BY REV. FR. GERALD NWAFOR
I was planning to write on a social issue that has nothing to do with the government of Nigeria but the circumstances facing the Nigerian masses have become very emblematic. In Nigeria, we do not count our divisions and political woes whenever there is a football tournament.
I watched the Super Eagles draw with the South African team, in Nigeria. I wanted to excuse them but the failure to win common Benin Republic on a neutral ground is now a big source of worry to me.The issue of minimum wage or living wage as some would choose to call it was ravaging the nation.
The labor union and the Trade Union were fighting the government on increment, which I have said in one of my pieces should not be a call for war if the political class has a human heart. The change to the old anthem and the quarrel about the citizenship of the cow in the senate boggles the mind of how low the Nigerian state could sink.
I remember in 1994 when General Abacha was battling the Nigerian civil societies and the rest of the world. The Nigerian Super Eagles were excelling, and the pain of Abacha’s government was mitigated so much so that the Olympic team got the gold in Atlanta ’96. Today I am worried that of all the mishaps happening now, we cannot have a panacea to hold on to. My brother just told me that one apple is seven hundred (700) Naira. My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth.
I heard from channels on TV that a bunch of plantain is seventeen thousand (17,000) Naira. Meanwhile, the minimum wage is thirty thousand (30,000) Naira. So, the civil servant cannot even buy two bunches of plantain in one month, (odiro kwanu mma). The federal government has incited the state government to start saying that they cannot pay the minimum wage of sixty thousand (60,000) Naira.
The battle has been metastasized by the state government and the federal government said that they can pay sixty-two thousand (62,000) Naira.I do not know where to advise these sets of government because it is red on all sides. During Buhari, it was the Fulanis running amok everywhere with their cattle, but today the Fulanis are still running amok, plus the economic woes bestowed on the Nigerian people, thanks to Tinubu and his teams.
The senator arguing that cows are citizens of Nigeria because the nomads are citizens was being smart by half. After all, we all know why the debate about open grazing and ranching is going on in Nigeria today.
The Fulani pastoralist would take their cows into a farmland destroy all the farm products and kill the farmer if the farmer attempts to stop them from entering the farmland. The Senate is wasting a lot of time on the issue of farmers and herders because they know that there is no solution to it, but the issue of corrupt government practices is ignored.
Why should a senator go home monthly with thirteen million, five hundred thousand (13,500,000) Naira? This is not a speculated figure; it was said by a senator (Sheu Sani) on national television.
That will pay four hundred and fifty workers 30,000 Naira each. I do not think that the carnage would last for a long time. A society that makes a conscious decision to keep most of its population in poverty and penury should be ready to accept the consequences.
The way things are moving now I do not see any consolation around the citizens of Nigeria and the alternative would be anarchy. The fear of a failed state always encapsulates me because I know of Somalia in 1991; of recent events we may recall Libya and Sudan and South Sudan. This minimum wage should be a means to stop the impending doom that will befall the political class if it is not well arrested.
I read that some criminals in the government were saying that the strike action of the labor union was tantamount to treason and terrorism.
I did not reply to the social media handle because two people cannot be mad at the same time (Adiro abuo apu ala).The Olympic games are coming up in Paris this July to August and I do not think that there is a hope for a gold medal. Although, Nigeria has the world record holder in the 100M hurdles from Ijebu-Ode in the person of Ms. Tobi Amusan. Since she broke the world record in Eugene USA in 2022, her form has been flip-flopping.
And I can assure you that a confused and corrupt government like the one we are facing now will not put down resources to help them train and achieve their maximum potential. The money mapped out for the games will be shared among the ministers and the senators, and the participants and contingents will be left on their own.
We cannot enjoy anything again in Nigeria because the number of mishaps in this government has gone beyond compare. The politician who wins the election should be made to receive the same amount as the civil servants although they are public servants. To separate the public servants (political class) from the civil servants to pay them a humongous salary conformed with the adage that states. “Monkey dey work baboon dey chop.”
The political class would be sitting in an air-conditioned room, driving the best cars, and in some situations flying private jets, finally, they are paid more. The civil servant who does all the paperwork, cleans the offices, makes sure the jets and cars are in good condition are paid peanuts.
The time will come when what happened in George Orwell’s Animal Farm will happen and the civil servants will rise up to fight for their rights. There might be a pig within the labor union or the Trade union that will betray the plan of the workers as we have seen from the time of Paschal Bafyau to the time of Adams Oshiomhole down to this time of Ajero.
The labor people always betray themselves because of ethnicity and power tussle. I hope the country will get it right and avoid the land mines and booby traps on its way.
