MY TEN KOBO;THE LABOUR OF OUR HEROES PAST

Nigeria is dying, Nigerians are groaning, living in Nigeria used to be fun, but things are no longer funny.

The Naira is in a freefall, which means it costs more to do business in Nigeria. Actually forty percent more than just a year ago.

The power generation has dropped by thirty five percent in the last month, which means businesses and homes have to rely more on generators, but since the scarcity started two months ago, that too is better imagined.

Nigeria is broke, states are bankrupt, companies are cutting back, banks have reduced staff substantially, Telcos are laying off non essential staff by the bucketload, and the less said about the media and salary backlog, the better.

How did we get to this sorry pass?

Less than ten years ago, during the Obasanjo years, we were told that we were debt free, and we can start saving for the rainy day.

A few years ago, we were told we have a sovereign Wealth Fund to ensure that we never lack, and that as the biggest economy on the continent, we were shock proof.

In less than three months after the bottom fell out of the oil market, we were already borrowing to pay salaries!

I once advised people that when they see Jonathan, they should run fast, they should run far, Not only because he was a bad president, that was never in doubt. But that he was supervising over the worst profligacy in the history of our country. So you can imagine the relief of majority of Nigerians when he was voted out of office.

The Buhari administration has been in power for half a year, and with the initial missteps in areas of economy intervention and political gerrymandering, coupled with the fact that the end of the Boko Haram insurgency nowhere in sight, Nigerians are beginning to doubt whether this government would be different from its predecessors.

For starters, Nigerians cannot understand why it is taking forever to find a solution to the fuel crises, why it is difficult to get the refineries to work or the political will to build new ones, and why we still pay the same pump price when oil was selling at One hundred dollars per barrel and now that it is selling for forty five dollars?

They also cannot fathom why the presidency is still keeping all the planes in the presidential fleet, created an office for his wife, and continue the subsidy payments after confirming it was fraudulent?

Let someone tell the President that we all wish him to succeed so that the Labour of our heroes past should not be in vain, but that unless there is a paradigm shift in the cost and the size of governance at all levels, a clear cut policy on how to get the economy back on track, and lead by example in the area of letting the lifestyle of office holders reflect our current reality, I am afraid his reputation as a frugal man with a Spartan lifestyle would disappear faster than the current minimum wage.

My Ten Kobo.