EDITORIAL: Can Nigeria stop all the palliatives and make our roads, healthcare, schools, electricity and industry work?
A jingle on a social media platform was heard just like it is on several radio stations, especially now in South West Nigeria, screaming how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has so much performed to deserve a second term and rule until 2031 if not for life.
A probe of the jungle was conducted on the poster, apparently not its owner but,who decided to take responsibility for the content as to what the president has done to deserve all of the praise-singing of describing him “either you or nobody else can”. The response by the poster waowed this editorial team
He said President Tinubu has made more money for Nigeria than any president in the nation’s history. He said Tinubu put more money in the pockets of government at all levels: federal, state and local government following his removal of fuel subsidy that has also made pricing of petroleum products competitive in the retail markets. He also claimed the palliatives and empowerment programmes by which, according to him, Tinubu has asked Nigerians to open accounts and register in named banks to access N70,000 monthly for them that are able to do so. He also talked of national student loan and more that he called hardship or palliative money to mitigate the effects of unprecedented poverty level the Tinubu’s hurried fuel subsidy removal and Naira devaluation or floating without local productivity have since May 29, 2023 forced on the people.
To The DEFENDER Newspaper, every Nigerian is entitled to make political statement that suits him but no citizen is guaranteed any right see people in traumatic hardship and excruciatingly biting poverty and still mock them because he wants to satisfy the political interest or tell the untrue story his political master wants to hear.
The truth that these praise-singing boot-leakers must start to tell their principals in power from now on is to say that all these empowerments and palliatives they do, thinking those are the reasons they are in government, must now stop because those are not in connection with need direction of Nigerians. Not only the president but also all the 36 states governors (with the president being head of FCT not the minister there) and 774 local government chairmen in the country.
Before giving anything to to the people and they are expected express satisfaction, that thing must be done based on needs-accessment. How many of the things these politicians in governments have done to their people that they have appreciated? Why have they not appreciated those things? Have these political leaders in power asked themselves? When you leave hospitals unequipped, doctors, nurses, laboratory workers and other staff not well paid and catered for but you go to say you are doing free medical service programmes across certain grassroots because you want to celebrate anniversary of your being in office, that is not governance.
It is not governance that you don’t let the farm or agriculture work but you declare an open-border policy that see smugglers and their customs collaborators thrive only for you to start distributing one kilogram rice that you call palliative, that is not governance. When you claim to build flyover along international routes, which has never been issued in neighbouring Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Maki and Nigeria Republic, and you allow the people wallowing in stress-packed situation due to unpassable roads that last for as many years as the ill-mannered contractors doing the job will take, when you eventually finish the bridge, are they the people that may have passed away due to that bad road inflicted stress that would be alive to pass use it?
Schools are not working but you go to a country in the Carrebian and say you are giving them scholarships to come into Nigeria and study. The amount of money you are spending to give these scholarship, if spent on Nigerians, will help the country deplete its out-of-school children challenges to a greater extent.
In a particular South West state beside Lagos, a virtually all the roads both federal, state and local government are impassable. Some state governors would even do their best to say it is their people, not federal, will benefit and fix some of these roads even without expecting reimbursement. But in this state, precisely Ogun, is a different case. From main to inner roads, all a sorry case yet government officials from council offices go round the bad structured communities to collect revenues. Affected people call it wickedness of leadership.
