The days are gone when Nigeria and Nigerians
swelled in economic plenitudes and riches
buoyed by crude oil; well so it seems, perhaps till
there’s an upturn in the fortune of the black gold
which continues to flounder in the international
market.

This straining phase of Nigeria’s existence didn’t
just ghost in suddenly in our midst; the devil
came after a billion minute persuasions and
coaxing. Corruption, profligacy and improvidence
in different degrees were and are the tools with
which Nigerians, from the top to the base,
toasted and are still courting the mite of
economic woes into the land.

Nigeria’s political elites and their variegated
cronies across all sectors, apart from an almost
insignificant fraction of them, have become
world-famous veritable despoilers of their country
Commonwealth. The present harsh economic
woe of the country is the culmination of these
elite’s plundering. Perhaps they’d been
consciously blind to the various dark portraitures
they had managed to evinced from foreigners,
especially from the West, in relation to their
fantastic corruption when they suddenly morphed
into scrupulous patriots cavilling at the truism in
the British Prime minister’s epithet…

David Cameron had surely seen much of the
corruption harvest of Nigerian politicians and
other privilege thiefing class freighted to his
country on daily basis. He could have got notice
of another of such now routine exercise on that
very day he made his remarks.

It is therefore not surprising that one of these
beneficiaries of the pillaging business sought
amnesty for his ilk. A distinguished Senator of the
Federal Republic, Bassey Akpan, out of his sharp
intellection, came out with a rather ingenious
means of getting some of the stolen money -a
whopping seventy percent- back into the country;
an ingenuous admission, however, of the
plunderous art that has overtime been perfectly
mastered by the privileged class which he is part.

Along the economic rungs, from the base to the
top, are many wrongs that are devastating the
country. The art of corruption is well ingrained in
the heart of most Nigerians that it’s often the
case of the while you leap a rung to a higher one,
the more you are expected to cart away the
commonwealth. One is presumed a consummate
fool who questions his own right to take from the
‘national chin chin.’ Many a Nigerian actually
believes that stealing business is a turn-by-turn
thing; so while it’s your turn, fleece as much as
possible.

It is, therefore, not shocking when some take
umbrage at the trial of corrupt persons. ‘Everyone
does it; it’s just that they’ve not be caught.’ This
and other vindicative tunes play out of the
mouths of many Nigerians, sadly.

The case of not saving for lean days was best
exemplified by the capacity for rapacity that
characterised the Jonathan’s era. When posterity
looks back at that era, it will have to suspend its
disbelief in men excessive drives for wealth that
drove their country into almost economic
comatose. Having one of the best economic
teams in any government couldn’t make the
Jonathan-led government provident enough; nor
the fact that the commander-in-chief of the
Armed force rode into power on the goodwill of
his people made him conscientious enough to
safeguard their lives.

While Nigerians took untimely flights to heaven,
Jonathan government took and shared among
the friends and allies of the government the
money earmarked for their security: the now
famous Dasuki-gate.

Meanwhile, those down the economic ladder are
not exempted from improvidence. In a bid to-
enjoy-life-because-it’s-brief many Nigerians are
recklessly frittering away the now scarcely got
resources in their hands. Instead of adjusting to
the situation of things in the country, some will
rather not have a meal on their tables tomorrow
than to eat less than they are used to today.
There’s a case of an electrician who complains
he doesn’t get work to do due to epileptic power
supply, and so he can’t feed his family; but
whenever he gets a work to do, he comes home
stocked with beers, buys petroleum and then
locks himself in his room while his stereo booms
on. He loves this occasional boon that he forgets
he’s most time in economic doom.

Yet, the electrician is an archetype. He abounds
in different shades and temperaments across the
social spectra. It’s a case of the
misunderstanding of the alowo-majaiye dictum
that Nigerians are wont to, wittingly or
unwittingly.

In the light of the foregoing, therefore, it’s
imperative that apart from making tried, whether
they’re eventually convicted or not, corrupt
persons as deterrents, there must be a paradigm
shift in the premium and value placed on the
acquisition of wealth. Something expedient needs
be done to convince Nigerians, especially the
youth that success doesn’t have only one
yardstick, wealth. Life-is-all-about-money craze
must be beaten down in the media, in schools, in
places of religious worships etc. Wealth is a
factor, an important one, but other measures of
marking a fulfilled life must be floated across all
the possible platforms of dissemination of
information.

Furthermore, government across all levels must
lead by examples if Nigeria’s floundering
economic ship is to be saved from finally
foundering. The incredible figures that Nigerians
heard everyday as the money that maintain their
leaders are incentives enough for anyone to
aspire to one day get his chance of joining the
leaders on the stage where he’ll also take his own
share of the national cake. Politics has merely
become a means towards economic uplift at the
expense of others who waddle in hardship. This
must be stopped and discouraged, but the
leaders must start the process by removing the
big logs in their eyes before followers follow suit
by taking out their own specks.

Finally, these days are times when everyone
must live with the realities on ground. Nigerians
must realise that these days are lean days that
must be adjusted to. The Buhari-led government
also needs to be up to task in ensuring citizens
trust it. The perceived taciturnity of this
government in making known its plans must be
looked into if it’s to win citizens full trust. The
case of having to explain things after decisions
are made is not a good way to run a democratic
government. The fallout from the subsidy removal
decision is a textbook case.

Tobi Idowu is a student of University of
Ibadan.
tobywonders@gmail.com

https://tobidowu./2016/05/28/nigerias-economic-strait-adjusting-to-the-lean-days/

Well written