By Yasir Aladodo
“Let the poor breath.” echoed President Bola Ahmed months back. Yet to what good is breathing when hunger looms? Beyond words, the country is ruing. Things are not as they ought to be.
Food commodities are beyond the average pocket. Dollar rates oscillate from bad to worse, crippling the country’s forex and exposing the citizens to severe hardship. To me, Idrees Abdulkareem’s ‘Jaga Jaga’ came at the wrong time. This is the perfect fit for its prime.
With petrol price peaking at 650 in Nigeria Naira, electricity would have been a fair compromise. But then the whole of the country bemoans light. This whole thing just looked like a setup or rather a punishment for crimes we don’t even know about.
Because of what Nigeria is saying right now, a lot of civil personnel are not happy with their salaries. If someone is earning 60,000 naira monthly, it will be challenging for him to fulfill all of his responsibilities at home, including his obligations to his children. Contrary to the president’s assertion, it becomes impossible for the poor to breathe. This is a jungle.
In this country, petrol is no longer subsidized, so is diesel and Kerosene. As the dollar floats, the naira sinks. Well, it normally looks like a crisis that will pass sooner or later. But what is the effect of the sacrifice when the lead will loot the luxury? Confused.
The president gets a multi-million naira budget annually for feeding alone, and so does the vice president. These are a household gleaming already. Why not subsidize that too? To me, we are yet to ask the required questions. It gets clearer with our sullen nature to national affairs of how serious we are. We only get ebullient towards triviality, no wonder our government takes us with less seriousness.
Conclusively, there are stories we don’t write, and questions we don’t ask. But in the ‘Nigeria’ happening currently, we are all victims. Our suffering begs for questions, and so does our silence. But who will break it? Unknown.