COMMENT: Current hardship in Nigeria not indication of food scarcity but misapplied policies of government
(A clarification from the Diaspora by Abanikanda Olumoro to a Buhari Ahmed’s article)
“Those who shouted “Yoruba Ronu” before the 2023 presidential election are now lamenting, blaming their once-admired son for causing them hardship. Many have lost their jobs, and numerous businesses have been shut down due to the anti-policy enacted by their own son,” Bashir Ahmed wrote.
His claim of possible Nigeria transitioning from inflation into famine may pass being his right to freedom of information, which The DEFENDER like every other person respects, but Buhari Ahmed – as the name of the author of an article titled, “Your son has turned Nigeria’s economy into a desert” published by 9Newsng.com was called – should know that Nigeria’s problem currently, in truth, is not an indication of food scarcity connected to any Fulani herdsmanism but simply misapplied policies of government. No economy in the world can survive with an exchange rate of N1,800 or thereabout to $1 and removed fuel subsidy in a nation without functional oil refinery where yet lives of all depend on fuel.
Ahmed may be right in certain areas of the article but, definitely, is not correct to blame Fulani herdsmen for food security challenges in Nigeria because Fulani herdsmen, themselves, are stakeholders in the production of food to feed the nation and, anyone who wants to make presentation that is acceptable on food security challenges should set his mind away from what obtains in South West or Yoruba Land because, that geopolitical zone cannot acceptably be used as a case study when the talk is about food basket. The title of food basket verifiably resides only with Northern Nigeria. If, therefore, the problem of kidnapping in South West Nigeria, which is a crime perpetrated by criminals from across all ethnic and religious groups, is used by anyone as why food is scarce in Nigeria, such author should retire his position before he is helped to do so.
It helps no one to feed untruth into the masses of Nigerian people in a situation where people believe anything. It is unfair to the nation’s unity, peace and development to profile any insecurity along religion and ethnicity line. In the North, what is obtained as responsible for possible food scarcity (famine) is terrorism and that cannot be tagged against Fulani herdsmen as terrorism is global. Talk less that the hunger in the land that Nigerians face currently, under Tinubu, is not caused famine or lack of adequate food supply but inflation arising from fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira unprepared.
Bashir Ahmed wrote, “Things are no longer the same, not even when the so-called acclaimed democrat, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, took over from dictator Muhammadu Buhari, who had devastated the economy and enriched his own people. Insecurity has been a major concern. It’s been 8 months since Tinubu took over from Buhari. Hundreds of people have been killed. In a single day, almost 200 people were killed in Plateau state by suspected Fulani militia. Yet, Tinubu felt comfortable inside the Aso Rock. He traveled out of the country every time people were said to be killed or kidnapped.”
He is right to say, “Kidnapping in Nigeria has become a lucrative business that many people are involved in. The anti-people policies implemented by Tinubu have harmed numerous businesses in the country and led to the premature deaths of hundreds of people. It is obvious that Tinubu is enforcing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agenda against the desires of the people. Nigeria’s current inflation rate stands at 29% and is projected to reach 49% in the second quarter. This indicates a looming disaster if the government fails to address the issue promptly. People are already expressing their discontent with the economic hardship in the country by shouting “Ebi npa wa.”
“Tinubu has been using the Lagos template to replicate the problems of over 200 million Nigerians. He removed fuel subsidy without providing any other alternatives, deliberately causing the demise of many businesses and leaving people feeling hopeless, all while benefiting from the people’s taxes. Tinubu is not as messy as the sojourn of Yoruba Ronu claimed, and he can never be like Awolowo or MKO Abiola. He’s not different from Joseph Stalin, who brought in a live chicken, plucked it until it was naked and bleeding, and found the chicken with grain despite the pain.
“Tinubu has never been a genuine leader, as he claims, not even in the South-West, where innocent people have been killed and kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen. Our people can no longer go to their farmland to farm because of the fear of the unknown. Famine has engulfed the country, leading to widespread hunger and deaths. The prices of food have skyrocketed due to many farmers abandoning their land. Unfortunately, the Tinubu government has failed to address this critical situation.
“Until the Nigerian government is ready to end this herder menace, if not, we will transition from inflation to famine. The famine in the country is a reality, showing that Tinubu has emphatically proven to be economically illiterate, contrary to the desperate and misleading claims made by his supporters prior to the presidential election. The cost of living has skyrocketed considerably, and even the minimum wage is not sufficient to purchase a single bag of rice, let alone meet other financial needs,” Ahmed wrote but with more of mixture of truth and falsehood hence the need for separation and sorting of same and putting them in their respective perspectives.
He also said, “The way forward, Tinubu needs to stop giving governors palliatives to share. The governors are pursuing their own selfish interests. Instead, they should distribute palliatives to those in need, rather than favoring their party members and leaving vulnerable people helpless. Meanwhile, palliative care can never and would never cushion hunger or solve Nigeria’s problems. Nigeria’s challenges require a comprehensive approach that includes measures to control inflation, increase income levels, create jobs, provide social safety nets, diversify the economy, improve governance, and invest in infrastructure.
