It is a new year. We passed through unimagin able hardship in the past year. For all of us who have managed to cross the threshold, I say congratulations and Happy New Year.
We must all begin to brace up to the choice our President has made for all of us. That is the hard way. In government or economic management, there is no unidirectional solution to problems. There are always alternatives. The choice of the welfarist is to carry out changes with the people's interest and comfort first.
The other alternative is the capitalist, which operates under free market rules, survival of the fittest conditions that, in the long run, favours mostly the wealthy class. President Bola Tinubu has said he does not like to interfere with the free market situation, that demand and supply flow will naturally to find the equilibrium or balance. He has been in office for a year and seven months and we are still trying to find the balance; the policies he has chosen are choking the people.
People are suffering; many have died and the middle class has been squeezed out of the equation . In the other alternative, tgovernment would have found ways to execute its programmes without causing so much hurt to the people. Government would have to first tighten its own belt, cut unnecessary waste, reduce the bloated cabinet, control the expenses of the National Assembly and all other excesses in the system. But the President is sticking to his choice of policy. But for how long will the suffering persist? I have always made the point that ultimately, the country will achieve prosperity but at what cost? That is what differentiates the welfarist from the capitalist: The extent to which the policies affect the common man.
President Tinubu is an intelligent man; he displayed that during the media chat with select journalists at the State House. You do not need to pretend on where he stands; he is a through and through capitalists. For those of us waiting for a change in direction, we have a long way to go. He is a stubborn man, he will not budge. It is a survival of the fittest situation and the weak ones will continue to die; some of them needlessly like those who died during stampedes at Ibadan, Okija and Abuja. If you are well fed at home, you won't take the risk at a stampede-prone palliatives distribution centre. We have said before that sharing palliatives is not a solution to man's problems; it can only be a temporary stop-gap measure to ameliorate the immediate pain.
So for the thousands who trooped out for palliatives it was a needless venture; their situations would still have remained without the needless death. Understanding the challenges before you will make it easier to bear when it eventually comes. We must understand where President Tinubu is coming from and the direction that he is taking us to. We have seen his Lagos model; it is based on taxes and capital projects; there is more money coming in to take care of key projects that have brought overall prosperity to the state, but, you must work hard for it.
There is no food for a lazy man; that is the situation in Lagos. Are the rest of Nigeria should be ready for it? Are they going to come out of their complacency and take the bull by the horn? Will they understand that the freebies from the centre, that have been enjoyed all these years, are gone? Will president Tinubu give heed to their protestations, especially as it concerns the proposed new tax changes and local government autonomy? The Lagos situation is different as the commercial capital of the country coupled with its past activity as the capital of Nigeria. So, the dynamics of the other states and Lagos are different because of their peculiar circumstances. While Lagos is commercial and industrial based, majority of the others depend on agriculture and allied businesses.
In the recent times, government has tended towards mining of mineral resources from different zones; we hope it will yield the expected dividends. This disparity in the context between Lagos State and the others is a major reason the people are questioning the use of the Lagos model at the federal level.
Will President Tinubu allow other views to override his own? From his media chat, it is clear that the president is fully focused on what he wants. He gave the impression that he is fully in charge of his government and totally aware of all the happenings. For those of us who have expressed doubt about his health situation, the man seems to have baffled all of us with his vitality, cerebral presentation and eloquence during the course of the interview. We are now forced to wonder what was truly happening during his presidential campaigns that were riddled with gaffes. He will stick to his policies no matter the consequences.
Over time, our leaders have learnt not to be bothered about death of multitudes under their watch except their direct relations are involved. It is that bad; it did not begin with this regime. The stubbornness of Tinubu showed when he insisted during the media chat that Nigerians must have to bear the pain of his policies. It also showed that he was not going to be emotional about the Nigerian situation.
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Example: for the stampede at Ibadan and other areas, he noted that he was sorry about deaths but we must move on, it must not affect the mood of the season. He was stubborn on the insistence that his cabinet is not bloated; and also that he is not going back on taxes, the reforms are here to stay. Tinubu gave himself excellent pass mark for reducing debt servicing burden from 98 percent or thereabouts to 68 percent. He is not wavering in his determination to see through his policies; he says there is no alternative, that we all must suffer for it.
For Tinubu, there must be darkness before light and the people must be patient for the light to come. His confidence during the media chat was indeed infectious.
Let us hope that the new year will bring better tidings to the people of Nigeria. The sour point, for me, is the intolerance on the part of some of the agencies of government towards criticisms and that is not a good optics.
For now we wait and see.
* Ikhioya wrote via: http://www.southsouthecho.com
