry out their illicit acts with savagery and hard-heartedness.
Their minds have become depraved and nothing really matters to them again. From the way events are panning out in the country, am afraid we may be in for a season of elevated crime and criminality like never before especially as the camp of misguided youths swell daily. We don't pray for this, but feasible actions must be taken by government at all levels to arrest this drift into self-inflicted malady.
All said, the million dollar question that the average Nigerian needs immediate answer to is: when will recession end?
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