The severe economic hardship

The economic policies of the Federal Government came under criticism recently with Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, alleging that they are imposing severe hardship on Nigerians. Fintiri who made the remarks during a meeting of the National Reconciliation Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with governors from the North-East region and other key stakeholders in Bauchi, expressed frustration with the state of the nation’s economy.

He observed that: “Nigeria is bleeding, we are suffering, there is too much anger, and the economic policy is not working. That is why we always call on the Federal Government to reconsider some of these economic policies that are only putting hardship on Nigerians.”

The governor urged the Federal Government to reconsider its approach to economic management. He warned that the continued implementation of ineffective policies would only deepen the suffering of Nigerians and widen the gap between the government and the people. He said; “Whatever will make us cry must not be part of your policy because the country belongs to all of us.”

Fintiri is not alone in decrying the suffering in the country. Late last year, former military head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), warned that the hardship in the country was getting out of control and must be arrested. Abubakar had noted that everybody was crying of the hardship and the menace seemed to be getting out of control. “People cannot afford three square meals a day. The issue of transportation, the hike in fuel price, the hike in school fees for the children and the lack of funds in everybody’s pocket is making life difficult for everybody, Nigerians are suffering,” he said.

As a way out of the situation, he suggested collaborative efforts between federal, state, and local governments to alleviate the excruciating hardship, while ruling out giving out palliatives as the answer. Part of his recommendations for arresting the situation was for the government to flood and saturate the communities with food and sell at lesser prices to the people.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), had also commented on the issue and urged the government to support farmers with subsidies, soft loans, modern technology, and improved seedlings, as ways of mitigating the crisis at hand. The clerics noted that Nigerians were groaning under hardship occasioned by high electricity tariffs, high cost of petroleum products, transportation and medicare as well as lack of basic infrastructure.

In the same vein, the emeritus Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, recommended policy review to minimise the current economic hardship in the country. The bishop also stressed that “there is a limit to what the people can handle. You can’t tell someone to be patient with poverty while we see the people who are supposed to address our poverty, live flamboyantly, building huge mansions and having fleets of cars without caring how they are fueled whereas, the rest of us are queuing to get a few litres of fuel.”

The hardship in the country is real. It affects millions of Nigerians. Few Nigerian families can manage to afford decent meals a day, due to scarcity of resources and high cost of food items.

Faced with excruciating poverty and extreme hunger, between August 1 and 10 last year, youths in the country embarked on nationwide protests in major cities in the country, leading to deaths. In December last year, over 67 Nigerians were killed and many injured in stampedes at food distribution centres in Ibadan, Okija, and Abuja. The victims included 35 children in Ibadan, 10 persons in Abuja, and 22 in Okija.

The federal and state government should therefore not ignore the warning by the Adamawa State governor. The hardship in the country is palpable. There is serious suffering in the land. Tackling the hunger challenge should be a collective agenda. The federal government should not handle it alone. The state governors should assist in alleviating the situation. Let all the states invest heavily in mechanised agriculture.

Let government evolve measures that will make the people feed themselves. It should create conducive environment for small and medium scale enterprises to thrive. The ease of doing business should be improved to encourage foreign investors. There is need to create more jobs for the growing army of unemployed youths. The frightening insecurity needs to be urgently tackled.