Some things are better imagined than experienced. The present Nigeria situation would have been an epic best seller were it turned into a fictitious literature or movie but lo it is a fact – a very harsh reality that cannot be wished away.
Like a joke taken too far, we expend much energy majoring in the minors with propaganda taking the centre stage – and now the consequences are with us. What could have easily been managed with simple solutions or out rightly prevented was allowed to fester and grow that it now feeds on the psychic, lives of the people, the nation. By trying to hold others down – our enemies and opponents (real or imagined) – we keep ourselves on the ground. Against the productive doctrine of justice and equity, we chose the retrogressive path of favouritism, nepotism and tribalism – and now we are paying dearly for our choices because in line with the immutable law or agriculture, there will never be stability from instability nor unity in division. We reap whatever we have sowed so those that feed this flame of instability and division will not be free from its suffocating consequences – they too are in pains.
A closer look, critical analysis, has shown that it has never been this bad, hard in the annals of this country that even the rich also cry. Things have changed from bad to worse, and if care is not taken, it will get worst. The nation stagnates; the people suffer – and the dawn of each day makes things more hopeless that more people die from preventable death. Because there is no proper diagnosis by the right people at the right time to know the real cause of the problems, but rather the endless blame, there have not been any meaningful right prescriptions for real time therapeutic intervention and cure. Yes, the present management approach to the ills of our society, state, is like treating terminal cancer with mere paracetmol or even expensive “holy water” – the end thereof is painful, premature death!
The situation in the country today has defiled every known characteristics of a viable nation state. There are more problems than solutions that the people not only complain but continuously suffer and suffocate with remedy not forthcoming. Amid countless resources and endless opportunities, we suffer lacks and become a nation in chains. And those that suppose to proffer solutions are busy trading blames.
Economically, we are not only on a “darklin plain” but on auto reverse gear, going back into the old, dark days. With very high inflation rate and little or no commiserate source of income, the cost of living remains miserably painful. With suffocating endless fuel scarcity and poor, epileptic and irregular power supply, most businesses would ground after continuous months of deficit and loss operations, which will result to countless job losses, leading to increase in crime rate. And with every job loss, provision of adequate healthcare becomes impossible, resulting to more cases of preventable, premature deaths. With worst economy, the naira remains at its weakest low to the extent that common impure “pure water” sachet is now out of the reach of so many people, and if care is not taken, a barrow load of this naira cannot buy a mere bag of rice by tomorrow.
And running a government of exclusion and marginalization designed from odd and prejudiced mindset, we can only have a system that lost before arrival every goodwill and support for holistic administration and good governance, giving rise to all manners of instability, insecurity, agitation, insurgency and intimidation. And today, the evidence is clear that there would be no meaningful development without justice, equity and fair play because they herald every iota of peace so when they are not in place, we will end up living in pieces and suspicion – and this is exactly our fate in Nigeria today.
To avoid further decay and hardship, and possibly stop the torrent of pains people suffer and endure amidst plenty, the government must act very swiftly and now to redress every form of injustice in the land, and then avoid possible repeat of such ills to preserve the unity of the nation. This is a necessity to maintain order at this critical moment in our nation’s history – and the earlier it is done, the better.
