In the cascade of issues swirling around the current regime of strangulating hunger, starvation and sundry privations across the country, there has also been a cacophony of voices with varied slants on the situation. However, a recent contribution by Nigeria’s former military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, decrying the approach of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to the situation qualifies for deeper attention by Nigerians. During a courtesy call on the retired General by the Campaign for Democracy (CD) a non-governmental organisation with a long track record of intervening in the political space of the country, Abubakar bared his mind on the plight of Nigerians in the face of some policy measures by the administration. He particularly described the socio-economic crisis as “getting out of control”, just as he singled out the fixation by the administration on palliatives as misplaced. In lending his voice to the state of hardship in the country he called on the current administration to launch more effective policy measures that will wholistically address the state of affairs in the country.
In the course of the ongoing social turbulence across the country, the government had embarked on a cocktail of reform measures which had not only imposed unprecedented hardship on the citizenry, but also attracted stringent criticisms to itself. In the same context it also seems to be impervious to much of the criticism, and has for all practical intents and purposes been only interested in its own prescriptions without minding whose ox is gored in the process.
For instance, among such painful prescriptions of the government was the one fell-swoop withdrawal of subsidy on petrol, which triggered unprecedented increases on prices of basic foodstuff and other essentials of living. Painful as the reform measures are, the government literally ignored any other voice or opinion on the way forward, especially as would reduce the pain on the citizenry. As a pointer to the excruciating effects of the measures there had been a nationwide protest in August this year, with the portends of a follow-up exercise starting from October 1, 2024. Against the unpalatable outcomes from the August protests which exerted significant toll on the country with avoidable losses in human lives as well as property, not a few Nigerians welcome the portends of another round of similar exercise by October.
In the circumstances, Nigerians have been yearning for some authoritative voices that may sway President Tinubu to adjust his bearings in steering the course of the nation, with more attention paid to the pains of the people. After all, in as much as the country may be needy of economic reforms, such should not be at the expense of widespread annihilation of the populace. That is where the homily by General Abdulsalami Abubakar fits like a hand in a glove, if for nothing else for its timing.
Coming as it were just before the next round of protests billed to commence on October 1 2024, it is in the interest of the Tinubu administration to pay more than a passing attention to it. In as much as the administration may have mobilised considerable counter measures to tackle the envisaged protests, it also needs to allow the words of wisdom like from Abdulsalami Abubakar to guide its course.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of his antecedents as a former Head of State, Abubakar’s comments have not gone down well with quite a few persons and in particular Professor Ishaq Akintola of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), who accused the General of making statements that could overheat the polity. While the professor may be seeking comfort in pandering to the ethos of diplomatese, he seems to have lost touch with the imperative of capturing the state of affairs across the country in graphic terms. Is he in denial of the fact that in the course of the hunger raging across the country fellow Nigerans are dying from starvation? Interestingly, the polity is not only overheated by mere opinions. In fact, misguided policy measures by the government in power and office, often overheat the polity more that the expression of opinions by individuals who are well placed in society. Hence the cliché that actions speak louder than words.
Coming back to Abubakar’s words, lies the undeniable merit of his take on the state of affairs across the country. While the likes of Professor Ishaq Akintola, may be bellyaching over the classification of the nation’s crisis as going beyond control, not a few other Nigerians consider the General’s take itself as rather too tame for comfort. Except the administration sees the underprivileged Nigerians who die helplessly and unsung as mere dispensable fodder, there is no reason for subjecting them to a condition of unbearable hardship just to massage the ego of the ruling class.
Rather interesting is the fact that as a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar can be credited with enjoying deeper insights on the country than most Nigerians. Hence his description of the situation as getting out of control should be seen as a wake-up call to the administration. This is just as his disapproval of the administration’s fixation with doling out of palliatives to selected hungry Nigerians qualify as a self-manifest faux pas.
In the final analysis, the message from Abubakar to Bola Tinubu is simple, it is time to change direction of the ship of state before what is “getting out of control” now degenerates into a meltdown.