By Promise Adiele
I have always been fascinated by a phrase in the marital vows of Christians during wedding rituals: “till death do us part”! My candid understanding of the submission is straightforward – husband and wife accept that the only thing that can come between them, to put them asunder, is death, that final arbiter of human existence.
Another marital expression that amuses me is: “what God has joined together, let no man put asunder”. The big question is – how many marriages did God join together? Many times, the speed with which some couples abandon the “till death do us part” vow bewilders my critical mind.
Some marriages last a few months
before they hit a rock. Others last a few years, and some collapse
psychologically while the couples continue to window-dress, presenting a façade
of order as chaos rules their homes. Those who abandon their marriages recall
the proverb by King Odewale – “the tortoise likes water but not when it is
hot”. When a marriage becomes a threat to life, when the life of a partner is imperiled,
then holding on to “till death do us part” becomes foolhardy. Even without any
threat to life, some people walk away from marriages at the slightest excuse.
That is a topic for another day.
My interest is to examine governance
as a social contract, a kind of marriage where the leader and the led share
mutual understanding and expectations. But when the life of any party in the
social contract is threatened, then it is time to end the contract.
To continue to stay in a contract
where life is threatened with a clear prognosis of death is to commit suicide –
an unforgivable moral crime in Eternity. The social contract between Nigerians
and the government of President Bola Tinubu since 2023 has become a threat to
Nigerians, and the prognosis is ominous, tragic, if you like. There is no
better way to say it.
The million-dollar question is – how
long will Nigerians endure the current macabre dance of survival in their land
of plenty? How long are Nigerians willing to endure the daily strangulation of
their windpipe as they gasp for air? We may pretend all we want, we may form
big boys and girls all we can, but the truth is that Nigerians are dying
gradually. Never mind the optics or the many soothing spiritual gradualisms
from our pulpits. There is fire on the mountain in millions of homes in
Nigeria. That is the truth.
True leadership requires presence,
empathy, and accountability, especially during periods of national crisis. When
a nation is stable, a leader’s absence may pass as routine administrative business.
However, when a country faces deep economic distress, widespread hunger, and
deteriorating public welfare, a leader’s prolonged absence becomes a serious
concern.
President Bola Tinubu’s trip to
Europe was at a very wrong time, when Nigerians are roasting in the implacable
furnace of economic hardship heaped on them by the government. The absence of
the president and vice president from office for a prolonged period highlights
a disconnect between Nigerians and the presidency. While millions of Nigerians
endure severe economic hardship, the presidency operates with a level of
detachment never seen in Nigeria’s corridors of power.
For how long will Nigerians endure a
social contract that obviously does not have their interest at heart? For how
long will Nigerians endure these escalating levels of anguish, poverty,
inflation, and infrastructural decay? Schools just resumed, but millions of
children are at home because their parents cannot afford their school fees.
School owners increased school fees because they must pay bills and meet salary
increases as demanded by the teachers.
Today, a primary concern for millions of
families is basic nutrition. Yet, while the country grapples with food
insecurity and extreme poverty, the President spent nearly a month abroad in
major European capitals, distant from the inflation, gridlock, and everyday
struggles facing the people.
The president’s absence highlights a
deeper issue within the administration – he is impervious to the sufferings of
Nigerians. For how long will Nigerians tolerate him? The government frequently
asks citizens to make sacrifices for a better future, but the political elite
rarely matches that rhetoric with their actions.
Public resources continue to fund
large entourages, expensive vehicle fleets, luxurious renovations, and costly
foreign travels. Data from the public expenditure tracking platform GovSpend
shows that the presidency spent overN37.6 billion on travel-related expenses
between June 2023 and early 2026. This includes massive allocations for foreign
exchange purchases, maintaining the presidential air fleet, and funding
unconstitutional offices like the Office of the First Lady, which consumed over
N700 million in forex for foreign travels.
