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Unfortunately, a recent survey has warned that millions of unemployed or underemployed Nigerians have become local crusaders and social activists in their communities, waiting for the slightest opportunity to vent their anger against fellow citizens and the Nigerian state. George Bernard Shaw once said that “He, who has never hoped can never despair.” Although this may resonate with some Nigerians due to huge trust deficit between the leaders and the people, but Mood often changes everything.
By Goddy Ikeh
AMONG the promises of President Bola Tinubu on assumption of office include generating, transmitting and distribution of sufficient, affordable electricity “to give our people the requisite power to enlighten their lives, their homes, and their very dreams”.
And during his inauguration Tinubu said: “Our administration shall govern on your behalf but never rule over you. We shall consult and dialogue but never dictate. We shall reach out to all but never put down a single person for holding views contrary to our own. We are here to further mend and heal this nation, not tear and injure it.”
He also promised to “make basic healthcare, education, and housing accessible and affordable for all and most importantly, establish a bold and assertive policy that will create a strong yet adaptive national security architecture and action to obliterate terror, kidnapping, banditry, and all other forms of violent extremism from the face of our nation.”
In addition, Tinubu summed up it all with the promise to replace the despair on the faces of many Nigerians with joy and revive their fading hope in the ever-failing governance of the country.
However, about 12 months into his administration, millions of Nigerians are still waiting in vain for the fulfilment of any of these promises and the mood of Nigerians has since turned to despair in the midst of “Renewed Hope” of the administration.
While Nigerians daily agonise on the state of affairs in the country since the current administration came on board, some concerned Nigerians have been trying to figure out why the mood of the nation has been so down cast and what can be done to salvage the situation.
Capturing the fate of millions of Nigerians recently, Ridwan Jamiu wrote in February 2024, in TheCable, that “Each new day now breaks with uncertainty and despair. Lamentations and remonstrations rent the air. Rising prices of basic commodities make the life bleak, while the spate of insecurity makes the existence blight. Fear and hunger are the most deleterious social evils that may bedevil a nation… How do we deal with the socioeconomic challenges? But we are in the season of the renewed hope. Where is the hope?”
In his view, Prof. Usman Yusuf wondered if the Renewed Hope has turned to hopelessness?’
Reviewing Tinubu’s one year in office, Prof Yusuf, who is also a political commentator and member of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, stated that rather than inject the Nigerian people with some hope capsules, the administration of President Bola Tinubu has made Nigerians more hopeless in the last one year since assumption of office as the country’s President.
Speaking on Channels Television programme recently, Prof. Yusuf, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, said: “People have lost hope. It pains me to see our people lining up to collect cups of palliatives. Renewed Hope has turned into hopelessness. People have lost hope.
“The last one year has been a year of nothing but deception, destitution and hopelessness.
“From next week, they will start telling us their propaganda,” he said. “What have they done to benefit the ordinary people? In a span of one year, they have brought millions of people back into multidimensional poverty, they have pushed millions more children out of school because their parents cannot pay their school fees,” he said.
He also whipped the economic management team of the President, describing the members as “tax collectors” rather than “economists”.
“The economic team, to me, looks more like tax collectors than economists. Taxation does not grow economy; only production does,” he asserted.
In his reaction to the state of affairs in the country, a Nigerian cleric and public affairs commentator, said: “To say that hope is renewed means that hope was at the verge of hopelessness, but rekindled or needs an injection of vitality to spur it back to mobility. This gave rise to the slogan of the President Bola Tinubu invariably to reawaken a consciousness of promise of better life for Nigerians who hitherto had suffered untold hardship with the regime of Muhammad Buhari.
“Renewed hope was a promise to sway the electorate to vote for a change in favour of the APC. Having said that, after one year how has the promise been fulfilled?
“The Renewed Hope Agenda was to spread across all tiers of the lives of the people; from infrastructure to roads, transportation, housing, education, sports and more.
“This template would have scored a bull’s eye, except that its implementation is draconian and anti-people oriented. More so, if it has taken the path of a slow release, I bet you Nigerians would have accommodated it. In many areas, this template seems to wish well, but for the fact that it casts too much burden on the people.
“There is too much suffering in the land. Health is inaccessible, businesses are grounded, the dollar is undulating, fuel and diesel prices are alarming, rents are up, education is beyond reach. I wish these policies could really renew hopes,” local media reports quoted the Bishop as saying.
