The first presidential chat of President Bola Tinubu with the media revealed a lot about the president and his administration. He talked at length about his policies, ideologies and philosophies. One of his statements was on the issue of hungry, poverty and hardship in Nigeria.
He was reacting to the stampedes across the country in which scores of people including children lost their lives while struggling to receive Christmas packages. The stampedes have really exposed how poverty has eaten deep into the fabrics of the basic existence of the people of the country. They lost their lives for as low as $3. It means a lot to them, but it was not enough to lose one’s life.
When the interview was ongoing, the president was asked for his view. He correctly blamed the organisers of the events and said that he saw errors in their planning. He was right, to be candid. However, his own error manifested when he said that there were hungry people in the United States and in the United Kingdom, countries known for prosperity.
Granted that poverty isn’t something that a country can rid of, one should ask the president what he is doing to lift people out of poverty? Is it not a shame that the “giant” of Africa is one of the headquarters of hardship and poverty? The United States and the United Kingdom pave the way for their citizens to prosper. What has the president done in his capacity to make life better for the people of Nigeria?
The subsidy on petroleum, which happened to be the only means millions of Nigerians benefit from the government, was removed all of a sudden with no provision for alternative or immediate remedy. The decision…or the announcement…on 29 May, 2023 actually removed the “oxygen” from the noses of millions of Nigerians.
Neither the US nor the UK would dare stop the basic programme that its citizens hold dear to themselves. The two countries won’t even consider stopping the programme. Ask, when last did Americans or the British struggle for food and cause stampede?
It’s even wrong to be boastful that your people are hungry let alone to compare them with others who actually have means to survive. Millions of graduates are jobless or earn far below the “insufficient” minimum wage. Little wonder they jump on every opportunity to leave Nigeria. They find other countries far better than theirs. Is that not saddening. That should be the concern of the president, not comparing Nigerians with privileged Americans or Britons.
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