To say Nigerians are hungry is an understatement. Nigerians are indeed starving. No bag of grains goes below N50,000. Some are above N70,000 while just eight years back no bag of grain was up to N10,000 including the mighty foreign rice. Spaghetti is now above N15,000 while a kilogram of cooking gas is heading to N1,500. The dollar, of course, is above N1,600 and aiming for N2,000. The problem is not food shortages as food produce are very much available in the market but at exorbitant rates that are not affordable. Raiding warehouses and bureau de change operators as well as price control will not solve the problems.
The above scenario shows that everything is going up except the income of Nigerians from the civil servants to the businessmen and women including the normal hustlers in the street. Logically speaking, the current hyperinflation is consistently eroding our income at these trying times. The minimum wage that some states are still not paying cannot even buy a bag of any grain in this country and some civil servants still earn below the N30,000 minimum wage. Yet, these people have families to feed, and pay school fees, medical bills, and other responsibilities all with this meager income. How can you fight corruption when people are left hungry and desperate? The situation leaves many with no option than to indulge in corrupt practices to make ends meet.
Are we always going to say yesterday was better? We thought we had seen the worst with the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari whom we believed had the masses at heart. However, when it was time for him to move to Abuja as president he forgot the heart that cried for the masses and entered Aso Rock without it, thereby leaving the masses and their problems behind. Paradoxically, he ended up creating more hardship and problems for the country and when leaving he boldly said nobody should call him to account, forgetting how he called others to account. To put it simply, Nigerians found a bigger problem in Buhari than the problems they hoped to solve in electing him to power.
President Bola Tinubu and all the state governors need to drastically cut spending and make sure the citizenry gets food. Life should be made affordable by Nigerians. This will nip the unfolding high cost of living tension in the bud. The leadership needs to know that no security agency can tame a hungry population. The security agents are also affected just like other Nigerians.
Our compliant National Assembly needs to wake up. It is unimaginable that the Northern Caucus could come out after the 2024 budget had been assented to by Mr. President, and therefore has become law to say that they will revisit it because they realised the south has a larger portion of the budget than the north. Were they asleep when deliberations were ongoing? This is shameful. It is time for you all to wake up and know you have a responsibility and an obligation to the people of this country.
The worst part of all these problems is not that things are way too expensive beyond imagination but the fact that prices are still soaring and nobody knows when it will stop. Hyperinflation is devastating Nigerians. Already, pockets of protests have begun in some cities. The president needs to save the country before things get out of control because Nigeria is hungry and Nigerians are starving.
A M Modibbo,
Maiduguri, Borno state
