2012, A Year Doomed at Inception – by Obiechina O
26 Dec, 2012
OPINION: 2012, A Year Doomed at Inception – by Obiechina Obiajulu Felix
New years are like new beginning, like being born again. The slate of the past year wiped clean and hope flourish like garden in full bloom.
That was however not really the case with 2012. I had wanted to tittle this write up “2012, a year of natural disaster and an even greater human disaster” and that would have easily summarised 2012.
In election times, promises are made, in 2011 it was among others an improved minimum wage structure of N18000, workers were happy, Nigerians were happy. No sooner had the president secured election into office than he started speaking from both sides of his mouth. By the end of 2011 it was clear that in order to enjoy N18000 minimum wage, fuel subsidy has to go. That was the first cloud to gather on the sky of the baby year, casting a gloomy shadow across the land. April 1st was the day the rain would start.
After the Christmas day bomb blast in Madala, Niger state, hearts were heavy but Nigerians, we had long learned to smile with tears in our eyes. If we were left speechless by Boko Haram’s ambush, what was to come from the federal government left us dumb. Planed and executed with military precision and espionagic covertness, Nigerians Woke up to the damning news on sunday the 1st of January, fuel subsidy was gone, pump prices shot up to olympian heights with no particular agreement as to what exactly the fixed price was. 2012 had just begun. And for once Nigerians fought the government with a common voice, and fight we did.
After a week long strike and mass protest(which involved loss of Nigerian lives), the president reversed his decision to a partial subsidy withdraw making pump prices N97. However a fundamental glitch had been introduced into the system whose effect Nigerians may not recover from in the near future. Inflation, low consumer confidence, fuel scarcity to mention but three, all resulting in general hardship.
Whilst this drama ensued, our security structures continued to crumble like pack of cards, terrorists became government, dictating terms and leaving dead bodies in their wake. It is no longer a news of any consequence to hear that some gunmen raided a Police station, market place, government buildings or any other public place. It is common place to hear that another Nigerian has been shot dead, hardly a day passes without a news somewhere. The sight of a police officer been blown to eternity early this year clearly demonstrated the manner of a fail state we find ourselves in. Where our security personnels are given wooden batons and museumic riffles to fight an increasingly sophisticated terrorists. Where blowing up a military barrack is like lighting up a fire cracker(knockout) in once backyard. Kidnapping no longer make it to press except when a minister’s mum is involved.
Perhaps only the economic policy of the regime can compete for top place in cluelessness with the security situation in the land. The economy we were told would be based on frugal spending, revival of the agricultural and industrial sectors with a view to creating job (indeed we were promised 10,000 jobs from each state by the end of the year). Twelve months down the line what can we boast of. A government that is frugally trying to spend N2 billion to build a new residence for one man, one that wants to build a new banquet hall in the villa at a meagre N2.2 billion, one that awarded a contract of a paltry N5 billion to rehabilitate an already insured UN house, one that always travels with the biggest delegate to international conferences, ow! One that spend N1 billion on feeding in Aso rock. The agricultural sector is as good as it was and industries are still dying, that’s the truth. Our youths are without jobs. Inflation is at all time high and all they could do to help was to announce the introduction of higher denominations in note and coinage of smaller denomination (another frenetic and confused stance of the government). Thank God that never happened.
Credit though must be giving for power generation but why fire the man that made it all happen (I must admit that saga is not clear to me). But generating power is one thing distributing it is another.
And so the rain poured, maybe God could feel the rising heat in the country and wanted to cool things down. And years of neglect came staring at us. A country that has no good drainage system, no building code or city master plane, will have to sacrifice her streets as drainage. Yes the rain was too much, so also is our negligence or else the effect wouldn’t have been that severe. Nature may have been staring at us with contempt but we should acknowledge that our endemic culture of corruption had hit the wall and was heading back our way yet in no other year has corruption reigned supreme than 2012 it was no longer something to hide, no! it became legalised, all sphere and sector of our society. public office holder became unaccountable, utterances flying here and there, a lot of them not worthy to credit a child in primary school (you may want to ask the minister of power and His supreme Highness mallan Sanusi). Even the president pulled a fast one on us when he claimed that transparency International had commended him on fighting corruption. Oh! Did I forget Oteh and Hembegate, Farouk & Femigate or the fuel subsidy hullabaloo where EFCC fie and withdrew their case.
Public infrastructures are not decaying anymore but that is because there is none, anymore, to rot, I cannot forget my anger in june when I plied the Enugu-Port Harcourt express way particularly the Okigwe – Aba axis.
It has been quite a busy year but really not one to remember just like no Nigerian would want to remember the London Olympics. I rest my pen less I die of depression. The list is endless.
- Obiechina Obiajulu Felix (obiechinafelixobiajulu@gmail.com)
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