“The Tinubu administration should give priority to diversifying the economy, particularly by fostering growth in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and technology. This approach can generate additional job opportunities and lessen reliance on imported goods. He should prioritize economic revival and strategic resource management for Nigeria’s benefit, rather than solely enriching his associates.
“Those who shouted “Yoruba Ronu” before the 2023 presidential election are now lamenting, blaming their once-admired son for causing them hardship. Many have lost their jobs, and numerous businesses have been shut down due to the anti-policy enacted by their own son. Now that we have a common enemy, we need to show the world that Yorubas are not bastards. All of us need to come out en masse and protest against Tinubu, who only feeds his family with our patrimony and has enslaved 200 million Nigerians under IMF anti-people policies.
“Elections truly have consequences. The policies and decisions of our leaders indeed have impacts on our lives, either positive or negative. Tinubu’s policies have turned millions of Nigerians into beggars,” Bashir Ahmed wrote as published by 9newsng.com.
Truth of the matter
Some Nigerian supporters of the Tinubu administration, who have tried to describe the current hardship emanating from hunger and anger as global phenomenon, are also simply overshooting the runway stabbing the truth and fact on the back. People, who live in other countries of the world may be facing natural economic challenges or hardship caused by Ukrainian war and now failed sanctions of the United States of America-led Western sanctions against Russia, question that needs be asked is: What are the dispositions and attitudes of their government leaders to those challenges? Their government leaders, because of sincerity of purpose towards the oaths they took to uphold the rule of law and ensure security and good living of their people regardless of tribe and religion, holdfast to patriotism by being transparent and accountable and not allowing non-state actors (as it is seen in major Nigerian states like Lagos) who are not recognised by law to govern or take part in state control. This that is lacking in the Nigeria of now is the reason for the hardship in the land and no decision to mislead the public can change this fact. Up till now, amidst cries of hunger in Nigeria, commercial vehicle and motorcycle operators are still going through arrowing conditions in the hands of those they call unions who Unleash countless groups of “taskforces” on the road collecting taxes that have no receipts to show. These unions in the South West especially in Lagos and Ogun states are more powerful than the constitutional police. No thanks to politicians of the states, who make it happen.
How does a government choose to distribute food items in corruption-ridden society like of Nigeria, where palliatives are rather treated as largesse of government for selected party members as against urgently arranging warehouses of food items and making costly food available at affordable prices for the poor and downtrodden to buy, and leaders of that government still feel no guilt in their conscience? They should have it sealed in their hearts that if the masses do not know they are being deceived, they (the leaders) are fully aware they are deceivers for real.
Even in developed countries to which Nigerians now japa, government subsidise commodities essential for the good living of their people. In Republic of Benin, anywhere from Cotonou to Ajase and from there to Parakou, stable electrucity is evident but Nigeria that supplies that country cannot account for power supply that DisCos give to their paying customers despite making them pay heavily for power not enjoyed.
Also in Nigeria, it is sad that government leaders exist, who believe that to solve the problem of fuel subsidy corruption committed by few is to remove fuel subsidy thus punishing the over 200 million people who are supposed to be served with the only known benefit the masses have seen from government. To make it worse, the government allows Naira to float against foreign currencies and is further planning removal of subsidy on electricity that is not even available to consumers who pay for power unsupplied. All of these happening in a country that has not yet decided whether it truly needs to be self-dependent on Made-in-Nigeria products as ensured by the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari or not.
Being productive is the best solution to make Nigerian Naira strong and this can be achieved either by declaring a ‘State of Emergency’ on industrial revolution and/or tying the natural resources that Nigeria has of oil, gold and other solid mineral resources as well as services that Nigerians are capable of rendering to foreign consumers to the Nigerian Naira as against to the Dollar. It is on record the role of Textiles as a major factor in the industrial sector and highest paying employer at a time in the past when Naira was on higher side of the scale with American Dollar at the base. Former President Buhari in his time started the Cotton-Textile-Garment (CTG) Revival Programme. Tinubu, who is of the same political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) that has ruled in succession since 2015, would have made good effort at strengthening the Nigerian Naira by completing resuscitation of the Textiles as a quicker way of making Nigeria great in the things that ‘State of Emergency’ on industrial revolution would achieve.
This country needs political will to achieve this. Almost African countries have moved on along this like of economic development, only Nigeria, the supposed Giant of Africa, is still lagging being. Something fast must be done.
Governor Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, said it all when at the official commissioning of Iseyin Central Mosque in Iseyin, Oyo State, last week, precisely Thursday February 22, 2024 he said the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government of ruled by the APC should stop playing politics with the lives of people and do away with propaganda, adding that if the people have complained about policies the government had formulated that it is causing them hardship, it should listen to the people’s cries and change the policy.
However, Buhari Ahmed in this article has made his point and this correctional rejoinder is expected to help Nigerians to better understand the truth and what positions of the masses in the country and people on the international scenes should be on the matter.
