It is obvious the current situation in the country is worrisome and its future is clearly gloomy. Safety to our lives and property; access to good education and healthcare and food security are our fundamental rights in this life. However, all these have been jeopardized and facing imminent danger of collapse! Of recent, a lot has been said about the country’s situation; some with or without political motives behind them. However, as a concerned citizen, I feel obliged to make my contribution on the issue, particularly on lives and property, education and food security.
Lives and Property: Although, your administration has scored some points in fighting terrorism in the Northeast, however, the Northwest has apparently become a new theatre of bloodshed and non-stopped payment of ransoms to kidnappers and bandits. As a result of present economic hardship, more crimes are unfolding, claiming innocent lives. Surprisingly, an average Nigerian feel safer living outside the country.
The state of our main road networks across the country is pitiful. The dilapidation of our roads has led to countless loss of lives and caused damage to our vehicles. For example, one of the most important highways in Nigeria is Abuja-Kaduna-Kano. The renovation works on the road have been slow despite several interventions from numerous stakeholders. We are therefore compelled to ask what is the problem with that contract? Any way, the nagging question begging for an answer is that why did most capital projects in the Southwest achieve full or nearly full state of completion than other geopolitical zones? Don’t ask me about the Mambila Power project rigmarole, please. In any case, the lopsidedness of projects completions across the country has to be checked and scrutinised. Act now Mr President!
Education: We often shed tears when examining our educational systems, I mean public primary and secondary levels across the country. Congested classes, poor teaching facilities, dilapidated structures, insecurity, low budget, unqualified teachers, poor salary packages and many more. In a normal country, this requires declaration of a state of emergency. The worst part of it is that most public officials’ children attend expensive private schools, contributing huge stake to the problem at expense of public schools. What a shame!
Supposedly, your political party during the 2015 campaign was portrayed as pro-masses as opposed to the then incumbent, which was painted as corrupt and elite party. Undoubtedly, without urgent action, the future of our public universities will inevitably follow the same path. There has been patriotic effort by ASUU to improve our universities for decades, however, this only achieved a minimal desired goal. Currently, ASUU members have been on strike since March, 2020 in order to force FG to rescue our university system from collapsing. Sadly, these patriotic Nigerians have been subjected to harsh conditions of living, by withholding their salaries in this era of COVID-19. Imagine! Act now Mr President!
Food-security: the food crisis in the country paves the way for what I call ‘artificial famine’. The level of starvation and hunger is unbearable, particularly in the ravaged war zones of the Northeast. A combination of rising cost of living, energy price hikes, ‘energy apartheid’, disappearing middle class, and abject poverty result into health crisis, broken homes, and social disorder. Mr President why did you allow neo-liberal economists to hijack your government?
The neo-liberal agenda is to turn our economy into Western-oriented economy as promulgated by IMF and the World Bank. Consequently, this economic transformation would have adverse impacts on every aspect of our life such as commodification of education (education is meant for the rich), creation of ultra rich and ultra poor, exploitation of labour, social class system, housing crises, high rate of suicide, early depression and dementia. These and many more crises would be unravelled in our country as in the Capitalist societies. Unfortunately, it will be worse in our own case because of our weak institutions and endemic corruption.
Looking at this climate of fear due to pervasive insecurity, the biting economic hardship, the high rate of inflation in the country, how would a common man survive these hydra-headed challenges? Act now Mr President, please!
To tackle these challenges, we have our existing good policies, however, the problem with Nigeria is how to execute them faithfully.
Mr Zubairu can be reached at sulemuhd@gmail.com
