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This is doubtless one of the problems inherited from the immediate past government. Nigerians, they say, voted for a change. This word ”CHANGE” could be Aramaic because the reasons for which the world was seemingly fooled that we needed a change are still there if not much more. A government was in place manned by qualified and competent technocrats, but every antic was employed from every quarter which some gullible Nigerian electorates fell for hence the baby was thrown away with the bathwater, a blunder which we shall live to rue!
Like I did say in the opening paragraph, this problem was inherited, but it was not the making of the immediate past administration. It was none other than a ploy or an ill-conceived plan to humiliate the former President out of office but weeks after the queues have refused to disappear thereby causing Nigerians so much pain and misery.
This is one scene that was non-existent even amid the Jihadist insurgency until the twilight of the administration of ex-President Jonathan. Our man of the moment is Muhammadu Buhari who serves as Nigeria’s representative to the whole world. With these unending queues, his name comes to one’s mind as to what he is doing to remedy the obviously sad situation. When one asks this question one is often hushed into silence by Buhari apologists especially Nigerians of Hausa/Fulani extraction all in a bid to protect that who is ”ours”, but, this , if I dare say, will not work under the existing circumstances – ay, by no stretch of the imagination because President Muhammadu Buhari has declared in his inaugural speech that ”he belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody”
This emboldens me to ask him or his associates searching questions whenever I see anything going wrong. He is the President of Nigeria and not the President of a section of Nigeria, therefore he must tell us and indeed the world what he is doing so far to ameliorate the ongoing fuel crisis. A litre of fuel we have it on good authority sells for as much as N200 and this has resulted in a domino effect. Prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed and beyond the purchasing power of the ordinary man. You can imagine how much it costs our local farmers to transport their farm produce from villages to urban centres whose burden is often shifted to the final consumer. Alas, many Nigerians, the writer understands, go to bed on empty stomachs or to use secondary days hackneyed parlance many homes now operate on ”0-0-1 or 0-1-0 frequency” This is miles away from the ”CHANGE” Nigerians yearned and ”voted” for.
History, if you ask me, does sometimes repeat itself. In one of the Biblical narratives during the murmuring in the wilderness we read the Israelites wished they had remained to slave for their taskmasters in ancient Egypt when dearth and death stared them ominously in the face. They complained and murmured to Moses, I see a similar scenario being re-enacted if urgent steps are not taken to address the ongoing fuel crisis.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil producer doubtless. It, therefore, beats my imagination why what we produce and export is not available for sufficient use in the country. Rather than putting our refineries in order for optimal use Nigeria imports refined petroleum products whose consequent high import bill often depletes our foreign reserves.
President Buhari must tackle these problems head-on because we can not continue to brood over the ‘failures’ of yesterday by going round in circles. The time for playing the blame game is over. Nigerians ‘voted’ for a change and it is our interest and desire to see the feelers he is putting out to revitalise the ongoing decadent paralysis.
Iyoha John Darlington, aka Lington Donovan, a political analyst, social activist and public commentator on national and global issues writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Like I did say in the opening paragraph, this problem was inherited, but it was not the making of the immediate past administration. It was none other than a ploy or an ill-conceived plan to humiliate the former President out of office but weeks after the queues have refused to disappear thereby causing Nigerians so much pain and misery.
This is one scene that was non-existent even amid the Jihadist insurgency until the twilight of the administration of ex-President Jonathan. Our man of the moment is Muhammadu Buhari who serves as Nigeria’s representative to the whole world. With these unending queues, his name comes to one’s mind as to what he is doing to remedy the obviously sad situation. When one asks this question one is often hushed into silence by Buhari apologists especially Nigerians of Hausa/Fulani extraction all in a bid to protect that who is ”ours”, but, this , if I dare say, will not work under the existing circumstances – ay, by no stretch of the imagination because President Muhammadu Buhari has declared in his inaugural speech that ”he belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody”
This emboldens me to ask him or his associates searching questions whenever I see anything going wrong. He is the President of Nigeria and not the President of a section of Nigeria, therefore he must tell us and indeed the world what he is doing so far to ameliorate the ongoing fuel crisis. A litre of fuel we have it on good authority sells for as much as N200 and this has resulted in a domino effect. Prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed and beyond the purchasing power of the ordinary man. You can imagine how much it costs our local farmers to transport their farm produce from villages to urban centres whose burden is often shifted to the final consumer. Alas, many Nigerians, the writer understands, go to bed on empty stomachs or to use secondary days hackneyed parlance many homes now operate on ”0-0-1 or 0-1-0 frequency” This is miles away from the ”CHANGE” Nigerians yearned and ”voted” for.
History, if you ask me, does sometimes repeat itself. In one of the Biblical narratives during the murmuring in the wilderness we read the Israelites wished they had remained to slave for their taskmasters in ancient Egypt when dearth and death stared them ominously in the face. They complained and murmured to Moses, I see a similar scenario being re-enacted if urgent steps are not taken to address the ongoing fuel crisis.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil producer doubtless. It, therefore, beats my imagination why what we produce and export is not available for sufficient use in the country. Rather than putting our refineries in order for optimal use Nigeria imports refined petroleum products whose consequent high import bill often depletes our foreign reserves.
President Buhari must tackle these problems head-on because we can not continue to brood over the ‘failures’ of yesterday by going round in circles. The time for playing the blame game is over. Nigerians ‘voted’ for a change and it is our interest and desire to see the feelers he is putting out to revitalise the ongoing decadent paralysis.
Iyoha John Darlington, aka Lington Donovan, a political analyst, social activist and public commentator on national and global issues writes from Lagos, Nigeria.