Definitely, year 2022, was one of the hardest years Nigerians have ever undergone through, after the ugly experience of civil war. It is clear to all and sundry that Nigeria is presently at the edge of the precipice in terms of the economic, security, food security, social, political, and ethno-religious positions.
In spite of the President’s good intentions toward the country, his indecisive action on many issues and such inaction, cost the nation the very best of his good intention towards aforementioned challenges. It is sad, the administration will leave the country far more vulnerable than when it came.
There had been no government in Nigeria’s history that has enjoyed the citizens’ goodwill before like the present administration.
This good will has been badly raptured. We never expected country’s lucrative Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA would only offer admission to the sons and daughters of those close to corridor of power secretly In spite of commoners’ sons and daughters sacrificed a lot and spent hours under the sun to vote for you in 2015 election.
To be fair, It will be the highest injustice for anybody not to appreciate administration gains on infrastructural development made and even wailers cannot deny it.
However, cost of living, Nigerians are languishing in extreme hardship; daily survival has become an uphill challenge and what people are going through now in the country is reaching the highest apogee since the late 80s. All these happened under Baba Buhari’s corrective administration. In spite the administration had genuine intention to restructure the agricultural sector , but the policies were not being implemented with a human face because the administration not feel for Nigerians in this kind of abject untold hardship.Why in the 21st Century Nigerians are talking about daily survival which in normal circumstances, there is no any reason for Nigerians crying about food prices which are beyond their affordability.
In October, a report by Global Hunger Index jointly published by the German-based Welthungerhilfe and Dublin-based Concern Worldwide, Nigeria ranked 103 out of 121 countries in the 2022 Global Hunger Index, a position that signifies the nation “has a level of hunger stricken country which is serious. inflation reached unprecedented heights; workers purchasing power declined precipitously.
Electricity decline, like many other administration promises, which promised improved power with 10,000 megawatts but nation’s grid collapses many times available power generation capacity fell by 981.8 megawatts between 2015 and August 2022 despite over N1.51tn intervention in the sector by the Federal Government since the current administration came on board in 2015. A document on Power Generation Trend (2013 – August 2022), obtained in Abuja from the Association of Power Generation Companies, the umbrella body of electricity producers, indicated that while available power generation capacity was 6,616.28MW in 2015, it dropped to 5,634.47MW as at August this year
Poor economy policies, Nigeria has become a begger and debtor nation. Citizens caught a glimpse of poor economy management as the country is paying heavily for the inebriation. Interest charges on domestic debts will drain N4.5 trillion from the 2023 budget, an increase of 243.51 per cent from the N1.31 trillion proposed for this in 2016. Debt servicing consumed N16.6 trillion in the 16 months period, January 2021 to April 2022. The administration came into office promising fiscal discipline and a departure from profligacy. Even though Successive Nigerian governments had a bad track record with debt, but the Buhari regime is by far the worst. The Economist Intelligence Unit declared Nigeria’s revenue-to-debt service ratio as “the worst in the world” (January to April 2022), when up to 92 per cent of all revenue went into servicing debt. It is expected to reach 116 per cent in 2023, projects the IMF and on current trends, 160 per cent by 2027.Data from the Debt Management Office showed that the government’s domestic debt stock was N19.24 trillion by December 2021. By September 2022, it had risen to N21.55 trillion, an increase of 2.31 trillion in just nine months.Insecurity, 2022 had been an eventful year in Nigeria. 28 March, terrorists ambushed and attacked a passenger train en route from Abuja to Kaduna. They killed some passengers and abducted scores more. Every region in the six geopolitical zones are affected. But the nature of the violence and insecurity differs somewhat from place to place within Nigeria.2022 Global Peace Index has ranked Nigeria 143 among 163 independent nations and territories, according to the level of peacefulness. Nigeria moved three places up on the log from the 146th position it was ranked last year. The Global Peace Index published by the Institute for Peace and Economics ranked Nigeria at 146 out of 163 countries, only better than countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Russia, which are typically known to have been conflict areas for a long time. The security challenges are continuing to spiral into general anarchy.
Nigerians thought corruption would be fought by the administration but menace become a monster and sadly, National Council of States presided by the President of the Federal Republic Of Nigerian has endorsed the pardon of Dariye, Nyame and 157 other convicts The administration pardoned people who are still serving jail terms despite the highest court in the country Supreme Court in in 2021 dismissed one of the pardoned persons appeal. In spite Mr. President well known credentials of being incorruptible and honest as he has not been found wanting in any responsibilities assigned to him. His anti-corruption campaign has not faired any better than its predecessors because of lack of political will to march the fighting with actions.
As the country match toward 2023 general election there is little or no interest from electorates on who will emerge the next president because Nigerians voted for PMB’s in 2015 and 2019 elections to sanitize the system after spending hours under the sun.
To vulnerable Nigerians only hope for them wishing for Allah’s blessing, protections and spare their lives to witness the end of administration alive. We now bow our heads down seeking Allah’s forgiveness for believing only GMB can change the country without seeking Allah’s guidance for him. As we are going in for the next two.months elections May Lord guide our hand to vote a leader who is going to be a good leader not a ruler who will add more hardship on us, a leader who will not run anti- masses policies in the country. May Allah, protect our country from more harm, eradicate anything that may disrupt our peaceful coexistence, aid our incoming leader in the next 150 days to improve the country’s economic progress and forgive our wrongdoings and accept our good deeds. Happy new year to millions of vulnerable Nigerians.
Dukawa writes in from Kano
