Economic state of Nigeria: “Let the poor breathe”

Nigeria is one special West African country that is enormously endowed with human and natural resources. It is a country that is characterised in different forms, at different times, by all shades of descriptive names. A nation with different highs and lows, attributes or classifications used to qualify this most populous black nation on the surface of the earth, and also, “the world’s poverty capital”. It is known to comprise peoples of multifaceted tribes and tongues. Amongst the peoples of the world, distributed across over two hundred sovereign states, Nigerians are easily recognisable. The popular adage, “by their fruits, you shall know them” is proverbial, and is commonly used to identify humans on the social parlance by excellent performances, derogatory actions, impressive conducts, and these are mostly picked out from the crowd based on outstanding and record breaking exploits in different fields human endeavours.

It is important to point out that Nigerian citizens are very adventurous, very purposeful, much focused, very witty and resilient; and can be found in virtually all nooks and crannies of the world, in their search for greener pastures. It is also noteworthy to point out that Nigerians extensively strive to achieve their respective life-time goals in all spheres of human endeavours. Numerous Nigerian men and women have in the past, and presently, assumed very exalted public service positions in all spheres globally. However, human beings generally are naturally fallible (an accepted fact as mortal beings). Therefore, there are definitely exceptional cases that are not portraying the image of the nation in good light, by their unbecoming lifestyles and unacceptable human social behaviours. That leaves a window within any social grouping, to be composed of “the good, the bad and the ugly”.

From a given perspective, looking at the complexities in human activities, as it specifically zeroes in on the Nigerian citizens and their ways of life in terms of moral values, their antecedents, their historical backgrounds and socio-political records, Nigerians are generally assessed (by non-nationals) as very corrupt. A lot of things have to be derived on that note than desired. This is a picture that is arguably controversial, however; it is not a true picture or an exact representation of all Nigerian citizens. The Nigerian people are a crop of resilient and purpose driven creatures, based on historical records and cultural heritage, based on a known fact that their strength rests on diversity. The negative commentaries that are intermittently associated with conducts, performances and characteristics of many Nigerians outside the shores of the land, could be traced and ascribed to the poor management of the citizens by those in leadership and their abysmally low rating in “good governance”.

This raises the core issue of mismanagement of the common-wealth of the nation over several decades. In politics, the high cost of running our current style of government significantly reflects in the poor performance seen in social services (including health, social safety-nets and education). All of these culminate in the frustrations the poor citizens are subjected to presently: facing all manners of economic hardship. Yet, they are sitting on wealth based on their natural endowments (abundant natural resources of all kinds). These Nigerians deserve an air of relief, economically; so, let the poor breathe!

Nigerians deserve the best. Nigerians, as resilient and very stable citizens that persevere under harsh economic situations and still contribute to the stability of the national future existence, deserve better. The political class is not helping matters as they appear to be ignoring their core official responsibilities to primarily deliver democracy dividends to their subjects in their respective constituencies. Instead, they selfishly only care about themselves. The present harsh economic realities, for which the poor masses are often made to feel the pinch the most, with very weak sources of income (without any hope, in the light of rising cost of living and terribly hyperinflation in virtually all aspects in their economic needs). For salary earners, the present minimum wage is horrible! Just name the economic sector that is not squeezing the citizens hard in this present hostile economic environment – cost of commodities in the market, transportation, rising electricity tariff, excessively high cost of refined petroleum products! Please, for whatever reason, let the poor breath!

The government needs to act with responsibility and  ameliorate the biting economic realities the common man in the streets of Nigeria is presently facing. This could come as a palliative (as a short term measure) to cushion the effect of unsustainable rising cost of transportation for commuters, most especially the students, the salary earners and those in informal businesses (the petty traders). This is because, energy factor is the fulcrum of life and economic advancement; and so the government is advised to seriously look into investing in the energy transition infrastructure (as the world is faced with a lot of challenges regarding climate change/global warming and the ever rising global population).