My vote for plan “B”

The warning strike has come and gone, with the decision by Nigeria Labour Congress to shelve it in favour of a renewed round of negotiations with the federal government. 

A Hausa proverb says, “Juma’ar da zata yi kyau tun daga Laraba ake gane ta” (the Friday that will be blessed can be sensed right from Wednesday). 

From what the government has been offering, since the umbrella labour union began to agitate for minimum wage increase, we can safely say that it’s highly unlikely it will give anything close to what the NLC is demanding. 

Not to preempt what the proposed week-long jaw-jawing will deliver, I still dare to say, it will not be anywhere near what the NLC and Nigerian workers are hoping for.

Never mind that the government side of the negotiating teams has been showing up in billions of naira worth of jeeps and personal accessories, when it comes to the welfare of Nigerian workers, their common refrain is always that the country is broke.

This is why I agree entirely with the person who drafted this plan B and circulated it widely two days ago. My vote for it is mainly because it will solve the economic and social problems of the country at large, not just the woes of the Nigerian workers. 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN CHANGE TO PLAN “B”

The Federal Government is obviously not willing to pay N494,000 as the new minimum wage. As such an alternative is for it to adopt this plan ‘ B ‘.

This includes;

1. Discarding all IMF and World Bank policies now in operation 
2. Reverse the price of fuel to its initial price of N167 per litre.
3. Remove and withdraw all fixed taxes, interest rates and levies imposed on citizens.
4. Order all the refineries to start production.
5. Open the border and allow goods to come in, even if it’s for a period of seven months only. All nations in the world import what they can not produce or what they don’t have enough of to feed themselves.
6. Bring down the exchange rate of the naira to N250/1$. 
7. Because what is happening in the exchange market is all artificial and sheer man-made maneuvers.
8. Checkmate the activities of the middle- men in our markets. They have been left for so long distorting, destabilizing and arbitrarily increasing the market price of goods and services, unabated, without control.
9. Move away from import economy to production economy. Avoid monopoly of production by one or very few individuals that may hold our nation’s economy to ransom.
10. Banking policies should encourage savings not attract arbitrary bank charges.
11. Reduce cost of governance and unnecessary spending on unproductive activities.
12. Reduce the cost of electricity tariffs to the barest minimum and ensure the availability of electricity at all times.

All these can be done within a short period of time since the government does not see the reality of economic hardship faced by Nigerian workers, it should at least address the source of their travails from the roots.

Phew, what a year!

Exactly one week ago, our present crop of leaders marked their first anniversary in office. Majority of them felt the need to celebrate and to advertise their achievements. 

But the ordinary Nigerian isn’t on the list of those singing and dancing.  

To him the last one year was all about a steep rise in inflation and the general cost of living. 

Dr Bismarck Rewane was on TV recently illustrating how the prices of goods have tripled and quadripled in the last one year. 

He is not alone in saying this, all alive and aware Nigerians have seen the same thing. Still another clever guy put it better in the piece below, and I found it irresistible enough to share. 

Here goes:

I’m not saying Tinubu shouldn’t celebrate his one year in office

-But I’m only trying to remind him that he has moved one bottle of mineral from N100 to N360: whether it is 7-up or Fanta, Coke or Pepsi.

-He has moved the dollar from N450 to N1,600

-He has moved fuel from N220 to N700 per litre 

-He has moved one basket of tomatoes from N15,000 to N100,000

-He has moved a sack of pepper from N10,500 to N115,000.

-He has moved a sack of beans from N30,000 N70,000.

-He has moved a sack of flour from N18,000 to N70,000.

-He has moved a sack of sugar from N17,000 to N69,000.

-He has moved one bag of rice from N18,000 to N85,000

-He has moved one cartoon of noodles from N5,500 to N18,500.

-He has moved one kilo of Titus fish from N1,500 per kilo to N4,500 per kilo.

-He has moved a pot of soup worth N5,000 to N20,000

-He has moved1 kilo of semo from N350 to N1,500 

-He has moved a cup of garri from N200 to N700

Congratulations to everyone who survived the last 365 days under the new government. You guys are the real heroes. It is not an easy task but don’t forget that they still have three years still ahead. I wish you all the best  

Anonymous. 

As we all know the writer isn’t saying that the president did all the above directly with his hand or might, but that his government’s policies created the negative environment for things to grow this bad.  

Again the prescription is simple. Change these anti-people policies and save the country Mr President. 

Mufti Yaks: An exemplary life

Like most people of my generation, I never heard of Mufti Yaks before his death. But the young man, whose death last Saturday shook the Nigerian Muslim community and beyond, was well-known among his contemporaries and those a little older. 

I read the news of his death, as announced by the Zimbabwean Islamic scholar, Mufti Menk, in a WhatsApp group. I immediately raised my head and told my youngest daughter that Mufti Menk had just paid tribute to one Mufti Yaks who died this morning. My daughter asked in shock “Mufti Yaks is dead?” I said yes and asked how she knew him. She replied that he was well-known on social media, especially for his ability to copy Mufti Menk’s style of preaching and dressing. 

Then the tributes began to pour in and they told of a life dedicated to Islamic scholarship and preaching. This is despite his being the privileged son of Justice Muhammad Aliyu Maiyaki of Niger State. I couldn’t help shedding a few tears reading about a life so exemplary. 

Born twenty years ago, the late AbdulLatif Aliyu Maiyaki started his Islamic propagation career at the age of fifteen. He travelled abroad in search for Islamic knowledge and interacted well with scholars in different countries. The tributes to him from other places attested to this fact. His life was truly inspirational. May Almighty Allah grant him a home in aljannah firdaus, amin.