Governing an economy in crisis while
allocating tens of billions to executive travel is simply wicked. The
administration recently highlighted the signing of a $700 billion mining
agreement with the United States on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly as
a major economic success. However, a closer look reveals the gaps in the
government’s economic strategy. The $700 billion figure is not an immediate
cash investment or a direct economic rescue package. It is simply an official
estimate of the potential value of Nigeria’s untapped solid minerals, such as
lithium, gold, and iron ore, still buried underground.
Signing non-binding Memorandums of
Understanding (MoUs) in foreign capitals does little to address immediate
economic challenges. While officials celebrate future resource exploitation,
the domestic mining sector remains troubled by insecurity, unsafe conditions,
and illegal operations that often escape government regulation. Relying on
potential future revenues while ignoring current economic instability is
unsustainable. Theoretical mineral wealth does not lower the price of food,
stabilize a fluctuating currency, or provide immediate relief to families
struggling to afford basic necessities.
The structural problems of the Renewed
Hope agenda are further worsened by a severe fiscal crisis. According
to available reports, Nigeria’s public debt reached N144.67 trillion by late
2024 and climbed to N159.28 trillion by 2025. As at June 30, it stood at
N166.79 trillion according to the Debt Management Office. The prognosis does
not look good. Aggressive domestic and external borrowing, combined with the
sharp depreciation of the naira, has pushed the country into a corner where
over 53.7% of federally retained revenue is swallowed by debt servicing.
This means virtually every naira earned by the
government goes toward paying interest on loans, leaving core sectors like
healthcare, education, and national security entirely dependent on further
borrowing. Currently, Mr President is in talks with the World Bank to borrow
another $1.5 billion. At the risk of sounding fatalistic, Nigeria is in trouble
under President Bola Tinubu, but for how long?
For a democracy to function
effectively, citizens must use their votes to demand accountability and bring
this obnoxious social contract to a deserved end. Major opposition figures and
political groups have criticized the administration’s reckless fiscal behaviour
and poor economic management. They point out the contradiction of spending
billions on executive travel while vital ministries, such as the Federal Ministry
of Health, receive small fractions of their capital allocations in actual
releases.
The opposition’s proposed economic
alternatives focus on a shift from consumption and executive luxury to
production and fiscal prudence. It sounds plausible, and we must give it a
chance. With broken promises on all fronts, the current administration has
failed abysmally to fulfil its part of the social contract, and Nigerians must
walk away. Nobody’s political ambition is worth the lives of millions of
Nigerians.
The upcoming 2027 general elections
provide Nigerians with a constitutional opportunity to assess the current
administration’s performance. Voting should look past ethnic, regional, or
political ties, and focus instead on clear governance metrics – the reduction
of poverty, the stability of the national currency, the affordability of fuel,
and the accountability of leadership.
If an administration consistently
prioritizes its own comfort over public service, voters have the responsibility
to seek alternative leadership. Leaving a country in crisis for extended
periods is a significant political misstep. When leaders isolate themselves
from the daily realities of their citizens, they lose touch with the urgency
needed to fix systemic issues.
As Martin Luther Jr. rightly
observed, “unearned suffering is redemptive”. Nigerians have undeservedly
suffered since 2023, and the redemptive process must start in 2027. The
governance model under President Tinubu, marked by high spending, corruption, a
reliance on borrowing, and a distance from local struggles, strains the
relationship between the government and the public. As the country moves toward
2027, the choice for the electorate becomes clearer.
Continuing with the current path,
the present marriage, risks further economic decline. Demanding change through
the ballot box offers a chance to restore accountability, fiscal discipline,
and responsible leadership. It is not up to the INEC to decide. It is not up to
the judiciary to decide. It is for the impoverished, deprived, and misgoverned
millions of Nigerians to decide.
social contract that has left
Nigerians drained, bruised, and battered must end in 2027. We should not wait
until we are all dead, eyeball to eyeball, buried in one grave, while the
presidency celebrates.
*Adiele Ph.D is a commentator on public issues
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