Why Does 2023 Seem So Far Away?

By Eddy Odivwri

William Shakespeare had many years ago, in his typical philosophical ruses
declared that “time is very slow for those who wait, very fast for those who
are scared, very long for those who lament, very short for those who celebrate.
But for those who love, time is eternal”. The truth in the declaration was re-echoed
by Henry Van Dyke, who may not have had Nigeria or Nigerians in mind when he
echoed the declaration, but it is quaintly true to the Nigerian situation of
today.

Not a few Nigerians are eager to see to the end
of the President Mohammadu Buhari administration believing, rightly or wrongly,
that the end of the present administration will be the beginning of great
relief. They just cannot wait. And that is why 2023 is appearing like eternity
to many Nigerians. It is not for nothing. Even if all other defects of this
administration are ignored and tolerated, the twin evil of insecurity and
collapsed economy is making Nigerians to fast and pray so the Buhari administration
will roll away as quickly as possible.

The two issues where this government has
performed abysmally low are those that concern everyone: the rich and the poor.

Yes, the rich may among us can hire a truck
load of security men to accompany them on the highways,
but we have seen “big men” being attacked, killed and even burnt along with
their security aides. Ask the family of late Ahmed Gulak. Few years back, even
the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Barde was hacked to death
on his way from his farm, in Nasarawa State. An army General, Maj Gen Hassan
Ahmed, mid last month, was shot and killed between Kogi and Abuja, while his
younger sister and driver (who were with him in the car) were kidnapped and had
to pay huge ransom before they were recently released. The Borno State
governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, with all the array of security personnel
around a typical governor, has been twice lucky in escaping the bullets of
terrorists who obviously want him dead.

If fire can burn the tortoise with the iron
coat, you can thus imagine what it would do to the hen with a feathery gown.

Indeed, the stories of insecurity in Nigeria
have become so staple and common place that they hardly shock us anymore. What may
appear strange is travelling from one part of the country to another and not
come under attack of Bandits, terrorists, armed robbers, cattle rustlers,
Fulani herdsmen, or even “unknown gunmen’. One must be doubly lucky to escape
falling into the hands of these marauders, many of whom have taken permanent
residency in our hitherto dear country.

The Katsina State governor, Alhaji Aminu
Masari, last week, had lamented that bandits have literally seized ten of his
local government areas, where they (bandits and other criminal elements) attack
innocent persons everyday without let or hindrance, unchecked. He was appealing
to the Chief of Army Staff who visited him to “do something”! That is Mr
President’s home state!

Kaduna State and many other states in the North
West like Zamfara and even Niger have become large and vast killing fields, as
the volume of innocent bloods shed on a daily basis are enough to make River
Niger look like Red sea.

As I write this, many Islamic school children
from Niger State who were kidnapped over two months ago are still in captivity.
Kidnappers have demanded N100 million as ransom from their parents who are
practically sub-peasants.

Even when the parents rallied round, raised
some monies, and sent to the kidnappers, the man who took the ransom to them,
was himself kidnapped. How bad can it get!

Farmers cannot go to their farms. In the same
Niger State some communities contribute money regularly and pay same to bandits
so they can be permitted to go to their farms.

These stories look like far-fetched tales of
what could happen in some far away countries. Not Nigeria! But here we are:
everybody is scared and angry. I have watched very heart-breaking viral videos
of kidnapped school children being maximally tortured by their captors, as the
children wail to high heavens promising to get their mothers to pay the ransom,
amidst receiving harsh whips on their sweaty bare bodies from the animalistic
captors. And you ask: why is 2023 so far away? No normal government can accept
what we are going through as a nation as the normal. Never!

A Post 2023 Nigeria will definitely have no
place for these criminals.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami
has refused to prosecute the over 400 captured Boko Haram members and other
bandits. But he is swift in pressing charges against Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday
Igboho et al. Any better example of double standard?

Many top government officials or their family
members have been kidnapped and released after paying ransom. So audacious have
the kidnappers become that they even direct families of kidnapped victims to
pay the ransoms through the banks. How daring!

Perhaps it is the silence of the government
that is even more worrisome. Maybe the government does not have or know what
else to say. Not after it had severally boasted of having “technically
defeated” Boko Haram or bandits. The silence, in a way advertises the
helplessness of government. Seven months after the Service Chiefs have been
changed, we have not experienced the much expected relief from insecurity. More
school children have been attacked and kidnapped in the last four months than
in the last five years. And there is practically no end in sight, despite the
visible efforts government is making to knock the criminals out.

On the economic flank, Nigerians are generally
groaning. Even the rich are also crying, let alone the poor. More than ever
before, poverty is overwhelming many more Nigerians. Matters are not helped by
the import-dependent economy the government is running.

The
unfavourable balance of trade is causing the local currency—the Naira, to
continually lose value. Those managing the economy seem to have come to their
wit’s end. The exchange rate, especially of the United States Dollars, has
become the major determinant of the value of our Naira. The cost of everything,
yes, everything, has sharply hit the roof top. Even the plantain and coco-yam
farmers, plus vegetable farmers now talk about “dollars and exchange rate”. It is distressing to see how the managers of
the economy led us to this sorry mess of a United States Dollars exchanging for
N510 or more. How can such an economy ever be healthy, when we literally import
everything, including our own God-given petroleum products? Food items are no longer affordable.
Nigerians are groaning.

