Opinion: The General and His Captives By Daniel Egwuonwu

The country was shocked to its foundations at the breaking of the news of PMB’s government decision to transfer the burden of subsidy payment from the federal government to the masses. I would have bothered a little about this development but something tells me that posterity will certainly not be fair on its judgment of anyone that will decide to be silent at this very important season of our survival as a nation. Several emails and calls I have received on this matter has further reinforced my position that silence and inaction is certainly not an option!! God forbid that it will be me that says and does nothing at this time!!

These days I find it difficult to write. So many thoughts begging to be put together on paper to shine the light of my opinion on many burning national issues; Issues that affect every ordinary Nigerian - like myself, and have its bearing on the very heart of our continuous existence.

I will neither bother myself with the history of our past nor bore you with the chronicle of how we got to where we are. I cherish your attention, your time and your interest on this piece of writing that I can’t risk to lose it.  The issues of now are too weighty for us to continue to dwell in the mistakes of the past leaders or in the hypocrisy of the club of people in power now (By the way, they are two sides of the same coin rebranded by “change”).

 

Unstable like the weather, our leaders have changed in both ideologies and belief. They sink all manner of promises down our throat during elections only to vehemently and blatantly deny same after the elections. The Government of General Mohammed Buhari is not an exception to this and the same trend is seen across all levels of government – from local councils to the Federal government. Tracking the promises of the present and past administrations will be a subject of another day.

We have seen the masses raped repeatedly with bad policies. Hanging desperately to the promise of change, we take every hit with hope, praying furiously that this government must not fail. For how long are we to believe their lie? They told us they care for us but do not feel our pain. They promised us paradise but are giving us poverty. They blame everybody but themselves even when a great number of them has been part of governance in Nigeria for the past 30 years.

 

Power supply has been at its worst ebb in the last 9 months. Every Nigerian family has turned to a mini power plant. Generators has turned to our major source of power supply.  Many people who were gainfully employed before now are forced out of job not for incompetence but because their organizations existence as a going concern is troubled by the challenges of the macroeconomic environment. There is no Forex for raw materials, no favorable government policy to support industrial growth and epileptic power supply that has led to the price of diesel for generators guzzling over 52% of the total cost of production.

 

May I therefore state strongly that the decision to remove fuel subsidy at this time is premature as there is no palliative put in place to absolve its effect on Nigerians. It further goes to show the level of insensitivity of the current government. With the rising rate of inflation and job loss as well as the worsened power supply situation and the increase in electricity tariff, there seems to be a conscious effort by the ruling class to obliterate the middle class. A conspiracy to impoverish and subdue a greater number of the Nigerian people.

 

We must resist it! Nigerians must stand up and resist it!!This nation belongs to all of us not a few of us!! Democracy is about the government of the people for the people. We are the people, therefore, Government policies must work for us and not against us. Any Government that does not alleviate but elevate the sufferings of its people does not deserve their mandate! Needless to say that the palliatives proposed by the Government are vague and the increment in minimum wage proposed by labour was not considered in the budget and so not looking feasible.