Hope, in a time of depression

As I type this, three days before this is published, it seems the whole of Nigeria is yet to collect salaries for October at least. The financial situation for most people is so parlous. Nigerians have been turned to beggars all over the place. The number of calls and distress text messages have hit an all-time high. Even the most careful persons have found themselves in a state of embarrassment. Perhaps the only ones whose heads are above water are those who were ‘smart’ enough to have stashed a tidy sum in the days of Jonathan, and especially the ones who have made a neat crossover into the good books of the new regime. Many have received new posts under Buhari, whose team already looks like a who-is-who in Nigeria – the same names we’ve always known, the super-connected. Well, ‘diaris God’ as Patience Jonathan would say.
These are stressful times, and one keeps wondering if this would be the legacy of the hawkish president whom we voted in many months ago. One had hoped for a reprieve from financial stress, or at least some sort of income redistribution that enables many who had been beaten down under Jonathan to get some breathing space. But, save for a few who are ‘extremely’ close to Buhari, what is on ground is that times are even tougher for most of Buhari’s anonymous supporters. Those who have ‘steady’ employment, i.e. in the civil service have little to worry about – save for the fact that even the best-favoured parastatals are yet to pay October salaries as I write. Those who work for less-favoured agencies have been owed sometimes for 6 to 12 months now, whether at state or federal level.
The rhetoric from the president is ‘Nigeria is broke’. He has assured us that he is unafraid, and unashamed to say it like it is, even abroad. He believes this honesty is what the world wants to see in Nigeria. The only problem is, for those of us lesser mortals, Buhari’s words are stripping away hope from us. Imagine a hungry man being told that he will even be hungrier? What a hungry man wants to hear is that there is hope around the corner, else hunger can transmogrify into ulcer, and ulcer into cancer.  Those of us who supported Buhari, and have been asked to keep holding our breaths – sometimes very harshly and without consideration, respect or compassion – are wondering whether this is how this regime will be till the end.  We sometimes feel conned, robbed and taken for granted.
Nigeria is presently bathed in filth and ugliness.  From Abuja to Lagos, Calabar to Aba to Nasarawa, filth takes over Nigeria like never before, sometimes because the administrators say PDP spent all the money and so there is none to pay contractors.  Even Kaduna reeks under filth today – action governor and all. It’s a shameful situation, but it reminds one of what obtained in the time of the Great Depression when western countries were in dire straits, having been sucked dry by a few powerful financiers who took advantage of the ignorance of the masses.
The time of the Great Depression (1930-1941) was one of hopelessness. It was a time when fortunes disappeared and men who were relatively comfortable found themselves in embarrassing situations.  It was a time when able-bodied men became vagabonds, walking around street corners looking for who to rob. It was a time when rats became delicacies to some, and others were not afraid to eat human beings. It was a time when preachers of the Word by day, turned into armed bandits by night. It was a time of religious overdrive when it was said that ‘people were looking for answers’ to their misfortune. For when a man tries everything and all fails, he starts to seek answers from the spiritual and becomes fair game for deceivers. The time of the Great Depression was a time of extremism. In the case of the USA, it was the time of the Ku Klux Klan, parading as nationalists and roasting black people live at the stakes each evening for fun. It was the time of the great robberies, of John Dillinger, “Bonnie and Clyde” and George “Babyface’ Nelson.  The Depression Era saw the rise of the Chicago Gangsters; Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and the entire Silician-American Mafia.
Nigeria is presently at a time of depression. All the symptoms are here. What one wonders about is how the PDP did it and ensured that at least almost half of the country ‘prospered’ under them, and what is happening now, that almost the entire country is gnashing our teeth.  What exactly is going on? Are we on a forced savings regime; a period of more belt-tightening for those whose waists are disappearing? Why is Buhari constantly reminding Nigerians of the bad times ahead? Is there nothing that can be ingeniously done for the most vulnerable? If indeed the times ahead will be eventually better then why are many – if not most – of the team that Buhari has chosen to work with him the same people who have been around while PDP ran the nation aground (former office holders in one capacity or the other)?  Where will new ideas and paradigms appear from? What are most of Jonathan’s appointees – including the permanent secretaries that are still running things – still doing in office? Is Buhari punishing the victims or how did we lose our voices?
What should irk me specifically is that I warned. I don’t criticize blindly without offering panaceas.. I wrote and recommended things that could be embarked upon immediately. I even suggested that the youth be engaged for environmental work, and could be paid through ‘ways and means’ where necessary. I mean the government could print and pay. There is work to be done and only the youth can do it. All of that advise – and millions more from other Nigerians – went unnoticed, unacknowledged, unappreciated. 150 days is gone by officially since inauguration, and almost 210 days since the election was won.  Four years contain 1,461 days only. All the emotions we invested into the elections now seem – for many of us – like a painful period that we cringe to remember.
Again I will repeat. The government should not be quick to remind us of the four dark horsemen – electricity tariff upward review, upcoming fuel price increase, high likelihood of devaluation, more hardship ahead – but should think hard and fast and save itself from ruin. Someone reminded us that Abacha ran this country on $10 per barrel price of crude oil – and still appointed Buhari to head the PTF, which did so well in infrastructure. Baba should not punish us poor people.
Perhaps even more frightening, is the disposition of this government, which abhors any criticism and even shows disdain to the people. How else can they have lost supporters so quickly. And the mind games. Imagine the VP repeating at all fora, that the government will pay N5,000 to 25million people monthly, only for APC Sin-ators to be the ones to shoot down the proposal? Why are our big men doing this to us? Do they think that hunger, poverty, and joblessness are funny for people suffering in them? Or are they just a cynical bunch who not only love the suffering people are in – because it makes them feel important, lucky and smart – but are now ready to poke fun at our emotions?