The Iyalode

It is honestly disheartening to be a Nigerian at this time. And if there were not other factors (including sentimental factors) to be considered, the truth is that everyone would jump ship.

When this question was thrown out, about what people would do if Nigeria were a mere WhatsApp group, one of the responders said he would have exited since without a fuss.

Another said she would curse the person who added her because obviously she wouldn’t have made that choice to get added to such a group, and a third responder said definitely only the administrators of the group would be left in the group by now.

This is February 2023, and it’s just a few days to the presidential elections and life is tough for Nigerians.

For a long time now, Nigeria has been moving from one state of obvious confusion to another. Which make the people of the country wonder if there is a progressive direction at all for the country.

Through the pains that Nigerians have to endure yearly, we find a way to not just exist but to find joy in little things. And this accounts for the assumption that Nigerians have a way of quickly settling down and adapting to unfavorable situations after merely kicking back briefly.

Late October 2022 marked when the recent fuel scarcity started, and everyone assumed it would soon pass like other artificial scarcities we have experienced in the past. Four months down the line, citizens still struggle to get fuel; where it’s available and accessible, it’s being sold double the price: and to make things worse, there is scarcity of cash!

And we wonder why people flee from Nigeria?

Nigeria is one of the luckiest countries in terms of access to natural resources and low natural disasters. Any country with sane leadership would be a paradise, but Nigeria is at par or perhaps even worse than countries that experience steady natural disasters.

In the late 80s and early 90s, many areas in Nigeria had broken pipes with water gushing out of them. An evidence that potable water had a good network that at least serviced streets, even if it didn’t run through taps inside individual homes.

Also around this period, averagely we had about 10 hours of steady power supply and there would be a formal announcement if there was going to be a disruption.

And this was the time our fathers told us Nigeria was already ‘badly damaged’. Well, they would turn in their graves right now!

Everything that make a country bearable to live in, Nigeria lacks. There is no such thing as social amenities. Our roads are not motorable, electricity supply is terrible, access to potable water is a bit of luxury. And even though Nigeria is an oil producing country, artificial scarcity is commonplace, usually activated as a means of manipulation.

Unfortunately, Nigeria is one country where the price of fuel has imminent impact on every single other thing as the economy of the country revolves around fuel. The availability/ price of fuel has a direct impact on cost of transportation which in turn directly impacts cost of products. In a country where electricity is in short supply, companies have to rely on fuel for production, homes rely on fuel to have access to power supply, water pumping requires fuel, even network providers depend on fuel to power their masts. In essence, scarcity of fuel has a big tendency to shut down a country like Nigeria in a blink.

To now combine such a huge problem as fuel scarcity with scarcity of cash, is asking for trouble. The Federal Government came up with a policy to change the existing currency without a proper process for the old currency to go out of circulation. And as expiration date drew near, there was still a terrible scarcity of new naira notes in the country. This left people stranded and of course caused pandemonium.

To further aggravate this, bank apps aren’t working, which means people are not just left cash-strapped, they have no access to fund at all.

Banks claim not to have the new currency, but somehow the currency keeps finding its way to parties and to countries other than Nigeria.

As at first week in February, no matter how much people had in their accounts, they could only access N2,000 from the bank. Banks actually set a system in place such that once you cashed N2,000 over the counter, the ATM machine wouldn’t disburse further to you, and vice versa. The machine would actually bring out a message that you had withdrawn the maximum amount for the day.

Even bank staff do not have access to the new currency! So, the questions are:

1. Where is the money?

2. Was there no proper plan for transitioning the society into the new currency to ensure people don’t get stranded?

3. The federal government claims that the currency policy was put in place to combat vote buying, but does this have to include starvation?

4. If indeed 3 above is the game plan, wouldn’t the scarcity of fund and the resultant hunger totally negate the purpose? Wouldn’t a hungry man do anything just to have access to food?

5. When making these policies, did the government factor in security?

6. Do our leaders just lack empathy?

POS agents became the Messiah for cash availability, and what do they do? They jerk up their service charge!

To access N2,000, one would have to part with N400. This means the money at hand has actually been devalued.

And this is a country where decadence has been the order of the day for decades; which means many of its citizens live from hand toouth. They depend on daily income for their sustenance, and then suddenly the society springs this on them?

If the Nigerian government claims right now that they did not foresee violence happening as a result of all above, then it’s a shame that they lead us at all!

Sadly, when Sunny Okosun sang which way Nigeria in the 70s, little did he know that the Nigeria he experienced was a good one. He would weep if he has the current one to compare with.

So back to the question!

If Nigeria was a WhatsApp group, no citizen would be left in it. Perhaps that clearly explains the #japa syndrome.