For a nation literally drowning in the sea of afflictions most of which are structural, historical and doubtless existential, the ongoing resort to sophistry by those who claim to have the answers to the national question would have been deemed as comical were it not to be so tragic.
It isn’t just the way the issues are being framed that is simplistic and cavalier; the way and manner that a section of the so-called thought leaders have chosen to misstate fundamental problems would have been laughable were circumstances to be different.
To start with, Nigerians might be forgiven for either imagining that the problems being complained about today suddenly chanced upon the country overnight, in which case the solution could simply be decreed away by some magic, or in the alternative, that those symptoms, which now constitute opposition talking points, could have been otherwise. While they whine about everything from loans to taxation and now fuel subsidy; and of inflation, corruption and the cost of living crisis; Nigerians at this point must find it extremely tragic that the opposition which claims to be waiting in the wings to take over power in 2027 have neither convinced Nigerians of any sufficient understanding of the issues not to talk of articulating an enduring solution beyond the emotive, routine stuff. Rather than spend the last three years to provide effective opposition to the Tinubu administration, offering practical and workable alternative ideas, Nigerians must find their ego-driven, intrigue-laden and utterly ineffectual opposition play not only exhausting but disappointing.
Today, it seems unlikely that the two clear leaders in their rank – Atiku Abubakar of the ADC and Peter Obi of the NDC –even for the perennial presidential contenders they have become –have taken in the hard lessons of 2023 with grace to enable them understand where and when things went wrong to connect better with Nigerians and thereby boost their electoral chances in the 2027 election.
Yes, they have, against the run of play, managed to snatch the fruits of the labour of others to secure their places on the ballot, which to yours truly is no mean achievement; but what else beyond the resort to those worn clichés about doing better than the incumbent?
Now we know that Atiku wants fuel subsidy returned. This is an individual, who only a short while ago, had deemed the entire subsidy administration as the corruption industrial complex suddenly requiring the rest of us to rethink its operation, since, in his opinion, the cure has proven to be worse than the disease! His latest prescription is that the convalescing patient returns to the same old indulgences that necessitated the initial intervention!
Even if we grant Atiku the elasticity of his definition of the subsidy, which really in Nigeria’s context is not only a misnomer but is more appropriately cost under-recovery of which provision must be made whether through crude swaps or other means, Nigerians might wonder at the woolly thinking under which he seeks to shift the subsidy to production away from consumption, and this under the government’s directing hands, while at the same time expecting a different outcome from what obtained under the ancient regime!
While such economic fantasy, seems best suited for the decidedly silly season, Nigerians might wish to know that the Atiku largesse does not even stop there; he wants our borders thrown open in the spirit of ECOWAS so our neighbours could enjoy a part of his promised good life, since Nigeria, ostensibly has enough cheap fuel to go round!
As for food inflation, Nigerians had better prepare for the return of those massive Lagos-bound warehouses along our sprawling borders, all of them filled with rice imports from Southeast Asia. It’s hard to conceive a weirder political economy in the age of protectionism!
By the way, Atiku also wants NELFUND, one of the stellar initiatives of the Tinubu administration converted to freebies – another by-product of the entitlement mind-set!
I surely understand why Peter Obi thinks he can do a better job of running the country. He is a successful trader and so must know a thing or two about wealth creation. Surely, no one should grudge him for that. His problem however is that he has not exactly been forthcoming on the question of how he plans to go about his mission. Pressed on the statistics, he insisted that those would remain his trade secret. Talk of a nation’s destiny being tied to some secret formula which only the man from Agulu can reveal! While at it, he readily cites examples of what Egypt, China and Indonesia have done, in power and industrialisation particularly in the area of micro, small and medium scale enterprises. He appears debt averse, hence his constant wail about the size of the debt. In other words, he considers borrowing a sin to be avoided if not entirely, shunned. Yet, he certainly has been far less convincing on what exactly he plans to do to grow the revenue needed to finance his developmental programmes. Surely, if Peter Obi claims any appreciation of the depth of the nation’s infrastructural challenges currently estimated at some $2.3 trillion, he is not known to have projected the appetite let alone the bold dreams required to make the difference in a typically underperforming economy.
Unlike the opposition, I don’t think the Tinubu administration can be fairly accused of not making its choice known on virtually every raging issue or even the pains associated with them.
Whether it is the fuel subsidy albatross which has constituted a black hole in the nation’s finances; the discretionary exchange rate and the distortions that characterised its mechanics, or even old the tax regime which successive regimes have lacked the courage to overhaul, the administration has certainly not been lacking in clarity as to the direction of where it is headed. Much as one would concede that the administration still has a lot of grounds to cover to ease the pains on the ordinary citizen, surely, the choice facing Nigerians couldn’t be one between the avowals of those individuals hung on entitlement or one whose performance is visible enough to see.
NOTE: Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Theliberationnews