Perhaps more than ever before, late Umaru
Dikko’s reference to our kids not yet scavenging from waste bins, is nigh unto
us. Little wonder all kinds of criminal activities have been devised and being
driven with courage and confidence. Those in power may not know, as their
usually huge budgets can absorb the inflationary spike. They are fed by government;
transported by government; medically taken care of by government, some even get
clothed by government. All such ones do not know what we go through being
ordinary citizens. They do not know how sharp and piercing the bite of
inflation is.

It is such an irony that the more money the
country is making, the poorer the people get. Today, the Nigerian Customs is
raking in far more money than it ever did in history, more Nigerians are paying
taxes. More taxes are being paid, more is being paid for electricity, more is
being paid for petrol and diesel plus kerosene, more is being paid for air
travels, more is being paid for medicare….. Yet, the impact of government on
the people is getting weaker and fainter by the day. What an economic mystery!

With the remaining 21 months to go, many
Nigerians seem to be beseeching God to reduce the number of hours per day to
just ten so 2023 will quickly come, as the countdown to 2023 seems to have
begun. By then, Nigerians should know a new dawn, where they expect to heave
the long sigh of relief, provided someone who is passionate for development and
has the capacity to decisively tackle our issues as a people, comes on board.
Will our Godot come in 2023?

NigerianGovernment Versus Resident Doctors

By Eddy Odivwri

I am so ashamed of this country. Things are
just so upside down. I cannot understand how this became our lot as a people.

What are you talking about? I need you to sound
patriotic.

(mimicking)_ I need shu to shand pachiochic.
Patriotic my foot! The Nigerian state should be patriotic to its citizenry
first. And then in turn, the citizens can become patriotic.

But a nation that is always at war with its
health workers and academic workers does not have the moral rectitude to preach
about patriotism.

I hope you are not referring to the present strike
action called by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD)?

That is precisely what I am talking about,
amidst other cases.

But the whole world knows that these so-called
Doctors are just being difficult and fastidious. Have you taken time to see
that most of the things they are quarrelling about are responsibilities of
various state governments and not the federal government? Why should the
doctors not be discerning enough to separate the issues relating to state
governments and federal government?

Look, look, before you begin to sound more
Catholic than the Pope, please explain to me why the issues agreed to last
April will not be implemented by the federal government?

And did I hear you say “so-called doctors”? Do
you know how long it takes to train as a doctor let alone attain residency? You
think it is beans? They deserve our maximum respect. Look, if the federal
government is not comfortable with any of the demands of the Doctors, it should
have had the courage and honesty to iron them out at the point of negotiation.
But it is a demonstration of bad faith for government to agree, and nudge the
doctors to resume work, only for it to renege on the issues so agreed upon.
What is that? A government of deceit? Was government made to sign those
Memoranda of Action under duress? Having signed, it is incumbent on government
to keep its own part of the bargain. Period!

But don’t you know these doctors took an oath
to save lives? It is called the Hippocratic oath. How can they be so heartless
as to abandon patients under their care to die in the name of strike? Where is
the humanity doctors are known for?

You are talking rubbish. Look, the Hippocratic
Oath is not an oath to poverty. Doctors are human beings too. They have
families. They deserve good and comfortable lives. Not after they have spent
over a decade studying to become specialists and then they are shabbily treated
by government. It is such annoying arguments like this your own that has
propelled the massive brain drain we have suffered in this country. In America,
even a newly registered Nurse earns far more than a specialist Doctor in
Nigeria. And we are here quarrelling over N5000 hazard allowance. Do you know
that during the COVID period, Nigeria lost 20 medical doctors? And more than
one year after, we are still quibbling over Insurance scheme for doctors. Is
that fair? Those medical doctors who died have families. Nobody is talking
about how to support or sustain livelihood in those families.

Let me ask you: how much is it really that the
federal government cannot provide for the upkeep, welfare and wellbeing of
medical doctors in this country? is it not a shame that almost every quarter we
are always coming back to the same issues? How can a doctor be earning less
than N200,000, whereas a school cert holder who is a councilor in Orile Local
Government Area earns three times that amount, aside other unofficial “kicks”.
What kind of society is that? And you want the doctors to be happy?

But you
know that…

(snaps) But you know that what? There is nobody that does not need the
doctor. If the Big men in government can hop into private jets and go for
prized medical treatment abroad, some good thoughts should be spared for those
who can hardly buy a packet of Panadol for their headache in Nigeria. Healthcare
is one socio-metric measure of a good and responsible government. The Buhari
administration cannot be failing on all fronts. It should wean itself of this
fixation of making life difficult for the average Nigerian. It is bad enough
that hunger is biting, yet it is doubly disappointing if when people fall sick,
government is not available to help. Did
you not hear that even Cholera has killed 816 people in this country since
January? How can government allow doctors to go on strike at a time there is a
third wave of the Corona Virus, the Delta variant? Where is the doctrine of
Expediency? Look, go and tell that Labour Minister, Dr Chris Ngige, that as a
medical doctor himself, he should always show professional solidarity with
those in practice. That is the only way he can get their co-operation. To ignore
them and dare them to do their worst or invoke the so-called ‘No-work-No-pay
policy’ is like applying a medication that will kill both the disease and the
patient. Let him be wise, and save us the collective embarrassment.