Read Open letter to fellow Nigerians by National Coordinator of No Alternative To Tinubu/Shettima 2023 and former President, Catholic Brothers United Writes
I write this in the face of the excruciating economic hardship and pains, which has persisted over the years in Nigeria, and has progressively and geometrically become worse as years go by. This has in turn made Nigerians to cry out, blame, curse and insult the leaders and government of the day.
These crises have also given rise to strikes and protests intended to drive points home, but have instead of making the situation better, worsened it. We are always prone to heaping blames on the leadership of the country over whatever problems we face, looking at them from narrow perspectives, instead of from global outlook.
Granted that the hardship, such as we face in Nigeria currently, can make one to fall into the temptation of becoming irrational and react without thinking deeply to unravel the reasons for the problems. But we fail to realise that these pockets of economic crisis are not peculiar to Nigeria.
We do not seem to remember that the world is a global village, which implies that anything that happens in one country affects the others. How do we expect Nigeria to be better of or smiling economically when the whole world is embroiled in multidimensional crisis?
Covid -19 and its devastating effects on the entire world came and somehow gone, but many countries are still trying to recover and find their feet. Then came the Russia -Ukraine war, and later the middle east brouhaha.
See the situations in Venezuela, Sudan, Haiti, Kenya and some European countries. Ask any Nigerian you know residing outside the country, whether in that country, things are rosy as they used to be, the answer will be in the negative.
Take for instance the USA, one of the supper powers of the world, where the economy is nose-diving and the citizens are currently complaining of high cost of living. The government there has not done any magic to make things easier for the people overnight.
The current situation in Nigeria is rather unfortunate, given in addition ,the perennial security crises occasioned by the Boko Haram terrorism attacks, kidnappings, conflicts between farmers and herders as well as the problems of corruption that makes the matters worse. I remember how Nigerians were crying of bribery and corruption and complaining of Nigeria being in distress, which made churches and some other religious bodies to resort to prayers.
Two of such were “prayer against bribery and corruption” and “prayer for Nigeria in distress” introduced on June 27, 1993 and on June 19, 1998 respectively by Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria and till date these prayers are still ongoing in the churches.
Do you ask yourself why Nigerian problems have persisted and it appears God is not answering our prayers? Note that, for as long as the global crisis continues, Nigerian crisis will not easily abate. Again,for as long as we Nigerians continue to remain enmeshed in hypocrisies, blaming, castigating, cursing and insulting the leadership in government, without taking care of our own individual unscrupulous behaviours in our private lives, Nigerian problems will remain.
Have you not heard that before you attempt to remove a big log in someone’s eyes, you must first all remove a bigger one in yours? But we, in our individual sinful acts in our private lives, throw decency to the wind, openly insulting and abusing constituted government authorities and even lying against them, in a manner that is akin to “living in glass houses and throwing stones.”
Prayers are good, even the Holy book, the bible, recommends that we pray for our leaders and government authorities. But on the contrary, we rather abuse, insult and curse them, forgetting that “he who comes to equity, must come with clean hands.”
I am even as surprised as I am enraged when I see some pastors mounting the pulpit and from this sacred altar dish out curses against the government of the day. How callous!
In all these, I am not saying that all the government in the past were good.
Some were bad and performed poorly, while some were good and did their best. Even when some perform well and churn out good policies that would better the situation in the face of the crisis, we do not recognise and applaud them.
Let me say this, and I say it without making any bones, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu means well for Nigeria and unlike previous Presidents, he is, in the face of global crisis and inherited internal problems, relentlessly and courageously trying to steer us out from long term problems by putting in place, hard and hurting policies that will eventually save Nigeria from total collapse.
If anything, you can also see in him a President who is concerned and means well for Nigeria, putting in place students loan scheme, signing into law the regional development commissions, such as South east development commission, construction of coastal roads, revamping the rail transport system, fighting corruption with out minding whose ox is gored. To cushion the effects of these hard/hurting policies, he approved N70,000 as minimum wage, which some state governments are reluctant to pay; and distributed palliatives, which also some states government were diverting for self interest.
More importantly, he knows the importance and impacts of local government system to the masses, hence he championed the course of local government autonomy, which state governors are fighting hard to jeopardise, for them to continue to mismanage the local government funds for their selfish reasons.
Fellow Nigerians, it is high time we looked inward , realised our failings and bad behaviour and changed our attitudes towards the leadership of the country. Let’s show some understandings to the President and rally round him for the realisation of the benefits of his reforms.
The pains of the reform policies of the current administration are excruciating, no doubt, but the eventual benefits will be more enjoyable and long lasting. These pains can only be compared with the pregnancy and labour pains that disappear when the mother hear cry of the baby and feel warmth on her body.
When this administration came on board, Nigeria was like a building with leaking roof that has been patched over the years without any positive results. Now, the leaking roof has been pulled down for replacement with better and more modern roofing materials.
Certainly, there will be discomfort during the period of renovating the building with very little and scarce resources. With commitment and sincerity on the part of the government, the job will be done for the benefit of the people.
Let us refrain from cursing and abusing the president or even lying against him. Let us appreciate his good policies and decisions aimed at improving the living standards of the people.
Let us remember what the Israelites went through In the wilderness to access the promised land. It is a similar journey that Nigerians have embarked upon, under the guidance of the current administration.
Uba is the National Coordinator of No Alternative To Tinubu/Shettima 2023 and former President, Catholic Brothers United
