By Robert Obioha
WE are,
indeed, living in troubled times. Nobody can say for sure if this is the
perilous times that the Christian Holy Book predicted long time ago. Nigerians
are really passing through a hellish period in the history of the country.
Nigerians are no longer a ‘suffering and smiling’ people. They complain a lot
these days. They do so openly as well as in the confines of their homes.
*Buhari |
Listen to telephone
programmes on radio and television and hear and see the anger of these
Nigerians as they lampoon the government for their misfortunes. Go to the
newsstands and hear them vent their anger on our rulers and politicians,
especially those in Abuja .
They also have solutions to the nation’s woes apart from fighting corruption.
If those in government can come out and listen to ordinary Nigerians, they
would know what they are passing through now.
They would probably
be in a better position to solve the nation’s many problems. Leaders should,
once in a while, disguise and mix up with the masses to have a feel of what
they go through as citizens of this great country.
Go to the markets
and hear them abuse our politicians to no end over their misery and calamity.
Go to the buka joints and beer parlours and feel the anger and frustrations of
Nigerians on the economic recession. On what government said it would do but
now refused to do. All Nigerians are hit by the harsh times but low-income
earners are the worst hit.
The poor are
already down and therefore are not favoured at all. They also bear the brunt of
the hard times as prices of goods, especially food items are going up at
astronomical rates with each passing day. The irony is that the rich and the
poor buy from the same market. The Nigerian market does not discriminate the
poor from the rich.
And there is no
refuge in sight that all will be well within a short time. Nigerians are not
happy the way things are going in the country now. Not even the prayer warriors
among them are optimistic that things will soon get better. A bag of rice now
sells for between N18,500 and N19,500 while 5-litre of vegetable oil is N3,500.
Palm oil is also out of the reach of the poor as 5-litre of it sells for
between N3,800 and N4,000.
The prices of other
food items have also gone up. Many Nigerians are finding it difficult to feed.
As things stand now, the prospect of famine looms large. The government has
even warned of imminent famine should farmers continue to export their farm
products.