Nigeria at 56: agony of overgrown toddler (2)

Relishing their success, just after cajoling the regime into agreeing to an obvious self-destruct decision, they are now back plotting an even more fatal tragedy. The campaign to make the government dispose of public assets is in full gear; neo-liberal thinkers’ full-fledged assault on an already prostrate economy.

How can selling off public assets (at giveaway prices) to the same congregation of elites who are largely responsible for most of the country’s calamities and their international collaborators rescue the country from recession?

Our problem is not the assets but the cost at which they were acquired in the first place and the cost at which they are maintained today and the fact that they have become the proverbial ‘white elephant’, thanks to our inveterate culture of corruption.

Again, these ‘mouthpieces’ won’t stop extolling the virtues of this big sell-off (as if they mean it), reminding us of how better off we would be in no time if those fat cats were allowed to take over the country. And the logic is simple: we are flat broke and need money and for us to raise a fantastic amount we must give up everything for almost nothing. Lucky fat cats!

Was it not in the same manner a previous regime sold off assets to the lowest bidders to the utter disbelief and frustration of the highest bidders and people and country? Was it not before our very eyes that a short-lived regime reversed the sales and handed back our properties? Unfortunately, we are back on the same dishonourable path. Poor country, poor people!

President Buhari means well, there’s no denying that but the trouble with this regime is it doesn’t say much. It quietly does its business, which is good. But the people, who make sacrifices and are at the bottom-line of every policy failure or success, have the right to know what prescription they are administered.

Many, in complete demonstration of trust and fairness to the government, appreciate the difficult circumstance under which it came to power and operates and, so, are still willing to give it more time to sort things out. But it isn’t a blank cheque!

But I absolutely agree with the president that it’s time for sacrifices. And sacrifices must we all make to rescue our sinking ship. So, this takes me right back to my promise to come back to the issue of sacrifice.

The goodwill President Buhari enjoyed when he came to power on the promise to fix Nigeria is unparalleled in our country’s entire history, regardless of the grumbles in some parts, where some bad losers threatened to torpedo us. It is also true that, just like the saying that it takes the breaking of eggs to make an omelette, for things to get better we must pay a price now.

The people have to, therefore, put up with hike in fuel pump prices; with rising prices of essentials like food; with collapsing Naira, in exchange for foreign currencies etc. And this is because for a better tomorrow we must give up something today. Good and that’s just one part of the bargain.

The other part of it is the leaders must also be ready to cut down their own luxuries and put up with some forms of austere lifestyle. We are told our president lives on a lean budget and we believe it. But do those over pampered parliamentarians (in the Senate and House of Representatives) have ‘sacrifice’ in their lexicon? Not with what we see re purchases of choice properties in Panama and Dubai and exotic, overpriced cars. They certainly live in a separate world!

The other day I nearly laughed off my head when I heard those in the upper chamber had agreed to donate a measly N300, 000 each to the IDPs from the insurgency in the northeast. Let’s not forget that the plight of these IDPs is already causing us international embarrassment; it’s a scar on our conscience. But these beneficiaries of unquantifiable bloated or padded budgets shamelessly mock them. Yet we talk of sacrifices!

And there’s Abdulmumin Jibrin’s can worms, which nearly tore down the lower chamber before Speaker Yakubu Dogara finally found respite by butting him out, to everyone’s bewilderment. So, the case like many of its kind is washed down the drain and forgotten. And we still talk of sacrifices?

I personally do not care whether Jibrin, who clownishly refers to himself as a whistleblower, gets lynched or not. By the way who told him he’s a whistleblower? Did he actually blow any whistle or tried to get even with his ex bedfellows? Let them lynch or drown him but the case must not be allowed to die so that all those responsible are brought to justice. It is only then we will have the credibility to look at those poor Nigerians who voted for change and ask them for more sacrifices.

(To be concluded)