Opinion
Corps Member, Tinubu, Not That A Terrible President
By Francis Ewherido
I wrote this article on Monday, but more recent events, notably the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, have overshadowed this matter. Nigeria is a real movie scene. Anyhow, ogoro (frog) must jump, so here we go. I took time to listen to the TikTok video, where an NYSC member and content creator, Ushie Rita Uguamaye, called President Bola Tinubu a terrible president. Other people have used similar words/phrases or worse to describe the president. For me, it is no big deal. Former President Goodluck Jonathan once lamented that he was the most abused president. Criticisms, like praise singing, come with the position. Anyone who is libeled or slandered should go to court. The Nigerian State should deal with treasonable offences.
I bet that this video would not have trended so much if NYSC, initially, and some of the president’s aides had not gone into an overdrive. The alleged threats and pressure from NYSC were not necessary. There are basically two issues here. Did she bring the NYSC to disrepute? I do not think so. Was she partisan by criticizing the president? She was not partisan or political. Like many Gen Zs, she was only expressing her frustration about the economic situation Nigeria. The economic situation is no news to any Nigerian. Even President Tinubu acknowledges it, the last time being when he met with Catholic bishops last week.
What NYSC inadvertently has done is to make the young lady trend and boost her career as a content creator. Many Gen Zs express their frustrations privately. The only difference here is that she went public. The video has now been politicized. Opposition figures and people in government are taking sides with or against her. I took time to watch the video and these are my personal thoughts. The NYSC went out trying to kill a fly with a sledge hammer. At best a caution from NYSC to the young lady to exercise her constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression with care should have sufficed. I am not totally satisfied with the Tinubu Government handling of the economy, but I will not describe him as a “terrible president” as far as the economy is concerned.
Two main factors are at the bottom of our current economic challenges: the floating of the naira and the removal of the fuel subsidy. No matter who emerged president in 2023, these two policy changes would have been made and they would have caused some hardships. Would other presidential candidates have handled the outcomes of the hardship better? I don’t know because it is opportunity cost, as they say in economics? My grouse with this government is that more groundwork should have been made on how to cushion the effects of the hardships before the introduction of the policies, and more still needs to be done. Many Nigerians are suffering.
But I cannot deny that these were courageous decisions. I have been following Nigerian politics ardently since 1980. Fuel subsidy had been an issue before then. Gen. Murtala Mohammed, a very courageous head of state, did not remove it. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who succeeded him, down to Muhammadu Buhari who handed over to Tinubu chickened out of removing the subsidy. All through the years, the best they all could do was fuel price increase some of which were met with stiff opposition.
Tinubu’s predecessors knew of the backlash and chickened out. So, if a Gen Z calls him a terrible president, I understand. Even the NYSC staff feel the hardship. It’s just that they cannot talk. But the fuel subsidy removal is not all gloom. Now, we are self-sufficient in petroleum products. For the first time, we are exporting petroleum products. I don’t know the last time we exported finished petroleum products before now. Another wonderful thing about the end of fuel subsidy is that the massive corruption that came with it has either ended or been reduced.
The floating of the naira is the other policy that led to the sudden increase in prices and attendant cost of living. The multiple exchange rates regime was unacceptable. Like the subsidy era, some people made billions by doing very little while millions of Nigerians were slaving and barely eking out a living. I am no economist. The economist should continue to speak out on measures the government needs to take to ease the economic hardship on majority of Nigerians.
Ushie talked about other issues in her video. She said Lagos is smelly and “whole of Lagos stinks.” Not all parts of Lagos stink, but I am one of those who feel the current Lagos State Government needs to be more consistent and deliberate about making Lagos clean. I have written a few articles on it. I also complained about street lights in many parts of Lagos that are not functioning. But, young lady, you cannot blame the current state of Lagos on Tinubu. He left as governor since 2007. Mr. Babajide Sanwo Olu is the current Governor of Lagos. Urge him to pay more attention to cleanliness and hygiene of Lagos as he is doing with road infrastructure. That said, many Lagosians are also have many dirty habits. Every Lagosian should keep his corner clean. Government alone cannot keep Lagos clean. Another major headache is the influx of other Nigerians and Africans into Lagos. They are swelling the population of homeless people in Lagos. They sleep under flyovers and other public spaces, and defecate in open places. It is a big public nuisance.
I will devote the rest of the article to the young lady. You complained about Uber fares. What is a corper doing with Uber? Unless you are from a rich home or you make a lot of money from content creation or other sources, you have no business using Uber as a means of transport. Don’t blame Tinubu for that. You also said you went to the supermarket to buy eggs. Please locate and patronage the local market closest to you. Food items are much cheaper there. Always look out for ways to get stuff at a cheaper rate. I was driving past a petrol station recently. There was a long queue. I was wondering if fuel scarcity had returned, but my wife told me that their fuel is cheaper by N50 per litre. All kinds of expensive vehicles were in the queue. They will save between N2,000 to N4,000 buying cheaper fuel. For them bargain hunting is a habit, a way of life. It was a Saturday. The same person can go to the club later to watch a soccer match and spend N50,000 on drinks and food or donate N200,000 in church on Sunday.
Don’t also blame Tinubu for the N20,000 you spend on data weekly. You are not just a youth corp member but a content creator. I guess content creation is responsible for your heavy usage of data. Therefore, content creation should pay for it. Thank God you already have a means of livelihood and don’t have to pound the streets looking for a job after youth service. You were also crying about electricity bills. What kind of electrical appliances are you using?
With a pre-paid meter, you control your electricity usage. You talked about having or co-sharing a security guard. You are certainly not a usual corper. You complained about people living fake lives in Lagos. Aha! I have an idea where you live in Lagos. That part where someone driving a N50m vehicle lives in a rented boys’ quarters; where someone driving a N20m car is homeless and sleeps in his car. Be careful the company you keep there.
As you move on in life, there are three essential skills you must master. They are living within your means, delayed gratification and bargain hunting. I did my service in 1988/89. A 12.5-cylinder gas was N8 near us, but N5 at the gas plant in town. Since the Rivers State Government buses were free for corpers, we would walk kilometres to Port Harcourt-Aba Road to get a bus to refill at the gas plant thus saving N3. That was partly how we lived within our N125 or N150 monthly allowance. I saved between N700 to N800 with which I started life after youth service because my father died when I was writing my degree exams. I know this is Gen Z, but living within your means, delayed gratification and bargain hunting, amongst others are just as important now as they were at the start of humanity.
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