2024: Blood, tears and sweat

Phew! What a year it has been.

You are not alone if 2024 has left you exhausted, dishevelled and heartbroken with grief. It has been a trying year on the world stage, as the forces of disarray grew stronger, especially for Nigeria. Geopolitical competition increased; ongoing wars continued while new ones reared their ugly heads. Several shocking deaths occurred, including that of Herbert Wigwe, Group CEO Access Bank, Onyeka Onwenu, celebrated singer, Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s beloved footballer and popular Hausa actress Saratu Gidado, to name a few.

It really has been a trying year.

For Nigerians, January 2024 started on an optimistic note with us chanting a new mantra: ‘No gree for anybody’. We used it to justify our hussle, our aggressiveness and particularly our collective rudeness when taunting other people. We are Nigerians and we would not ‘gree’ for anybody we boasted!

Well, T-pain and football humbled us pretty quickly.

By February, after dragging South Africa all over the world of social media because we threw them out of AFCON, we lost 2:1 to Ivory Cost in Abidjan. South Africa wept and screamed in happiness while other African countries made laughing stocks of us.

The loud-mouthed Nigerians had lost again.

And while football fans were busy licking their wounds and finding something else to argue about, Nigerian bandits were busy sharpening their knives. On March 7, more than 200 pupils and a teacher were kidnapped in the town of Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State. Thankfully, by the 24th of the same month, The Nigerian Army and local vigilante groups were able to rescue all the victims.

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Amidst the many achievements of this government was another surprise that was thrown at us on Democracy Day, May 29. President Tinubu and his cabinet, having racked their brains on how best to help save the country from the triad of corruption, insecurity and the failing economy, decided that the best they could do was to change our national anthem. We watched in shock as the National Assembly formally accepted Nigeria, We Hail Thee, which was the country’s national anthem from 1960 to 1978, as its new national anthem, replacing Arise, O Compatriots.

We grumbled and grumbled, but in the end, we have accepted this new reality.

So much for ‘no gree for anybody’.

As inflation increased in the country, so did arguments between labour unions and the government. Things got really bad, so much so that in June, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) agreed to go on a strike, disrupting  Abuja and Lagos airports, with some reports saying it caused power outage in some states  because workers of power distribution companies adhered to the strike notice. Again, we were told that the national grid had collapsed.

Frankly, I have lost count of the number of times the grid collapsed this year. Is anyone keeping count?

By July, Nigerians had started grumbling and rumours spread. People were whispering about organised protests and coup d’état. Trust our people, before long, the panic set in. I knew it was bad when my husband brought home sacks of rice, beans and enough food to feed an army in case of a lock down or curfew. Households were hoarding supplies and people were arranging to travel (flee) the country when the date of the protest was officially announced, even though the government and the NLC/TUC had officially agreed on a new minimum wage of N70,000 by July 18.

Then came the Olympics. This year’s Summer Olympics held in Paris had a controversial opening ceremony and sparked even more international debate with the boxing match of Luca Hámori and Imane Khelif. Is Imane Khelif a man or woman?

On August 1, the EndBadGovernance nationwide protests officially started. Those of us who were against the ‘zanga zanga’ were proved right once again. Nigerians simply lack the decorum and resilience required for an organised protest. A few hours into the protests, looting sprees and fighting broke out, with 11 people reported killed across the country. A curfew was declared in Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Katsina states in response to the violence.

As if that was not enough, the World Health Organisation (WHO), on August 1 declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern for the second time in two years following the spread of the virus in African countries. Fortunately, monkey pox is not fatal.

We can only take so much. Or perhaps we can because by the following month, we woke up to worse news.

I woke up on an ordinary Tuesday in September at 5am to 17 missed calls, all from Maiduguri. My sister picked the phone, crying. Alau Dam had collapsed in the late hours of the previous night and was making its way to our house. Our neighbour’s house down the street was already submerged in water. She was blubbering and incoherent. What should she take? What could she save? What about my grandmother? My mother, far away in the US was frantic with worry – where could they run to? Were all the roads flooded as well? Lagos Bridge had collapsed and other roads were blocked as well – who would save them?

It’s been a while since I had loud, gut-wrenching, soul-shaking sobs. But that day, as we spoke over the phone with family and friends, I broke down and wept like a baby in my office. It was like the collapse of the dam had finally broken me physically, emotionally and mentally. I wanted to give up on life at that moment.

A few days and a lot of soul searching later, I picked myself up and continued with life.

As a result of our new found poverty in Nigeria, in October, at least 170 people were killed and 100 others injured after an overturned fuel truck exploded while residents were trying to collect (pronounced loot) its cargo in Majiya, Jigawa State.

In the very same month, President Tinubu had a cabinet reshuffle that resulted in the dismissal of the ministers of education, tourism, women affairs and youth development, as well as the junior minister for housing.

Maybe they too were not ‘agreeing’ for anybody.

By November, Nigerians had moved to other more important things like the US election and what it would mean for us. I watched with shock as my country people supported shamelessly and even campaigned for Trump. Do they even comprehend Republican politics?

Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 will go down as the greatest political comeback in U.S history. His comeback owed to his unique appeal to Republican base voters, public dissatisfaction with the economy and illegal immigration and Joe Biden’s low public approval ratings. Biden dropped out of the race in July after a disastrous debate that confirmed the doubts many had that he was fit for another four years in office. Democrats rallied around Harris as their presidential candidate, and she was widely regarded as having beaten Trump in their one presidential debate. However, that did not translate into victory on Election Day.

Like Ayisha Osori wrote: ‘Love does not win elections.’

Another thing that no one saw coming was the fall of Syria’s Assad. It was the story that caught the world off guard, the one that even the most prescient forecasters hadn’t seen coming: a lightning-fast rebellion that ended the brutal reign of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

The nature of the revolt was also a surprise. First, was the speed with which a coalition of rebel groups captured city after city, culminating in a takeover of the capital, Damascus, and Assad’s rushed departure. In 11 days, Syria’s 13-year-long civil war and 53 years of Ba’ath Party and Assad family rule had come to an end. Just like that.

Decembers, in most parts of the world, are marked by festivities, but accidentally, there were more recent bombings. On December 20, five people were killed, while another 205 were injured after a car was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. At home, at least 35 people were killed in a stampede at a religious festival held at an Islamic high school in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. As if that was not enough, 10 people were killed in another stampede at a charity distribution event at a church in Maitama, Abuja, while three people died at a charity distribution event in Okija, Anambra State.

Like I said, it has been a trying year. But perhaps for me, the highest point has been returning to Maiduguri in December and seeing how fast the government has rebuilt the structures that were destroyed by the flood. In just three months, the zoo has almost completely been reconstructed, as well as other public structures. This is highly commendable. Our house was not affected so much, and life in Maiduguri seems to have returned to normal. Alhamdulillah.

Dear 2025, biko, we gree for anybody and anything.