But reacting recently to the criticisms of the federal government, the Vice President Kashim Shettima, defended the bold reforms of the Tinubu’s administration, saying that the government came in at a critical period when there was a strong need to take some unpalatable and drastic measures in other to rescue the country’s dwindling economic situation from total collapse.
Speaking at the first edition of the Asiwaju Scorecard Series organised by the All Progressives Congress Professionals Forum in Abuja, Shettima said the ongoing reforms were becoming seemingly problematic for Nigerians because the Tinubu’s administration was not seeking shortcuts in its determination to revive the country’s ailing economy.
“In our quest for economic recovery, we must recognise that we are not here to cut corners. The path we have chosen is necessary. Indeed, His Excellency, President Boal Tinubu, has made the difficult, but necessary choices to ensure Nigeria’s long-term stability and prosperity are never in doubt. He has chosen a path that, although demanding, promises to save our nation from economic downfall,” he said.
It will be recalled that Tinubu’s administration began its flurry of policies with the pronounced removal of subsidy on petrol without wide consultations across the board and did not devise workable strategies to cushion the harsh economic effects of the petrol subsidy removal as well the foreign exchange policy which led to the free fall of the naira.
In the same vein, the latest poll by the Africa Polling Institute, API, has warned that many unemployed or underemployed have become local crusaders and social activists in their communities, waiting for the slightest opportunity to vent their anger against fellow citizens and the Nigerian state.”
In its survey of the one year in office of President Tinubu, the API survey scored the first year of the administration very low.
According to the survey, President Tinubu, who is still trying to figure out the best way of handling the demand for a review of the national minimum wage by the labour unions and managing the nation’s problematic economy.
The API in its survey stated that hunger, poverty and dissatisfaction are the harsh realities of Nigerians, as an overwhelming majority of citizens (84%) expressed profound sadness with the current state of affairs in the country.
The survey, released on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, said that 81% of respondents felt that the country was headed in the wrong direction, while 36% complain about growing hunger, 28% about the inability to meet basic needs, 13% focus on unemployment, 9% on heightened insecurity while 5% say acute electricity shortage is one of the biggest challenges they face personally.
“In addition, a staggering 74% of citizens affirmed that their personal economic situation has deteriorated over the last year, compared to 20% who said their personal economic situation had remained the same and a mere 5% who said it had improved,” the survey indicates.
The national survey, according to the API, was administered between May 1 and 18, 2024, to elicit citizens’ opinions and assessments of President Bola Tinubu’s first year in charge and that it was conducted using a stratified random sampling method, ensuring representation from all nationwide demographic groups.
It explained that a total of 3,996 citizens were interviewed, providing a robust and diverse dataset for analysis.
Furthermore, in terms of the job performance of President Tinubu, a significant 78% of citizens say he had performed abysmally, with 49% rate him “very poor” while 29% say grade him as “poor.”
This widespread dissatisfaction also extends to the performance of other arms of government, as a striking 81% of citizens rate Senate President Godswill Akpabio dismally, compared to 79% who rate Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, poorly.
Also, the Nigerian Judiciary under the CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, was not spared, as 75% of citizens also rate him poorly.
The API added that citizens were asked to assess the performance of President Tinubu’s cabinet in order to identify the performing and non-performing ministers.
“Interestingly, 68% of citizens think that none of the cabinet members had performed well since their appointments. However, 32% were willing to identify those they considered the top and least performing ministers,” the survey said.
The API survey refers to “a growing mass of aggrieved and discontented citizens nationwide, especially among the youth… Many are unemployed or underemployed and have become local crusaders and social activists in their communities, waiting for the slightest opportunity to vent their anger against fellow citizens and the Nigerian state.”
With the warning of the negative consequences of the growing mass of aggrieved and discontented citizens nationwide, especially among the youth and the worrisome mood of Nigerians, it is time to mend the frayed fabric of trust and weave a narrative of a business-friendly Nigeria that beckons investors, fosters innovation and ensures shared prosperity for all.
Perhaps, it is time for Tinubu to take a closer look at the promises he made to Nigerians and take urgent steps “to replace the despair on the faces of many Nigerians with joy and revive their fading hope in the ever-failing governance of the country”.
F.A
July 11, 2024
Tags: Goddy Ikeh Mood of the nation
