Where are the Palliatives?

Leadership, while difficult sometimes, is no joke. In a radical state, a leader may be flogged for an improper utterance. In Nigeria, thankfully, such things seldom happen. But things may be changing in that direction as more Nigerians ask governments at all levels to be transparent and accountable to the common person.

One recurring question among netizens is the whereabouts of the palliatives reported to have been distributed in one Nigerian state or another. Social media is charged with arguments which often end unanimously: that this government aide or that public relations officer is lying about their principal distributing palliatives to the people.

Kwara State enjoys the enviable condition of having reported multiple episodes of palliative distribution. Under Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the state government has distributed rice to residents time and again. The same is true for a handful of other states, but no substantial change has been recorded even in these states.

In states where there hasn’t been any reported palliative action, fingers are pinting to all levels of government. Netizens are calling to mind a report that the federal government had given palliative items valued at N200 million and N100 million to senators and members of the House of Representatives, respectively. But nothing serious has come of these.

In one state, the citizens accused a member of the House of Representatives of distributing spoilt rice to them despite branding the bags with his face. Others claimed to get a small sachet of garri with a pack of noodles, what one might expect from a bizarre show.

The hardship continues to bite into the welfare and happiness of Nigerians. In the first place, palliatives cannot salvage the issue. But the little they can do is unaccounted for, thanks to false promises and greedy governmental overseers.

To borrow the words of WB Yeats, things are falling apart and an economy built on palliatives cannot hold. This is why hardship is loose upon Nigerians.