Why Endhardship now? by Uji A. Iliyasu
Why are youths demanding an end to bad governance now? Bad governance, corruption in high places, economic hardship, unequal opportunities and injustice, as well as expensive democracy in Nigeria, all have far-reaching effects on all Nigerians, and have been threatening the foundation of Nigeria’s statehood since independence.
Sometimes, we wonder whether it was a monumental disservice by our nationalists and statesmen past to demand for independence from Great Britain, attained in 1 Oct.1960, with fanfare.
Why?
While the hardworking, patriotic masses of Nigeria, are at the bottom of Mount Everest, the insignificant rich class, who are government-dependent, enjoys a daily feast on the top of the mountain.
I use the extremes of Mount Everest as a metaphor for social and economic rungs of the ladder between the dying masses and the age-renewing public officeholders.
Nigerians at the lower rung of the ladder wake up with nothing to eat for the day. Families who are lucky, eat once in a day; sometimes the heads have immediate and extended family members to cater for.
The rich class at the top wake up in the morning, undecided where to spend the unearned billions pilfered from the state treasury at the expense of the state-aprroved deprivation of the working class.
But why are common Nigerians calling for Endhardship protest? Are we no longer satisfied with the crumbs that fall from the table of our slave masters? Are the masses tired of singing the praises of the political class and bureaucrats in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for peanuts?
Are the masses tired of waiting in the rain and under the sun to cast their votes during general elections for politicians seeking election to the lucrative democratic industry that produces billionnaires in a single tenure?
Waiting for God’s intervention?
Why are the highly religious Nigerian masses now want to end bad governance? Cannot we wait to suffer and smile quietly waiting for God to intervene? Maybe we have lately realised that the nations of the Arabs and Jews are holier than Nigeria.
But Saudia Arabia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel and Rome, with all their holy men and women, did not wait for God to intervene for them when unscrupulous leaders ruled them.
Why end bad governance?
Are high unemployment, poverty and lack of access to basic needs like food, water, and shelter lacking or deprived?
Do rising crime rates, kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism, make citizens feel unsafe at home and in the streets?
Are there armed ethnic militias seeking colonies in states far away from their states of origin, killing locals and causing destructions in the communities with government standing aloof helplessly?
Are our schools underfunded, curricula outdated, and teachers poorly trained and remunerated?
Do the children and wards of the leadership class doing their studies at home or abroad? And when they return home with questionable degrees, are they made heads of MDAs over their home-based counterparts with better experiences?
Are our roads dilapidated, our electricity inadequate in supply and cannot meet the needs of artisans?
And prices of oil and cooking gas gone beyond the rich of a common man?
Can a government that is run on palliatives that end up in the homes of public officeholders and palaces of traditional rulers survive the new world order?
Do patriotic citizens suffer discrimination in legal and socio-economic spaces? Do they also suffer inequality and human rights abuses in their daily pursuit of livelihood?
Are talented Nigerian professionals emigrating to Europe and Americas seeking better opportunities which depletes the country’s human capital and potential?
If the questions above are answered in the affimative, I doubt if the combined armies of Russia, China, US, UK, France and Germany can contain the people’s vex in the streets.
Can you quote me if I say bad governance did not start with President Tinubu or the All Progressives Congress (APC)? But I dare to say excruciating hardship was triggered by the removal of the subsidy on petroleum products
right from inauguration on 29 May 2023, by President Tinubu.
Bad governance impact negatively, common man and unconnected Nigerians across all walks of life. Therefore, I make it bold to say the planned protest cannot work. The only protest that can work is one that comes spontaneously without leaders or followers; where protesters pour into the streets fearlessly facing police bullets and military tanks because they are prepared to lay down their lives so that a more prosperous and equitable society can be attained for those who survive.
Uji A. Iliyasu, is Features Editor at Neptune Prime.
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