GEJ, don’t stop now!
You wondered why last year, world-renowned and award-winning novelist Chinua Achebe refused the National Award proffered him for the second time. Well, I wondered too and I finally have your answer. He refused it because fifty-one years after independence, twelve years into democratic rule, Things are still falling apart in Nigeria. My pun here is of course, fully intended.
I remember very well when you came into power.
The country had just limped through eight years of ‘Baba-arthritis’, two of the ‘Yar’adua-ria’ and was in dire need of fresh air. A green horn at politics of the higher pedestals, you came to us unassuming and shy. Armed with your boyish charm, black wide-brimmed local hat and as you never cease to remind us, bare feet, you won our hearts. It was not so much the promises you spouted as it was your ‘freshness’ – your coming in a package never seen before - that won you the popularity that eventually won you last year’s historic election. You were our man. We were happy. Until the bombings started.
What started off as ‘Post-election violence’(sic) before our eyes, morphed into full-scale terrorism, a type we hitherto only saw on CNN and Aljazeera. This happened on your watch, sir. While we grappled with the reality of this Hollywood movie come home to us, more blasts rocked us from the inside: state governors battled each other bloody with words, knives and guns in and out of court over already-bleeding mandates; those who had settled theirs proceeded to clear out hundreds of civil servants with decades of experience on the job without any compensation on the unconstitutional basis of state indigenousness; citizens’ rights were trampled upon all over the place; even the press couldn’t hide under either the Freedom of press right or the much-touted Freedom of Information act. And while all these happened, our roads did not get better, power was not supplied more constantly, healthcare got worse and crime soared along with its Siamese twin, corruption. We waited; to see what surprise treats this quiet school teacher from Bayelsa had tucked under his Nigerdelta hat. But treat became trick as you hit us with the biggest and most recent blast of all – Fuel subsidy out!
You say there is no money to deliver the dividends of democracy you have promised us. That the fuel subsidy which had hitherto sat fat in the pockets of our ever-grabbing bourgeoisie will solve that problem. But as you know, majority of Nigerians do not agree with you. And quite understandably so. But some others, a significantly minority, do. I am one of the minority. I believe that the removal of fuel subsidy is a necessary ‘evil’ which must be endured in the short term for a better long term.
My conviction is not based on my trust in the Goodluck-Sambo-led administration; I have very little, if any at all. Neither is it based on my intrinsic understanding of the implications of the deregulation of the downstream sector. My support for your stance on this issue is based on my knowledge of the basest of man’s natural inclinations – love of self. Man is a self-oriented animal, born to self, living for self and dying for self. Even the greatest acts of human kindness have varying degrees of the ‘me’ factor attached. There is always something in it for ‘me’, monetary gain, fame, recognition, respect or in the most genuine of cases, plain old self satisfaction.
A local Igbo saying goes thus: if a child is crying and pointing at a particular place and his mother is not in that place, then his father must be. If a man who enjoyed the sort of popularity and public support you enjoyed in Nigeria – a country of people who are known to only trust rarely and sparingly – is willing to risk that and everything else in a move as radical as this fuel subsidy removal, then I know that there must be a convinced plan in play. And I support that plan.
The scorch of the fire that the missing subsidy started is excruciatingly torturous. My days of ‘borrowing’ dad’s car for a few hours of fun knowing I can always refuel and re-park without any disturbing reprimands have seemingly ended. Public transport has become luxury with fares tripling over one another. I, like so many other Nigerians, have been forced on a fitness routine whose only formula is walk, walk and walk. I cringe at the thought of the sick and aged like my grandmother back home who cannot now afford to fuel her ‘ladies’ motorcycle walking all those dusty miles supported by sore knees and arthritic ankles. Don’t even talk of food; right now, leftovers are a taboo at home.
Yet I realize that with the moribund state we as a country have receded to, a bold and radical move, nothing less than a shocking one like this is needed if we are to see even this year through with our wits intact. I hope this is the move and I commend you for so fearlessly taking it. But that is about all you have done that I support. I cannot understand, much less support the manner you went about cushioning the effect of the subsidy removal. 1600 buses?! For how many people? Haba!
You have asked Nigerians to sacrifice comfort for a permanent good of motherland. But you have not given us good reason to do so. A serving senator’s working day pay exceeds the entire annual earnings of a medical doctor in Nigeria; it exceeds twice the pay of a certain Barrack Obama. And oh, did I add that Barrack Obama is the president of the United states?! ‘Miscellaneous’ allowances of most Nigerian public officials alone could put me through school and set me up for a comfortable life after. With taxpayers’ money, the ‘big men’ swap flashy cars like sim cards, send their kids abroad for better education and take their families on occasional holidays in Dubai and France. Where, sir, is the sacrifice in that?
Rather than buy buses which Nigerians would out of spite, raze rather than ride, I suggest you forget propaganda and see this move through. Since you have started this, follow it through to the end lest it become another white elephant project fallen by the roadside. The removal of fuel subsidy, I remind you, is the most ‘in-the-face’ move made by any leader of democratic, if not independent, Nigeria. Obasanjo came close with his attempt at a third term but you know too well how that went. The removal of this subsidy has affected lives so profoundly all over the nation that only similarly radical and fearless moves will suffice to cushion its effects. Show us how to sacrifice for this greater good you preach. Accept cuts in your pay and allowances; and since your governors and ministers are all falling over themselves to rally behind you on the issue, demand of them to also accept cuts in their exaggerated pays and stupendous allowances.
“When I’m challenged, I think more. I don’t rush to take decisions…That is why it looks as if I’m slow”. Your words, sir. With all due respect, Nigerians have seen enough thinking for one tenure. This is one time you cannot afford to be or even look slow. Forget promises, trash guarantees, act! Lead, Mr. President, that we might follow. Trust, you should know, is earned.
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