....calls for reduction on elective positions and govt appointees to achieve new Nigeria


A University Don, Prof Ikechuku Igwenyi, Ebonyi State University (EBSU), has reacted to the Sunday National broadcast by President Bola Tinubu on the ongoing nationwide hunger protest in some states of the federation.

It recalls that Tinubu's broadcast centred majorly on his policies on fuel subsidy removal, revamping the nation’s battered economy, education, the labour force and infrastructural development of the country.

Igwenyi in his write up, entitled: "I pity Mr President and the presidency" was released on Sunday in Abakaliki.

According him, I pity Mr President because it is not easy to be the President of Nigeria due to its diverse cultures, clannish and ethnic interests, primordial sentiments, religious affiliations, the Federal Character, agents of foreign interests and the effects of the civil war that have not been properly addressed till present.

"In my place, it is said that when someone else is wrestling, it is easier for spectators to say, "carry his leg" as if it's that easy and not knowing that the wrestler is actually suffocating and getting exhausted.

"Successive governments have come up with sound economic policies but we had challenged them, organised similar protests, campaigned against them even in churches, criticized government economic policies and yet, have not helped matters in our small corners.

"Hopes have been dashed in the past, promises made and not fulfilled, agreements reached without implementation and almost all those who proposed the Renewed Hope were the same persons who came with the Change concept we wished for and embraced with open arms.

"It becomes difficult to believe that something good can come from Nazareth," he added.

Igwenyi, however commended Mr. President for coming out to address the nation.

He said the the President address became necessary and noted that one positive point scored in the broadcast is that he has spoken to Nigerians and expressed himself to the best of his capacity.

"We now know he is pained by the loss of lives, destruction of properties, and the precarious conditions we have found ourselves.

"I am personally glad he appreciates that there are people with clear political agenda and bigots, who want to tear this nation apart.

"Some taking undue advantage of situations to threaten a section of this country. Part of our problem as a nation is the abrogation of History in our schools.

"We have had protests in the past and have never taken time to study the dynamics to elucidate the remote and immediate causes as well as the reasons we failed to protect lives and properties in otherwise perceived peaceful protests.

"Our leaders should have known the consequences of removing fuel subsidy and how to balance or cushion the effect. Meanwhile, removal of subsidy was a bold step in national economic recovery but the big question is how much subsidy was removed and how much was recovered.

"How was the money spent or invested because it is an economic fortune. Was it not supposed to be ploughed back to make our refineries work and put an end to the export of our crude oil and importation of refined products? These are reasons people believe it is a scam.

"In point of fact, most government policies are fantastic on paper and in the televisions but the real beauty lies in their practical implementation and impact on the people and the society at large.

"Revenue may have doubled, productivity increased in the non-oil sectors, debts serviced and probably incurred but Nigerians are more concerned on how the big grammer spoken are transformed into concrete goods and services for the common good and benefit of Nigerian in the streets.

"It is worthy of note to state that the END BAD GOVERNANCE PROTEST was caused by economic harship and bad leadership. The intended goals are to reverse bad and harsh economic reforms, both inherited and of the present government that plunged us into this hunger, insecurity and economic quagmire.

"Bad governance has led to economic retrogression, social instability, injustice and deprivations, intimidation, corruption, loss of public trust in government, high cost of living due to uncontrolled inflation, abuse of power, lack of access to affordable healthcare services as people drop dead every other day and general insecurity (of food, kidnapping, herdsmen attack, communal wars, insurgencies, etc).

There is no rule of law and people are so frustrated that they commit suicide while others have come to the conclusion that the safest place in Nigeria today is the correctional centres (prisons) where food and security are guaranteed for inmates.

"These conditions have made it difficult for government to fulfil their responsibilities and obligations to the people and it has accasioned this public outcry and protest against suppression of public opinions," the Don added.

Igwenyi said that it's worth to recall that the present economic hardship was caused by a few actions and inactions of government that are difficult to address either by lack of political will or because those gain from the prevailing system do not want a positive change in the status quo that would make Nigeria work for everyone.

