Nigeria’s Calamitous Movement: Which way out?, by Prof. MK Othman
Deep Thoughts with Othman
Nigeria is calamitously moving to the abyss of anarchy with the serious tendency of tragic disintegration. Life is becoming unbearable to a common man by the day. To many Nigerians, the daily essentials for a good or even manageable living are difficult to afford and access. Prices of necessities; rent, food, transportation, health services, electricity, water rate, and the rest have all skyrocketed to high heaven with seemingly no effort from any corner to bring the prices down.
People are at the mercy of producers and traders. At the beginning of this year’s (2022) Ramadan, the Chairman, BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Isyaku Rabiu warned the dealers against the hike of commodities prices, threatening to withdraw the dealership license of anyone found hiking prices of the commodities.“The company had directed that any of the dealers found increasing the price of the commodities is bound to lose his license”. The Chairman was quoted.
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Economically, educationally, health-wise and security-wise shreds of evidence of the poor living conditions of Nigerians manifest in every nook and cranny of this country. In the economy, the purchasing power of the local currency, the Naira is deteriorating alarmingly. One US Dollar was exchanged for around 350 Naira in 2019 but exchanged for over 500 Naira in December 2021. On 1st April 2022, one US Dollar was exchanged for 590 Naira. The inflation rate of food items made from imported materials such as flour doubled in less than a year. For example, 50 kg flour was sold at N13,500 in June 2021 and was sold at N20,500 in November 2021 and now costs N21,000. The World Bank report released in June 2021 stated deterioration of the economy had pushed about seven million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2020 alone. The report added, “as of April 2021, the inflation rate was the highest in four years” while the unemployment level grew to 33.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020. Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 35 per cent in December 2021 while the purchasing power of the Naira has alarmingly deteriorated to the lowest level since the country’s independence in 1960.
On the security situation, Nigerians are no longer sleeping with one eye open, we are sleeping awake, our eyes may be closed but our ears are widely opened expecting to hear gunshots from the neighbourhood, sometimes in the early hours of the night. The type and kind of sound of the gunshots make us prepare either for the doomy event or a warning sound from the vigilantes guarding the area.
The exigency of the situation has made us distinguish between the sounds of a shot from a Dane gun (locally made rifle), pump-action gun, or the mighty queen of rifles, AK47/49. A vigilant is a security volunteer who risks his life to provide security service and stay awake over the night so that the residents can nap (not really sleeping). Vigilantes use Dane guns, and their shots sound becomes security assurance to people. The sounds of pump-action guns and AK47/49 may come from security personnel or the deadly night marauders. The frequency and sporadic nature of the shots distinguish the two; while the security personnel is mindful of the number of bullets used but the night marauders are unmindful of wasting as many bullets as possible to scare the hell out of the residents. Thus, shots from the night marauders come with high frequency and are sporadically made. Realistically, we live with the constant fear of security breaches at home or in transit, in the morning, evening, or night and there is no haven for anybody. The bullets of insurgents, bandits, and assassins have cut down the low and the mightiest in cold blood, more often than not, without an iota of provocation. Sometimes, a whole village is sacked, tortured, maimed, killed and their women raped for just a “heck of it” making one wonder and ponder about the purpose and the aim.
This is just the prelude to daily happenings concerning the disastrous security situation in Nigeria. Our daily prayers to the Almighty God for protection against the pervading insecurity situation are what keep us moving with our lives; trepidation, suffering but smiling and hopeful. Life goes on. As we gather momentum, to manage ourselves to live under this unbearable condition, the big bang occurred with the fatal blow to “safe, secured and assured” means of transportation, the medium speed train shuttling between Abuja and Kaduna, the two most important cities in Nigeria, particularly the north. The ill-fated train was attacked on 28th March 2022 with 398 passengers who bought tickets for the trip but 362 were validated as having boarded the train through the gate.
Soon 1st April 2022, we can only account for less than 200 passengers as stated by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria “The Corporation, in continuation of its concerted effort through repeated calls, has been able to confirm the safety of 170 passengers, while 21 passengers are reported missing by the relatives who made calls to us., confirmed the incident to journalists”.
Wow, if it is in other climes, this type of information would have made heads roll with forceful or voluntary resignations of topnotch at the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the security agencies, news media would have been awash with breaking news on the matter, and there would be no sleep until every soul of the ill-fated train is fully accounted; dead, alive or injured. But this is Nigeria, we shrug our heads pretending to be worried but, in a moment, continue with our lives. Earlier, Kaduna Airport was threatened that delayed an aircraft from taking off. So, today, there is no safe, secured, and assured means of transportation on land, air, and sea. The only thing that keeps us transiting is our determination to travel with our unflinching faith in the power of the Almighty God and destiny.
Educationally, the drift is so glaring that Nigerians have no confidence in primary and secondary school levels of education. NECO and SSE results have lost their meanings and values. “Miracles centres” and high-level sharp practices have rendered the result of obtaining credits from these examination bodies almost useless. Some of us in the university system are no longer impressed with the number of credits a child has in his/her NECO or SSE results. Some parents believe in bribing their way for their children to pass exams even at the tertiary level through monetary inducement. In the end, students undergo prescribed educational programs without obtaining the relevant knowledge of the subjects. Paper qualifications without the knowledge are just useless, deceptive, and injurious to society.
To be concluded next week.
Prof Othman writes from NAERLS, ABU Zaria and can be reached via email: mkothman@gmail.com.
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