By Igbotako Nowinta
“Let them eat cake” – Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution, was guillotined in 1793 (Upon being told that the peasants had no bread)
I am compelled to write this open letter to President Bola Tinubu and his boys, simply because the ordinary people of Nigeria are being subjected to mental and economic torture never seen before in the history of Nigeria.
What is currently playing out is the darkest economic chapter in our history, even as the Tinubu presidency continues to complicate the issues of extreme multidimensional poverty within the system.
On May 29th, 2023, at the Eagle Square, Abuja, during his swearing- in- ceremony, President Bola Tinubu made a very costly mistake when he unguardedly said:” subsidy is gone”.
The monstrosity and naked insensitiveness of that statement has sadly subjected Nigerian people to degrading, dehumanizing and disgusting economic crisis. What is fuel subsidy in Nigeria? Fuel subsidy is one of many consumption subsidy programmes of the government. It attempts to lower the fuel cost by providing direct financial support to oil firms, thereby lowering the fuel price for Nigerians.
In other words, fuel subsidy is a financial assistance provided by the government to reduce the cost of fuel for consumers. It is done to keep fuel prices lower and make it more affordable for the consumers.
Most disturbingly and ironically, the wicked politics of fuel subsidy in Nigeria, has been a ruthless and wicked tool in the hands of the elite to punish the ordinary people of Nigeria. Why has Bola Tinubu decided to use the fuel subsidy scam to finish-off the masses of Nigeria? How much is being saved or how much is being invested out of the subsidy imbroglio since he came on board?
Now, the Naira is being bashed and battered mercilessly because the managers of the current economy have identified themselves as sleepwalkers in the deep dream of incompetence and confusion.
Today, prices of goods and services continue to gallop and fall in shocking precision. There is unparalleled and unprecedented human suffering in the land.
The palliatives being dished out to the people are inconsequential; it is like a drop in the bucket of what is needed to cushion the effects of outrageous economic policies. What role are the state Governors playing in the whole disturbing process? The atrocities being committed by the ruling class in Nigeria against the poor masses is monumental; the last drop of blood of the masses is being squeezed out daily.
Really, this letter was initiated mostly because of the extreme, selfish, illogical and irresponsible acts of President Bola Tinubu and his boys in disregarding and disrespecting the Nigerian people.
Tinubu has appointed his son-law as head of Federal Housing Authority ( FHA), with the approval of the sum of 126 billion naira almost immediately; hijacked oil blocks and contracts for his nephew; 3 billion naira approved for his boys in the name of identifying with about 11 million vulnerable citizens in the country; approved the sum of 20.1 billion naira to renovate the office of the Vice – President; the President’s sons ( Seyi and Yinka ) were on a government jamboree to Quatar, while International Monetary Funds ( IMF) policies are being swallowed hook, line and sinker; one can go on and on.
We see a hopelessly hypocritical Tinubu Presidency deceiving Nigerians and not interested in cutting the high cost of governance, engaging in stupid borrowing and plunging us all into avoidable financial distress. Unfortunately for Nigerians, perilous times are here.
This is the meaning of sadistic oppression of the masses for personal pleasure, the reckless mortgage or privatization of the commonwealth of the nation by prodigals in power.
It is important to stress that we must not relent in the struggle to forge a new nation.
A most disgusting tendencies have appeared on the horizon in Nigeria; pervasive and deep, even as the country has descended into bleak and vicious economic situation. Tinubu economic misery laced with nepotistic and clan politics has simply reduced human dignity to nothing; and he has refused to eliminate disparities prejudicial to stability and security.
We see daily a nervous, vindictive and repressive presidency battling what is gradually becoming a protracted economic recession; a disastrous and catastrophic civilian brand of government.
What is happening today is completely unacceptable. The struggle before Nigerian people must have a social-economic content, this is the historic duty lying unattended to; to assiduously reclaim the state from political bandits and criminals, who are translating governance into splendid disasters. The destructiveness and ferocity of increasing unemployment and social depression are alarming. Something must be done!
The challenge here is for President Tinubu to re-think the economic policies of his government urgently; to adequately understand the forces constantly pushing the economy into instability like the Aliko Dangotes of this world to effectively conceptualize development process.
All said and done, it must not be forgotten that the French Revolution of 1789 during the reign of King Louis XVI, has been the inspiring spirit of all other subsequent revolutions, including that of the October 1917 in Russia.
For those who do not know, that epochal revolt resulted in the stormy of the Bastille (a prison fortress in Paris) on July 14th, 1789; tragically consumed Louis XVI and his wife (Marie Antoinette) and other soulless enemies of the people of France.
If excruciating social-economic inequality, lack of food and gainful employment and the insensitive comments of the then Queen contributed to the French Revolution, who says the glaring, gargantuan, reckless and most unfeeling attitudes of President Bola Tinubu and his boys couldn’t crystalize into a massive people’s revolt in today’s Nigeria?
For President Tinubu and his boys, a stitch in time saves nine!
Nowinta Igbotako, is a serial author @ Amazon, an international conflict resolution expert, media/research consultant with the Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre.