He noted that one of the major triggers of this protest was the fuel subsidy removal, which came with a multiplier effect emanating from increased pump price of petroleum products and its direct effect on transportation, inflation, communication and health.

"The story is not clear to Nigerians as there is no transparency in the implementation.

"The second issue is high cost of living and food scarcity occasioned by herdsmen attacks and insurgencies in the North-East and Southern Nigeria. Farmers have been kidnapped, killed or expelled from their farmlands leading to food shortage and scarcity, which is a predisposing factor to imminent malnutrition in the country, if not mitigated now.

"The third is wage disparity that has eroded the middle class in Nigeria, creating a wide gap between rich and the poor.

"Democracy taught us that we have the People first before the government. Therefore, government is for the people but a situation where the three arms of government isolate and insulate themselves from the people does not speak well of democracy.

"The wages of the Executives, the Legislature and Judiciary are outrageous while the labourers who work the system with their sweat and blood live in abject poverty and penury. The three arms protect themselves with security personnel (Army, Police, etc) while the people are allowed to their fate, at best given the approval to raise their own security in the form of the so-called Vigilante groups, whose sphere of influence ends at the doorstep of the least government agent.

"The civil servants, teachers and university lecturers, who generate and drive the economy are enslaved and paid slavish salaries, which are taken back with high tariff, taxes, levies and market forces. The next is high cost of governance and lack of transparency in administration.

"Elective positions and government appointments should be reduced to public service and paid as such. Elected and appointed public servants do not have any reason to feel threatened by those who loved them so much to elect them into executive and leadership positions, to the extent of surrounding themselves with security personnel and depriving the people of the security agents employed to secure lives and properties.

"These are some of the issues and Nigerians expect that all attached Police and Military personnel should be withdrawn and made professionals in the dispensation of justice and protection of our territorial integrity.

"The will make elected and appointed public servants accountable to their people. This will help to reduce high cost of governance as well as abolishment of purchasing expensive cars for these political office holders, who are supposed to be accomplished men and women before getting into such offices.

"This will bring sanity and the much desired public/Civil service reform beginning from Local to Federal government. Unfortunately, these issues have not been abated and they constitute roadblocks to democratic dividends and economic growth and development of Nigeria, and I deed Africa.

"They are triggered by lack of self-confidence and defections, political competition, greed, rivalries and lack of social justice. There is lack of proper oversight, accountability and self-cleansing mechanisms for checks and balances, and implementation of unfair policies and deceptions leading to a failed State, poor economic growth, abuse of human rights and corruption. These have led to misrule, mismanagement and maladministration.

"It is at this point I will say that the address of the President fell short of expectations as the triggers were not properly addressed to the satisfaction of Nigerians and in a way to restore hope or renew our hope, otherwise the protesters would have dispersed and wait for the reversal or implementation of such workable palliative policies.

"There is need to accept that the world is facing depression and we can trace it to a beginning and think out of the box as an independent and sovereign nation. Our problems are multidimensional and I had expected Mr President to disaggregate them, place them on a scale of preference and come up with a workable priority, based on available resources, that are implementable as a way to assuad the people's grief and pains.

"There is multidimensional hunger and social instability. #endsars# issues have not been satisfactorily addressed and there is unemployment in the land, general insecurity, food scarcity, high tariff on Power that is even epileptic, VAT and taxation issues. Yes, it's good that the President has signed the Minimum wage of ₦70,000:00k to law but it's also good to know that the wage cannot buy a bag of rice today in Nigeria and there is no measure to check inflation. How can a family survive in an economy where there is unprecedented unemployment and job insecurity?

"If the minimum wage cannot buy a bag of rice, how far can it go in taking care of health and social bills, school fees, house rent, mobility, communication, care of parents and dependents, not to talk of community development. It makes no meaning when other basic needs are not affordable due to harsh and coarse economic policies.

