The Protests Through My Lens

One of the most valuable lessons I have learnt about life is to see life from my own perspective. That is exactly what I have been doing since the beginning of the protests on August 1. I agree with the slogans: #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria and #End Hunger, but I also know that some of the sponsors and participants have ulterior motives which I am against. There is definitely increased hunger and hardship in the land. These were worsened by the way the federal government went about the floating of the naira and issues around the fuel subsidy removal. I am no economist, but I feel they could have been better handled.

I heard some people protesting and asking that Nigeria should go back to the pre–Tinubu Government era of subsidising fuel. Some of these people are from states that share borders with other countries. They are the economic saboteurs who made money by smuggling petroleum products across the border. I dismissed their selfish protest with a wave of hand.

I heard some protesters calling for military takeover. I urge such people to relocate to Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali and enjoy military rule there. I have lived in both civilian and military governments in Nigeria. None is perfect, but civilian government has come to stay. If anyone wants to change any government at the federal or state levels, wait until 2027 or whenever elections are due. I don’t understand this desperation.

I support genuine protests. The first protest I participated in was as a student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The legendary late Chima Ubani was our union president. I can’t remember the details, but Ubani was a servant leader, so no one needed any prompting to follow him. He was selfless. The leadership of this demonstration is a potpourri of those with selfless and selfish motives. I align with those who are selfless and advice those with selfish motives to come clean and look for right channels to actualise their aspirations.

The demand for an end to bad governance is very legitimate. If Nigeria had good governance since independence, we would have been in the league of South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and some of these new economic powers. In fact, we were at par with some of them in 1980. So bad governance has been a problem in Nigeria. We should not behave as if it is a new development nor focus on the centre only. It’s time we also focused on states. In 1991, when new states were created, there was a particular state. Prior to 1991, anyone looking for domestic staff (aka house girls and house boys) focussed on that part of the country. That was all they were known for then. Today, the state has become a major tourism destination spot. The people who made this to happen are Nigerians, not aliens. How was that achieved? What were many of these other states doing when this transformation was going on?

How come there are so many out of school children in some parts of the North? The problem has been there for decades. What were the governors doing with all the allocations they were getting. Since 1999, we have been hearing that some of the governors from the North live in Abuja. What happened to their state capitals? How can you feel the pulse of your people when you are distant from them? What has the 15 months old federal government got to do with this systemic and decades-old problem? The performance of some current governors in the last 15 months has exposed the incompetence of their predecessors over eight years. Their tenures can rightly be described as locust years. But we cannot continue to cry over liquid that has spilled on the ground, so let us move on and beam our searchlights on the incumbents. I respectfully use avenues available to me to ask questions in my state. The media have democratised access to the mass media, so use yours to ask questions in your states. If you are ignored, you have a right to speak out. Unfortunately, I have found out that some of those making noise are blackmailers. They are only interested in themselves. Sad!

One arm of government often ignored are local governments. I have said privately and publicly that development will be faster and the grassroot will feel more government impact if local governments sit up. Government at the local government level has never been serious. I have two friends who did their youth service in local government secretariat in the North and South-South 38 years ago. In both cases, the local government came alive once a month when the local government allocation came. There was a feast after which money was shared. Then they dispersed to converged when the next allocation arrived.

It is no longer a secret that the monthly local government allocation has increased. We cannot continue as if it is not our business anymore. We must hold our local government chairmen and executives accountable. They should come and give us a blueprint of their plan for their local governments. I am using this opportunity to call on the chairman of my LGA, Ughelli South Local Government. Please tell us your plan for our people. I want you to succeed because if you do, our people will be the beneficiaries. Talk to us.

Our local government chairman in Lagos had a stakeholder meeting with us before commencing the construction of the road and drains in my area. He disclosed that local governments in Lagos are currently constructing about 123 inner street roads. The implication is that the Lagos State government can focus on other roads and projects. We need performing LGAs to speed up developments and deliver a better Nigeria. Citizens, beam your searchlight on your local governments.

My final focus today is on families. It has become a fashion fad to vilify government only. I am not a government spokesman and am not speaking for government. The truth remains that Nigeria would have been a better place if government at all levels over the years have done very well. But government is just part of the larger society. Life actually starts from the family unit. A man and woman meet to start the family. My question to parents is what kind of products are you pushing into the larger society? A man who cannot feed himself is a father of 10 children. He is uneducated and has no skills. The children predictably are also uneducated. He does not even have enough knowledge to guide his children. In some cases, the vicious cycle is now in the fourth generation. Can someone explain to me why government should be blamed for this?

I also wrote sometime ago about how parents are buying phones and laptops for their children and taking them to internet kingpins. They enrol their children and pay for them to be taught “how to do yahoo-yahoo.” How do you blame government for this? Many aging artisans complain that they are have no young people to pass on the knowledge to. Many builders now bring people from neighbouring countries to build their houses because young Nigerians are not interested in learning these skills. They want to become rich overnight. Delayed gratification is now a dying phrase.

Moral decadence has crept into religious institutions. A pastor who works in a company where monthly salaries look like annual salaries suspected that someone was stealing his tithe. He decided to be vigilant. On this particular Sunday, his tithe envelop disappeared when they counting. He raised an alarm. Guess who stole the envelop? Another pastor. In another church, the people counting money kept stealing offertory money. They tried women, men and youths at different times to no avail. They had to instal CCTV cameras. Can we blame government officials here?

I support demonstrations against bad governance and hunger in our land, but maybe we need to expand our demonstrations to include bad parenting, moral decadence and other aspects of our national life where we are need to improve on. We need a better society in all ramification.

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