An Open Letter: Tinubu’s One Year Amidst Hardship

 

I am using this medium with the hope that this open letter will reach your table. With anticipation, those responsible for press cuts will lay it before you on your table. Mr. President, with utmost respect for you and your office, I hope you are well. I pray that Allah provides you with the wisdom to make Nigeria great again.

You are aware that the responsibilities bestowed upon you by God are a test of your faith, both here and hereafter, and definitely, you will be accountable for every deed and decision you make under the oath as president on the last day of judgment.

Even though becoming president was your lifelong ambition, which you have actualized, it is a rare opportunity for many to achieve their dream of occupying the presidential office in one shot. It is unfortunate that the level of uncertainty in the Nigerian economy and hardship has become unbearable for the citizens. Conditions are not getting any better, and life was a little bit better off before May 2023.

Since your inauguration on May 29, 2023, all hell has broken loose in the economy, leading to the difficulties and uncertainty we are now facing as citizens and as a country at large. To be honest, very few in Nigeria now believe that your economic reforms can take the country anywhere but more into hardship.

Within one year in office, the administration has inflicted more hardship on Nigerians as if you do not want a second term. Right now, the policies have killed the strong and resilient “informal economy,” which formed the bedrock of sustenance for many Nigerians. Apparently, you came with no concrete remedial economic plans to ameliorate the pains you have caused, leading Nigerians to believe you actually came to continue the woes Buhari inflicted.

A few weeks after your inauguration, poor people encountered uphill tasks of surviving as the prices of food items, transportation, and essential goods skyrocketed. Hunger, starvation, and lamentation have become the order of the day. All the hardships the citizens and the country are going through are a result of the removal of subsidy on petrol and later floating the naira to compete with the dollar as a means of stabilizing the volatility in the forex market.

These tough decisions taken by the administration have caused unspeakable damage to the well-being of Nigerians, as the purchasing power has greatly diminished, leaving many families to go to bed without food on their tables. Now, Nigerians resort to scavenging food leftovers from eatery and hotel dustbins. I have seen people of different sexes looking for food in the garbage. Buying medicines at patent medicine stores has gone beyond the reach of the ordinary person as everything has become unaffordable.

The administration’s Renewed Hope is increasingly turning into Renewed Frustration for citizens. Millions of households have been dehumanized by the economic hardship.

To understand the situation, one may look at the faces of poor people to understand the pains and anger they are going through, or visit the market stalls to hear how people vent their anger on the administration.

The only realistic thing to do under the circumstances is to go back to the drawing board, as the administration’s economic reforms have lost whatever reverence and regard they had of you as a crusader for social justice in the country.

Within one year of your administration in office, the economic policies implemented by your government have triggered more economic hardship for millions of citizens. One minute they have a reason to smile, the very next second, they feel heartbroken as the hardship is biting very hard. The situation has pushed many people to take extreme measures.

It seems most of the policies the administration announced them without an accompanying comprehensive plan of implementation that would benefit the majority of the people of the country.

Dukawa writes in from Abuja abbahydukawa@gmail.com