Rome was not built in a day, but it would also take a little over a day to bring it to the ground. The same can be said for the current financial situation in Nigeria. A brief look into the economic rates of a few years back and 2024 reveals a massive gap in how much survival needs cost and how basic survival is now only an idea.
While it is easy and almost seamless to point fingers at the people we see in front of us, we need to understand that one presidential candidate cannot be held singularly responsible for the over 100% increase in the cost of living and the eventual thinning of the poverty line, placing all classes below the class of wealth in one group. This, to me, makes much sense why the ongoing protests will:
- Happen
- And is being called “End Bad Governance” protest
Yes, there is a significant portion of the citizens who were unhappy with the election results of 2023. There is also an understanding and a lingering state of all-around fatigue; the people who sat and took are tired of sitting and taking. If the current presidential seat holder truly held any remorse for the financial hardship of this nation, while knowing he had the intentions to run for the seat, he could have made his stance on the corruption and misappropriation of funds that occurred during times that were not his.
But it is his turn – pun intended – so the pushback and ‘say no to protest’ protest that was started to stop the ‘End Bad Governance’ protest, and the soldiers placed on the street to combat peaceful protesters makes some sense. Nigerians had been quiet in the face of all the falling dominoes around the nation, so on what grounds do they fight the supposed inflation if not from a place of political vengeance?
It is important that the people in government take a step back to do a bit of introspection. The protest is not about who controls the affairs of the nation but about how the affairs of the nation are being controlled.
Let us ensure we keep safe in light of all recent happenings in Nigeria.
