Hardship: FG must act fast before things go awry
By Austine Emmanuel, Kaduna
The level of hardship posed on Nigerians as a result of poor economic policies have become a thing of great concern as citizens continue to groan amidst various difficulties due to the high prices of goods and services.
It is imperative to know that every Nigerian at the moment is fighting his or her own unique war as the citizenry continue to struggle and grumble about the current realities, looking up to heaven for whence cometh their help, regardless of their status in the society.
Although the President, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu had admitted to the fact that the administration had caused Nigerians serious pain, he however stated that the reforms are for the betterment of the populace in nearest future, a statement that made Nigerians began to ask some salient questions like when are things going to get better.
During interaction with some residents of Kaduna state, some average Nigerians lamented that things continue to get worse without any hope of better tomorrow. They also complained that there is no conducive environment for them to engage themselves in some menial activities like farming due to the fear of being kidnapped.
According to the residents, with the increasing rate of foodstuff and other life essentials, some of them find it difficult to eat two square meals in a day, a situation that pushes them to eat whatever that is available only to find themselves later in the hospital, diagnosed with different ailments.
In Kaduna, what is the fate of the ordinary man remains the question that everybody continues to ask on a daily basis; When is the promise for better tomorrow going to be a reality when our yesterday is better than today and tomorrow not certain.
One of the residents of Sabo Community in Chikun Local Government Area Kaduna state, simply identified as Bala, a Plumber and a father of five, told us that “My own is not even a challenge because I can manage some situations but how about my children?”
“Sometimes I prefer leaving the house to hang out with friends with the hope that something good may come out. This is how I continue to give myself hope all the time because my job is not always forthcoming. Aside from the food, house rent, school fees and other essentials are still there. So ‘gaskiya’ things are not easy for us these two days.”
Another Kaduna resident, a food stuff seller who spoke with NewsDirect on the condition of anonymity disclosed that she no longer has money to stock her shop because of credit.
“As a business person, I believe that for me to succeed I must do away with credit. But how do you solve the issue of someone you know coming to ask for assistance all the time on the ground that they will pay you back only for you to give them food items and they never showed up anymore.
“The economy is biting harder every day. The more we continue to keep hope alive, the more situations give us more reason to be hopeless. I don’t know what the government is doing but right now I can tell you that we have lost our hope in this government,” She said.
Aside the opinion of many Kaduna residents, decrying the negative impacts of bad economy on the people, some Nigerians took to the streets of Lagos, Edo, Osun among other states to protest the hardship they experienced since the current administration took over in May 2023, implementing policies they described as “anti-people.”
A coalition of Nigerian Civil Societies, including the Take-It-Back Movement (TIB), Joint Action Force (JAF), Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Community Women Initiative, and Socialist Workers and Youth League (SWL), were joined by several market women, calling on government to live up to her responsibility.
Meanwhile, in a recent development, a group, “Soro soke II” on Tuesday declared a ten days protest with effect from 1st – 10th August, 2024 tagged “End Bad Government In Nigeria, 2024.”
The Nationwide protest with the insinuation, No Tribe, No Region, No Religion said that they are focusing on “End Anti-people policies over taxing and electoral fraud, end subsidy scam and reverse fuel price to below N300 per litre, bring tertiary education fees back to their previous rates by reversing subsidies and also seeks for the public disclosure and reduction of salaries and allowances of all senators, House of Representatives members, and the Speaker.”
They also said that part of their activism is for the government to reopen all national borders, make INEC independent of the executive branch with transparent processes for appointing its chairman, declare a state of emergency on inflation, reform the judiciary and also enact a law mandating INEC to electronically transmit live electoral results.
With the above pressure groups and other civil society organisations forming alliances, it is wisdom for the government to act based on the tenet of democracy as government of the people by the people and for the people by doing everything humanly possible to alleviate the plights of the citizenry.
This is because nationwide protests from past experiences are usually characterised by violent conflict as a result of interest from different quarters.
Therefore in order for the government not to give room to issues that may breed unrest in the country, resulting to anarchy, necessary measures must as a matter of urgency be taken to ensure that the hope of the average Nigerians come back alive again.
