By Eben Enasco
Successive governments in Nigeria appear in leadership stool with different aura after the election’s breakthrough in the series since independence.
The Constitution of Nigeria permits everyone with requisite qualifications to contest the presidential seat as well as other contestable political offices.
Before victory in each usually dramatic democratic election conducted by an electoral predator, True Blood saw them play Eric Northman, a thousand-year-old Viking prince-turned-hot-vampire.
Now, after winning during the election conducted by fraudulent partners at the electoral office for Big, Little Lies and being nominated for Succession, horrific economic policies headline their actions like a Viking prince determined to avenge his father’s murder.
The Muhammadu Buhari government was tagged as being the worst government since the country ever existed, creating rotten and unimaginable parts for citizens.
Most people who benefit from a government are described as economically ineffective; it is a different opinion.
Although the slogan for fighting corruption became the loudest, looting proliferated all the offices where billions were reportedly moving in sequence to multiple individual accounts.
Corruption pervades the daily lives of Nigerians, despite various moves to curb the menace.
Buhari’s government almost created another name for Nigeria in the international cycle which certainly looks like the “Corruption Republic” after his minister for works concentrated on building a railway station en route to the African neighbors.
Neighboring borders were closed for some parts of the country, and the other parts opened for all assorted businesses including the proliferation of dangerous weapons in the region.
For his 8 years in power, the self-regulating censored government drove Citizens into a naked Volcano, by borrowing the future of the yet-unborn children through billions of loans that were never used to enforce policies.
There are roadblocks to a strong democracy in Nigeria at all levels of government.
The conflict triggered by political competition and communal, ethnic, religious, or resource allocation rivalries poses a major threat to democracy.
Their actions were marred by killing citizens like day-old chickens during Buhari’s maladministration, but Nigerian people survived it.
The government despite facing a lot of obvious criticisms had a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus calls it a breathtaking mistake to elect a man who barely knew anything about the country he was presiding over when asked critical questions.
Nigeria swirled from danger to a very dangerous Country to live in as hope was lost at every tick of the clock.
On February 2023, it was time to change the lethargic situation and guess what, another crony of the forebears furiously said it was his turn to govern.
He eventually got it and was sworn in despite claims of electoral fraud cast on his emergence.
Since he assumed office, more Nigerians have continued to wallow in poverty on about US$1.90 a day according to estimates by the World Bank, as many are leaving the country in droves after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s draconian announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy.
Although the government has made moves after the sudden removal of the fuel subsidy, through the palliative schemes to cushion the effects, the country’s inflation has further sunk with the cost of living hugely influenced.
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate continued to accelerate to reach an over 18-year high of 26.7% in September 2023, up from August’s 25.8%, mainly attributed to second-round effects of the removal of an old petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the naira against the greenback on both the official and parallel markets.
Prices of food, which are the most relevant in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket, jumped to 30.6% in September, the highest since August 2005, from 29.3% in the prior month, also linked to security issues in food-producing regions.
Additional upward pressure came from other CPI items, including transportation at 27.2% vs 27.1%; housing & utilities at 22.5% vs 21.8%; and miscellaneous goods & services at 21.9% vs 21.8%.
The annual core inflation rate, which excludes farm produce, climbed further to 22.1% in September, quickening from 21.2% in August.
Every month, consumer prices rose by 2.1% in September, following a 3.2% surge in the prior month.
Nigeria has the awful distinction of being the world’s capital of poverty, with 71 million people living in extreme poverty today.
According to the World Poverty Clock, 2023, a total of 133 million people are categorized as multidimensionally poor as per National Bureau of Statistics data.
Other analysts said its over-dependence on oil has made it particularly vulnerable to recent global turbulence: supply chain disruption, Covid19 pandemic, surging energy prices, rise in inflation and interest rates that have led to a global slowdown.
Nigeria is losing its middle-class category to foreign countries.
Majorly challenging Nigeria’s development are five worsening concerns including Inflation and debts, Inadequate power supply, problems in the communication sector, State-society gap, Corruption, Inconsistent economic policies, Poor human capital development, and the nature of the Nigerian market.
Apart from this, Nigeria’s economic potential is constrained by many structural issues, including inadequate infrastructure, tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, obstacles to investment, lack of confidence in currency valuation, and limited foreign exchange capacity.
Human Rights Watch research in 2021 found Nigeria lacks a functional social protection system to protect citizens from economic shocks.
The all-star cast reunites have formed his cabinet and it’s expected that the performance given the caliber of the personnel in his government, will have no excuse than to deliver since it’s his turn.
Tinubu-led government should be able to establish a full and complex civilization of beautiful art, cultural and religious fusion, advanced technology, elaborate customs, and codes of honor and justice.
It is believed when he said it was his turn, he wanted to capture, without judgment.
But he must not create a culture of extreme violence and subjugation, and one where horrific cycles of revenge knew no end.
Although Humankind, always seems, to never change and maybe that is why this piece is drawn to the past, where it is a dark and distant mirror.
If the present government must make an Economic headway, it must enhance factor quality by investing in infrastructure, strengthening land tenure security, improving educational outcomes, liberalizing the trade regime, and enhancing trade and transport facilitation to help develop value chains and facilitate efficient reallocation of factors of production, making Nigeria more encouraging to live in.
