There is always an exception to the rule, and that probably explains why we have been on a perpetual downturn as Nigerians. I don’t know if this is factually true, but they say that every Nigerian leader has been worse than his predecessor since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, except for ‘YarAdua. After the decline that followed with GEJ and the spectacular spiral under PMB, the trend seems sustained under BAT.
Halfway through his term, BAT has acknowledged the pain his reforms had unleashed, adding that he did not take the patience of Nigerians for granted. “Today, I proudly affirm that our economic reforms are working. We are on course to building a greater, more economically stable nation,” he said on the second anniversary of his ascension this Monday.
Minutes after his swearing-in, he announced the end of a long-standing fuel subsidy, a policy move that caused a huge surge in prices, leaving many Nigerians unable to eat. It is going to be a lean Sallah this year. The PDP has described Tinubu’s two years in office as a “massive disappointment”. In a statement released to mark Tinubu’s second anniversary, the party, which lost to PMB in 2015, said the president had failed Nigerians.
But it’s the PDP, after all! And for whatever it is worth, BAT and his handlers have been recently insistent that the situation is now improving and there may be some evidence to that effect. “Despite the bump in the cost of living, we have made undeniable progress. Inflation has begun to ease, with rice prices and other staples declining,” BAT declared. And there is inflation, which was 24 per cent last month, according to the official figures, compared to 22 per cent when he took over. This means that there is improvement from this time last year when it stood at 34 per cent.
Weeks later, Nigerians after that revelation, Nigerians took to the streets in a nationwide protest that left several people dead. A fall in the rate of inflation does not mean that prices are falling… just that they are rising at a slower rate than before. And that is why this lean Sallah will also come in the time of “cholera”.
I remember reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera years ago around the Big Sallah while travelling for the occasion. And for some reason, I remembered that in a train of thought that began after realising that I will not be among my extended family for it this year. This is a big deal because we have a ritual of congregating in Kebbi for the Big Sallah every year. This year, almost no one will be making that journey.
The plot of the book follows the young and accomplished national hero, Dr. Juvenal Urbino, who meets the beautiful Fermina and begins to court her. Despite her initial dislike of Urbino, Fermina gives in to her father’s persuasion and the security and wealth Urbino offers, and they wed. Urbino is a physician devoted to science, modernity, and “order and progress” was committed to the eradication of the cholera crisis they faced and to the promotion of public works. He is a rational man whose life is organised precisely and who greatly values his importance and reputation in society. He is a herald of progress and modernisation… just like? Who did you think?
The term cholera as it is used in the Spanish language the novel was written in, cólera, can also denote passion or human rage and ire in its feminine form. The English adjective “choleric” has the same meaning. Considering this meaning, the title is a pun: cholera as the disease, and cholera as passion, which raises the central question of the book: is love helped or hindered by extreme passion?
The two central characters, Urbino and Florentino are contrasted as the extremes of passion: one having too much, one too little; the central question of which is more conducive to love and happiness becomes the specific, personal choice that Fermina faces through her life. This is the dilemma this “Big” Sallah brings…. between two extremes–one end representing improvement and the other deterioration.
The World Bank predicts that Nigeria’s total output, or GDP, will grow by four per cent this year – a faster rate than the three per cent when Tinubu took over. However, unemployment remains a major concern, and underemployment makes things even worse with many graduates still complaining about not being able to find jobs and workers complaining of being unable to live on their salaries… even if the celebrated N70,000.00 minimum wage is brought into the graphics.
The president said he had little choice about removing the subsidy, saying the huge cost was a “chokehold on the Nigerian nation’s neck, strangling its future”, while allowing corruption to thrive. And he was right. The other extreme to be considered is the fact that the money liberated from thief A usually ends up in the pocket of thief B. After his inauguration and under what he called a “Renewed Hope Agenda”, Tinubu pledged to tackle economic instability, improve security nationwide, reduce corruption, reform governance, and lift Nigerians out of poverty… or end the “cólera” epidemic.
The so-called “Big Sallah” will be this Friday, and it is going to be lean. Forget big. The cólera has eaten deep and the emaciation will be a conspicuous feature of that day. Public commentator, Professor Adeosun Olufemi, told a reporter in an interview that he feels that BAT has made positive gains in some areas, adding that the governors of Nigeria’s 36 states should take the blame for some of the problems over the past two years.
“After the president announced fuel subsidy removal, money allocated to state governors increased heavily but what have they done with it?” Well, the answer is in the fine print and those bedeviled by this cholera epidemic, in the time of (Big) Sallah for good measure, will not be able to answer it. Barka da Sallah!
