It is interesting to note that the journey of 365 days of the year of our Lord, “two thousand and seventeen” has eventually nudged to its end, baring any circumstances that is untoward, in the next 48 hours , it will be a new year. If you are reading this piece, it means God has spared your life through all the ups and downs of the already aging year; I congratulate you for being at the receiving end of God’s divine grace of protection and provision.
This year is no doubt a mixed grill. It is one year that started with ample promises for the masses, yet the masses are not really better in anyway as the year pales out into oblivion. A young friend would ask, has any year ever favour the masses? The answer is neither here nor there, but there is a way in which the farmers, the artisans, the traders, the middle level income earners and all what have you, will assess an outgoing year and tell you, this year that is fading out “was economically speaking ,worth it.” Except I chose to be economical with the truth, the middle class, if any such class still exist in Nigeria, since the fangs of capitalism has blurred the edge of its existence, better still the lower class in the economy will not wish upon themselves another “fumbling and wobbling” year like this particular one that gets stale in some hours time.
The budget which was appropriated and worked on , edited , retooled, padded, got missing, perhaps kidnapped at a point, did not get passed into law as an appropriation bill until mid year. This became an albatross on an economy that hinges its survival on petrodollars. The implication is that the 2016 appropriation bill spill over into the better part of 2017. A country that allows such budgetary spill over does not mean well for her citizenry because execution of both capital and recurrent expenditure in an appropriation bill is meant to run from January to December as this allows for a bench mark monitoring of items of the budget not just by government agencies, oversight committees of the National Assembly but private bodies and NGOs. It is pitiable to note that except something fast is done by both the Executive and the Legislature, a worst fate is set to befall the prospects of a timely and prompt execution of the 2018 appropriation bill presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammad Buhari in November.
Of a truth, nothing concerns the peasant farmer in Gwandu or the fisher man at Gbolomi, or even the taxi driver plying Isoko/Olomoro route with the execution of an appropriation bill; if they feel unconcerned, they can be excused , but we all feel the gruelling impact of a badly executed national budget , while a fiscal appropriation which its execution does not begin until the middle of another forbodes poverty for the masses , who are meant to benefit the more from the capital expenditure.
The artisans are worst hit this year by how the economy of the nation has played out. Those whose trade require a constant electricity supply to thrive were simply driven out of business. Let us take the Ondo Southern senatorial district for instance, I am convinced there are other luckless districts like her ,strewn across the nation who have not enjoyed electricity supply for sometime ; however , in the case of Ondo South, it will be marking its fourth year of light out as this year ends tomorrow! One can imagine those poor artisans who have been compelled by circumstances not their own making, to turn to lesser means of livelihood like “Okada riding”, while not a few who have no faith have turned to armed robbery, militancy and all forms of lowly vices to survive.
This year has been terribly rough for salary earners both in the employ of states and local government councils. The year has been particularly gruelling for senior citizen pensioners . State government workers, one is convinced, will Marshal a special prayer point at “the watch night tomorrow that God should touch the heart of their state Chief Executives in the new year so that they don’t experience a more excruciating hunger and squalor in the coming year. So many state Governors owed their workforce this year so heavily that in a manner of speaking , some state workers lost count of how many month arrears they are owed. Not even when the Paris club refund was remitted to states by Federal Government were these state Executives able to settle all their indebtedness to their workforce. It got so terrible that a particular state Governor resorted to rationalising workers salary by remitting half salary to the majority of the number of the state workforce. It was reliably gathered though that in the state in question , the workforce had resignedly been collecting half salary for a plethora of months. Even when the full salary package does not take the workers till the end of another month, a Governor comfortably doled out half measure to his workforce . Definitely, no thought is spare on how the workers are going to cope. How such government expects quality service delivery is left in the realm of conjecture.
The corollary effect is that the poorly paid, heavily owed and “half salary -paid” workers shift their economic challenge to the traders in the market whom they buy from on credit in utmost good faith that remittances will be done as soon as possible. Not only that , “the landlords” school proprietors /proprietresses all bear the brunt, more especially in the so called civil servant states. Hence, poverty spreads across different layer of the economy.
There is corruption in the system and the size of corruption in the system is so huge that it has gotten its own life and it is not just fighting back, but crushing everything on its way, and funny enough the hydra headed vice is apparently , though appallingly winning the battle. There have been so many “scandalous gates” this year alone and all these financial scandals end up impoverishing the masses the more. Administration of criminal justice crawls so slow, the criminally daring bare their fang at the public till and steal so much , a learned silk is rearing to go all the way with legalese to ensure the corruptly rich do not just keep their loot but escape the bars to enjoy the loot , creating embarrassing complex among the masses, whom these stolen fund were meant to cater for.
The Federal government and its component states need to reassure the masses by their action, commission and policy execution that they mean well for the masses of this nation in the coming year, lest the people completely lose hope in government more especially as another general election beckons . No serious government allows its voting masses to baulk under the weight of a compromised economy, managing and enduring poverty and policy flip flops from a government that rides on masses’ popularity at election time.
The artificial fuel scarcity in the land , badly managed by the duo of Nigeria National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) and Department of Petroleum (DPR), as well as that behemoth called
Independent Petroleum marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Worst still, the masses bear the brunt as they queue at filling stations wasting man hour that could have otherwise been fruitfully utilised. Are we an oil producing nation? Yes! Do we refine our fuel locally? No! Is this supposed to be the norm for the richest oil producing country in Africa? No! Who feels the pain of this scarcity most? The masses. That is why the yuletide season had looked so dry and bleak for the common man. It got so bad that not even the loud and exciting sound of fireworks are heard in the neighbourhood.
Developed countries have government that overwhelmingly cater for the masses with well planned economy and social security package that makes the people have confidence in the government. Federal and state governments in Nigeria should go and do likewise as a new year resolve. Reason is masses of Nigeria don’t forget things easily .
Wishing our numerous readers a prosperous , economically buoyant and peaceful 2018.
It shall be well with our soul!