"Due to overdependence on oil, which has aggravated this problems, one palliative solution would have been to revitalize our refineries and give Dangote the ease of doing business so as to crash down the pump price of petroleum products.

"The turnaround maintenance of our refineries would have given our local economy a boost rather than a fresh interest and massive investment in Compressed Natural Gas to power our transportation economy, considering the economies of production, storage and delivery, associated hazards, conversion cost and overall cost of implementation. This is a good policy but the timing and other considerations may not give us the desired effect.

"On the broadcast, it was obvious that the request made by Mr. President was enjoining protesters to suspend the protest and create room for dialogue.

"My worry is in the immortal words of Martin Luther King, who said that "peaceful protest for civil rights would lead to sympathetic media coverage and public opinion". Government is always adamant to public opinion. Government is not always proactive because organisations and Nigerians have been crying out since subsidy removal.

"NLC and TUC have their issues with it. ASUU is threatening industrial actions over an agreement reached since 2009 with several Memoranda of Understanding and Memoranda of Action that have not been implemented. Secondary and Primary aschool Teachers have their issues.

"Market women and Farmers are complaining. People are expelled in their communities and live IDP camps in their own country where we have the Armed Forces under oath to protect them and the properties. Government will never engage them effectively until when they take to the streets or embark on industrial action.

"ASUU has been crying out on the level of dilapidation and decadence in public tertiary institutions and instead of looking at he merit just as past government did in setting up NEED ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME and funding education for revitalization, the Government is comitting a huge amount of money to Student Education Loan, which will not add any value to infrastructural development, provision of teaching aids, laboratory consumables, hostels, library and recreational facilities, staff development and secure the welfare of staff and students.

"The dangers inherent in this Student Education Loan outweighs the benefits and the worse is that those who are directly affected by such policies (lecturers and students) were not carried along in the decision making.

"The Student Loan has been described as strangulating and capable of subjecting beneficiaries to life of slavery to loan repayment with consequences for suicidal ends but despite the public outcry, Government has not reneged but gone ahead to implement it and process funds for disbursement, not minding the consequences and the difficulty in loan recovery in Nigerian economy.

"In fact, the Consumer credit Corporation is a good idea, Digital and Creative Enterprise is a wonderful plan, Skilled-up Artisans Programme sounds good, Nigerian Youth Academy and National Youth Talent Export Programme are laudable as well as MSME hubs.

"The big question is how to monitor and integrate them into a workable solution. These are long term projects. Giving incentives to farmers like fertilisers does not guarantee availability of seeds, safety on the roads, security in the farms, excruciating taxes and levies, peace in communities and inflationary trends in the markets. The roads are not safe and not all Nigerians can afford flight tickets.

"This is the time to go back to the drawing table, get our political economists to work, engage with our lawyers, University lecturers, youth organisations, farmers, students organisations, religious leaders and traditional rulers, all stakeholders and all concerned so that we can come out with a workable political solution and economic master plan with a local content for Nigeria. Unfortunately, we assign less that 10% of our national budget to Education as well as

"Research,.innovation and development. Two party system is the best for us and a review of our Constitution is necessary to provide the legal framework for a new Nigeria. Public service and judicial reforms are necessary. Ease of doing business and patronage of local goods such as Innoson Vehicles, local rice and food products will encourage and promote local production. Special Advisers, Technical Advisers and other government Aids should leave the offices and go to the field. We can start afresh because it's better Kate than never. Let us have a renewed hope and consciousness that everyone is born equal and that no animal is more equal than the other.
This is a voice of conscience.

Tinubu's broadcast is a step in the right direction. It's commendable that he is addressing the nation during these challenging times. Acknowledging the struggles of Nigerians shows he understands the weight of leadership. The call for dialogue is essential; we need to unite and work towards solutions together. Let's support our president in this journey towards a better Nigeria!

Tinubu just like most Yoruba Muslims ( Ronu Muslims) is very confused right now, the protested against GEJ and now the don't want protest