with

Ben C. Abraham.

THE WORLD BANK’S DEATH SENTENCE

When the officials of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Ministry of Budget and National planning got down to plan the 30th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit and invite the World Bank’s senior vice president, Indermit Gill as one of the speakers, none of them, I believe, envisaged either his matter-of-fact prognosis about our rapidly tanking economy or the reverberations that followed it. Oga Gill, who it is understood, is originally Indian assessed the ongoing reforms in the economy, which by the way was scripted by the Bretton woods institution and stated that it would take another 10 to 15 years of non-stop implementation of their resuscitative recipe for Nigeria to attain an enviable place as an economic giant in Africa. Well, the economic buffs at the Summit did not wait for the senior VP to finish his speech before they expressed their disapproval, nay discontent with what many have dubbed the world bank’s death sentence. They fell short of gutting that session in the summit. Why not? Who doesn’t feel the heat and negative impact of the implementation of the Bank’s blueprint for economic reforms? Between 29th May 2023 when President Tinubu took office and peremptorily announced the immediate withdrawal of petroleum subsidies and now, Nigerians have, in a carefully orchestrated policy, become so financially emasculated that even basic food items have become a luxury which only the rich can afford. Essentially the middle class is all but obliterated in Nigeria. Prices of simple day to day necessities have quadrupled, families can no longer feed their children and just last week our currency, the Naira, was listed among the worst performing currencies in Africa. Suicide, once considered a taboo in our clime is becoming an option, a strong one at that. It is so bad that a close friend whose wife works as a consultant in one of the General hospitals told me that the wife confirmed the return of kwashiorkor, that dreadful ailment that has its roots in acute malnutrition – once experienced by children on the Biafran side of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war in the 1960s. They had admitted some children with the ailment in their hospital. My friend added that his wife maintained a purse into which friends and good spirited persons paid money and from which hospital staff paid the bills of the extremely poor who are unable to foot their bills after treatment in the Government hospital; and there are many in this category. This is the experience Mr Gill informed Nigerians that they would endure for the next decade or more; that is even after president Tinubu serves a second term. Well, he is lucky to have left Nigeria in one piece and that the finesse of the occasion did not permit a graver treatment on him. God forbid bad people.

NIBO; A FESTIVAL DAY TURNS BLOODY;

Nibo, a boisterous town in Awka South Local Government area of Anambra State made international headlines for the wrong reasons. On Sunday 20th October just when the 2-day annual new yam festivities of the town were getting to a climax it became sunset at noon. In Rambo like fashion, according to observers and survivors, gunmen who came into the town in 2 vehicles decided to empty the magazines of their semi-automatic on unsuspecting villagers who were reveling in the occasion. At the end of the shooting spree, which happened in two locations sequentially, about 12 men lay dead with an unspecified number injured and presently receiving treatment. The gory sight of the dead was unbearable, some shot in the head. Within minutes of the attack, videos went viral, travelling to as far flung as Australia and back. Nibo indigenes in the diaspora, friends and relations made frantic calls seeking knowledge of the identities of the victims. Hours later, the Police issued a statement assuring that no stone would be left unturned in the bid to get the perpetrators. The state Government also issued a statement. The day after, Governor Charles Soludo visited the town and made assurances in a speech that sounded more like a campaign rendition. For those who don’t know, the Governor’s bedroom is about 500 metres from the first scene of the attack. The gunmen passed by the Government house and the police check points on the road in their mission to snuff life out of their victims. How security was not able to pick them out, I don’t know but suffice it to say that Anambra State is increasingly becoming unsafe for residents and visitors alike. It is either abduction, killing or maiming. Sometime ago, we highlighted the harrowing experiences of residents and others around the Ukwulu – Achalla axis of the state where herdsmen had amassed vast swathes of local lands and bushes to wreak havoc on innocent people. Despite that call, nothing has changed. Conspiracy theorists are already at work in the Nibo event – some say it is the ubiquitous unknown gunmen, others say it is the handiwork of a rival cult on a revenge mission. Whoever did this and for whatever reason, observers are unanimous on one thing which is that for 12 young men to be felled in one swoop, so close to the Governor’s official lodge, that is the height of audacity and a sign of graver things ahead in Anambra state, nay the south east. While we wait for the outcome of investigations and probable apprehending of these death merchants, we pray for comfort and consolation for the surviving families of the deceased. This is calling on Governor Soludo to as a matter of urgency constitute a high powered committee made up of retired security and military persons, town union executives and local government officials to get down to work and stop this metastasizing tumor. Please pray for Nibo, my beloved town to be healed.

……AND ONE OTHER THING:

THE JIGAWA HUMAN INCINERATOR;

On Tuesday 15th October, the grim reaper, that vile creature who struts about, decided to visit Majiya town in Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State. In the aftermath of that visit, more than 180 residents of the town were sent to the great beyond in the goriest way possible; they were incinerated beyond recognition and had to be mass-buried. The story is that a tanker laden with petrol departed Kano en route to one of the towns in Jigawa state when it fell and disemboweled its inflammable contents. Nigerians, a rambunctious specie of the human family, and never missing any opportunity to douse their sufferings, quickly rushed to scoop the petrol and either sell for money or personal use. Well, while one may rationalize that the poor Taura villagers were not the first to scoop fuel from fallen trucks, the converse is equally true which is that they were not also the first victims of a tragic explosion when scooping fuel. And that is what happened on the fateful day. While the villagers were at it in their numbers, the tanker and its spilled content exploded and incinerated everyone around. Many others are still hospitalized as we write. Nigerians have died in their thousands scooping petrol from a burst pipeline or an overturned truck. What should ordinarily be a blessing to a people has become a curse leading to death. While not holding brief for the poor souls, the level of poverty in Nigeria cannot be totally overlooked in all of this. Nigerians have continued to wallow in excruciating and grinding insufficiency that they don’t even value their lives anymore. To many of them, it is better to die while trying to escape poverty. Indeed, in the midst of hopelessness reason takes flight. The Governor visited the village and offered talk of hope and empathy. President Tinubu also sent his sympathies. One of the survivors told BBC that he lost about 50 of his relations in that inferno. People are hurting and the solution is not in sight. God help Nigeria.