Uncle T-Pain: No Democracy without food, petrol and electricity, By Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) claims that, despite the hardship in Nigeria, he is running a “good governance”. Which was why he urged Nigerians to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. Worse still, he believes that his economic reforms will “create a stronger, better foundation for future growth”, “cement democracy our way of life”, and “create a stronger, better foundation for future growth”.

When Nigerian youths, driven by hunger and pain, rose against his economic reforms, PBAT’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris, on 7 August told diplomats accredited to the country, that PBAT: “did not come to office to cause hardship or make life difficult for Nigerians. He has come to office with bold solutions to historical problems, with the determination to correct many of the poor policies and dysfunctional choices that have held us back as a nation for decades.” 

PBAT’s administration deliberately ignored the fact that democracy is, first and foremost, for the living, not for the dead. Which was why the German Philosopher, Frederick Engels, said in his 17 March, 1883 speech at the graveside of his friend, comrade and collaborator, Karl Marx, that: “… mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.” 

The late President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Chris Abashi, concurred with Engels. In an international press conference in Lagos in December 1983, Abashi said: “To us (students), democracy starts with living. Living itself means having the basics of life, without which there can be no democracy.” 

As if Abashi foresaw the emergence, exactly forty years later of Tinubunomics, he added: “In Nigeria, these basics are denied and the people wallow in disease, unemployment, squalor, ignorance and hunger. There can be no democracy.” 

Since 29 May, 2023, PBAT’s policies have succeeded extraordinarily in inflicting pain and running a government of propaganda, regularly boasting of achieving “good governance”, and promoting “democracy.”   

But how can there be democracy in a nation where in 2015, it cost an average of N4,087 for a platter of jollof rice that could feed five persons; in September 2023 the same food rose to N13,106 and N16,955 in September? How can there be democracy in a stupendously rich Nigeria that is ranked 110 out of 127 countries by the 2024 Global Hunger Index? No gain comes with hunger, only pain, which the Buhari-Tinubu alliance have successfully inflicted on over 80 per cent of Nigerians!   

It is precisely the lack of democracy that made PBAT on 29 May, 2023, after being sworn-in as President to, without any consultation, cancel petrol subsidies. He, thereby, shot the official petrol pump price from between N195 and N238:11 per litre to N540/litre, N617/litre in July 2023, N868 in September 2024, and to N998 and to N1,030 in October. In most petrol stations, however, fuel is sold at between 15 to 20 per cent higher, and more than 25 to 35 percent at the parallel market. These wide price variations depend on whether the fuel station is located in rural or urban area; in the north or south of Nigeria.

A government that has democracy in its dictionary will definitely not increase petrol pump prices by 430 percent in less than 17 months, without concurrently increasing the cost-of-living-allowances. This is even more so in a country like ours, where over 85 million citizens generate their electricity using petrol. Where there is no mass transport system and commercial drivers are compelled to jack up transport fares once the price of fuel goes up. Where food and farm products are transported from rural to urban areas, and from one region to another. 

What PBAT’s administration has succeeded in doing with the increases in petrol pump prices is inflicting extra hunger, additional suffering and more pain on Nigerians, propelling hyper-inflation, financial deprivation, closure of industries, high-level job insecurity, negative economic growth, and the underdevelopment of Nigerians and Nigeria.  

A government that has the people at heart, and democracy in its mind, will seriously struggle to provide uninterrupted electricity power supply in the country. Not to mindlessly and wickedly hike electricity tariff from N68 per kilowatt hour (KWH) to N225/KWH. This is more so in an underdeveloped, semi-industrialised and poverty-stricken country like ours, with huge armies of unemployed and underemployed youths. 

Electricity is what drives industrialisation, economic growth, modernisation, development and democracy. Owei Lakemfa and self addressed this in our book: The Light in the Tunnel May be an Oncoming Train: A Study of the Privatisation of Electricity Power Sector in Nigeria. In it we posited that, “Electricity is to (modern) society what blood is to human beings”; is the “life wire of modernism”; the “oxygen of industrialisation”; and “the propelling force for development.” It fires businesses; lights up houses, offices, schools, hospitals, and the environment; charges our cell phones, computers, etc.; and blends our foodstuffs.” 

Additionally, electricity blows off mosquitos, lights up medical equipment in our hospitals, solidifies marriages as it makes business in the other room exciting, and promotes the reproduction of the human race. Electricity is not just light, it is to a greater extent democracy and life itself.

Therefore, there can be no democracy, where there is no electricity for the mass of the citizenry. Democracy is impossible when electricity is epileptically supplied. Democracy cannot be present when the epileptic electricity is priced beyond the reach of the majority of people, including the owners of small and medium scale businesses.

Therefore, the claim that PBAT came with: “bold solutions to historical problems … to correct many of the poor policies and dysfunctional choices” that held Nigeria backward for decades, is false. 

Not even Joseph Goebbels, the sophisticated Chief Priest of Nazi Propaganda in Germany, can convince the vast majority of Nigerians that PBAT is not consciously inflicting hardship, suffering and pain on Nigerians.

If PBAT were a serious ‘democrat’ he would have seriously degraded, if not exterminated the kidnappers, bandits and terrorists rampaging and obstructing agricultural production and terrorizing farmers in the country. He would additionally have made organic fertilisers, amongst other needs, available to farmers. He would have made petrol available and affordable. 

If PBAT were sincerely interested in cementing democracy, he would equally have ensured that workers are paid according to the cost-of-living index. This is more so, as “having the basics of life” is what democracy is about.  

If PBAT were truly worried in promoting democracy, he would have de-monopolised the petroleum and electricity sectors He would, in addition, have protected the value of the Naira, not bastardised and brutalised it. For these sectors are significantly responsible for the skyrocketing inflation and high cost-of-living. 

If PBAT were honestly committed to sustainably growing our economy, he would have embarked on policies and actions aimed at promoting industrialisation, and the development of the home market. Anything short of these amounts to merely inflicting pains on the Nigerian people.

Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: aaramatuyusuf@yahoo.com