The primary theme of the August 2024 protests is #EndBadGovernment. Other sub-themes are #EndHunger and #EndHardship.
Bad governance, hunger and hardship were already ravaging the land before President Bola Tinubu assumed the mantle of leadership on May 29, 2023. But for most Nigerians, the situation was still largely bearable. Petrol, the primary energy resource of the masses, sold for between N180 and N200 per litre because imported petrol was still being subsidised. A year after Tinubu came to power, it sells between N800 and N1,200 per litre, and it is scarce.
Before Tinubu, a 50kg bag of rice was N45,000. Now it is N85,000. Gas jumped from N8,000 for 12.5kg to N16,000. The Naira depreciated from N650 to the US Dollar to the current N1,570.
All these and more happened because Tinubu precipitously ended petrol subsidy even before getting into office to study the concrete situation on ground. He also floated the Naira. So doing, he imposed a draconian economic pressure on the people while at the same time continued reckless government spending.
That Tinubu is the primary target of the protests can be seen in the messages contained in the placards of the protesters throughout the nation. Hardly is any of them blaming their state governments for their woes, even though bad governance pervades every tier of government.
Every president of a country is the primary driver of the nation's economic and political process. This truth applies to Nigeria, more so as we have a centralised economy that is based on federal revenue sharing rather than production.
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Even the so-called "local government autonomy" policy of the Tinubu administration is meant merely to channel federal allocation directly to the local councils. It has nothing to do with making that level of government a contributor to the federal till.
Tinubu further made himself the primary target by unilaterally taking far-reaching decisions that dislocated the economic livelihood of the ordinary Nigerians while failing to offer them effective cushions. He failed to act like a democrat in this matter.
The one month grace that the out-gone Muhammadu Buhari regime offered his successor would have given Tinubu the opportunity to consult widely among other stakeholders like the governors, employers, captains of industry, traders and the unions.
When former President Goodluck Jonathan moved to remove petrol subsidy in January 2012, he had consulted very widely. Even some opposition governors, like Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, had not only bought into the policy but openly canvassed it along with the Federal Government. Sadly, it was torpedoed by protesters, largely from the South-West.
Consultation and consensus building are central pillars of democracies. Consultation does not mean abdication of leadership. It simply means "let's do this together".
It is better to consult than backtrack after blunders.
