Colourless Cloud of Christmas Blues

Look, Christmas is just six days away
That is true. Why the countdown?

Need you ask? Can’t you see how the country is? How can we celebrate Christmas with these myriad of problems?

What problems?
I shudder at your questions? Are you not in this same country? With no light, no water, no petrol, no dollars, no salary payments, no anything, the economy is stiff and you still ask what are the problems?

Thank God you did not say there is no peace.
What peace is there? Peace of the graveyard?

Are Nigerians not familiar with these problems especially during Christmas?
So what are you implying? That we should live with it? Was that not why the campaign for Change was embraced by Nigerians? Is this the change we clamoured for?

Don’t speak as if you are the only stranger in Jerusalem. Are you not aware of what is happening in the global oil market? Did you not hear that crude oil is now selling for $34 per barrel? Did you not hear so?
What are you trying to explain? What is the connection between global price of oil and the megawatts of darkness that Eko and Ikeja DISCOs are beaming?

What is the concern of the ordinary market woman who cannot find petrol to power her grinding machine with global oil price. Are you saying we are sentenced to eternal suffering in Nigeria?

You don’t understand.
Surely, I don’t.

Look, the life of Nigeria and Nigerians revolves around crude oil. If anything goes wrong with crude oil price, everything goes wrong with Nigeria and Nigerians. That is what you are experiencing. It is not a local problem. It is global. With gross fall in the price of crude, the revenue profile of the country drops sharply and it affects every facet of our lives as a people. At that, our foreign exchange earnings shrink. That explains why the US dollar has been scarce. Furthermore, …

(cuts in) Look, I don’t care these far fetched reasons you are adducing  to justify  our suffering. You can reserve your tutorials on Economics to scholars. All the ordinary man wants is food on the table and access to the basic things of life. The socio-metrics of life should not be lacked. Whether crude is selling at $100 or $10, the man on the street is not concerned. All that matters is he finds food to eat, petrol to buy, water to drink, hospital when he/she is sick etc. These are the basic things Nigerians don’t want to compromise on.

Hmmm…. There is more to living than mere food on the table and water to drink. You have to understand the macro policies of the economy which determines the larger economic issues that trickle down to the man on the street. If all you think and is bothered about is food and drink, then of all men, you are most miserable.

I don’t like complex explanations. Mr Economic defender, why is there no light?  Why has it worsened instead of improving? The megawatts have dropped again? Why can’t the federal government pay importers of petroleum products so there will be enough petrol in town? And let me ask you, how can the business environment blossom when there is no access to foreign exchange in the country? Market men and women are groaning complaining of no business. 

Do you know that even banks don’t have Dollars to sell to customers? Let me tell you, irrespective of whatever economic policies you may be enunciating, the economy is for the good of man not man for the good of the economy. Do you know this is about the driest Christmas we will be celebrating in recent times? How many hampers have you seen around town?  With no petrol in town how are people supposed to travel this season? Do you know that even oil companies are gasping for breath? What kind of Change is this? You know that …

(cuts in) Calm down my brother. It is not as bad as you are painting it. I challenge you to go to Balogun market in Lagos or Ariaria market in Aba and you will know that of a truth, Nigeria still has the biggest economy in Africa.

Look,  the inherited mess  from the previous administration, has not helped matters. The vault was virtually emptied. There is hardly anything to fall back on. Nigeria in the hands of Buhari is like a dehydrated and languid baby in the hands of a matron. It will take  a lot of effort to nurture such a baby to regain it’s life’s rhythm and grove. That is what is happening right now. What is sure is that there is hope and we are headed in the right direction of socio-economic recovery.

Those are tired and arcane lines which are now boring because they have never meant anything good for the masses. We are sick and tired of glib talks. We are tired of  governments who say one thing and do another. We are tired of finding recovered loots looted. Let me ask you, all the money Buhari said they have recovered from the thieves of the past regime, where are they? What are they going to do with them? Are you even sure they will not be looted like the ones recovered from Late General  Sani Abacha? You see why I say we are tired of hackneyed lingos of deceit?

We want to enjoy Christmas and good life. Go and tell Buhari to clear these colourless clouds of Christmas blues. That is the raison d’etre of his election.