Nigeria appears to be regressing into an abysmal pit of no return as deteriorating living conditions combine to raise alarming concerns about its character and attitudinal behavior, with the signs not encouraging.
Akin, not his real name, managed to push his “jalopy” by the corner. The car, an old model Toyota Corolla, if you can call it that, had stopped suddenly because the fuel had run dry. Akin had received warnings, which he ignored; the indicators had shown “red” continually on the dashboard, but Akin had more pressing matters. He wanted to “quickly” see a friend and ‘rag’ him for some money; his electric bill at home had expired, and his wife’s cooking Gas too. He was, in a sense, ‘trapped’ because he had no money on him—not even in the bank. Infact, he owed heavily and had managed to evade his previous borrowers. This was the predicament with Akin when his car stopped midway to his friend’s house. Akin, I guess you better know, is not a small fry in the society; he is a consultant and a self-employed businessman.
But he had not been paid for months despite several pleas and all that. Now, he was broke to the point that he could not meet his daily commitments. The truth is, Akin has to be careful at this point not to be attacked by High Blood Pressure; otherwise, he stands the risk of adding health problems to his plight! As it is today, politicians have not managed the economy well; they have behaved in a way that suggests politics is all about self and nothing more. Since 1999, they have piled up pressure on the society with incessant diversionary programmes, all of which ended up leaving the citizens poorer. Today, they have devised numerous schemes, such as sudden bank charges on withdrawals, ATM withdrawals, call maintenance fees, and SMS messages for using any banking channel. Anyway, to continue the story, Akin opened the door and came down from the vehicle.
He looked up and barely noticed the activities going on: the cars speeding, the Keke Nape and Okada riders, the passengers and the hawkers; no one took notice of him. The sun was hot, and his face dripped with sweat, but that was not a problem. Akin wished for help, but he couldn’t make any call because his phone battery had run flat; there had not been light in his environment where he lives. That’s double wahala. Lazily, he walked into the Petrol Station and looked hopefully for signs of help; this is part of what politicians have turned the country; able bodied men, unable to cope with the devastating rate of misfortune have turned to begging; but today luck was on his side; As is so often the case with God, a well-heeled gentleman who noticed his plight offered to assist. ‘What’s the problem?’ the man had asked as Akin almost walked into his car. ‘Em…sir. I don’t know where to start’, he stammered. ‘Yes, start anywhere’, the man had told him. ‘It’s about my car’, he spluttered out. ‘Fuel? no money?’ the man mercifully asked, to which Akin replied ‘yes’.
And in a flash, he dipped his big hands into his pocket and came out with some crisp naira notes which he handed Akin. ‘Go get some fuel and be happy’, the big man had told him. That was a rare gesture; oftentimes, you are mocked and derided; some earn curses for trying to be smart, forgetting that “na condition make crayfish bend”. Back to Akin, he shook his head and wanted to cry. He opened his mouth to say something, but his lips were too heavy to convey the message. He stood there dazed. He was dazed because getting help in today’s Nigeria is rare. Since the pump price increase, Nigerians were plunged into another round of hardship; a lot of cars have been parked because the owners couldn’t meet up. The struggle had become intense, with the government contributing a sizable portion; somehow, they have not been able to come up with welfare-based programmes that would reduce the pains and anguish of the citizens, only taxes and taxes!
Hardly a day passes without one such policy being introduced. In a way, they do so because Nigerians have their fault lines. Everyone appears too busy to care for the other. The more fortunate ones go on to show off their treasures regardless. Meanwhile, Akin eventually bought his fuel and drove off to meet his friend who eventually ‘bailed’ him out of the embarrassing situation. In reality, Akin’s situation explains what many Nigerians are going through today. The hardship had become something like a crunch. A series of hike up’s in electricity, cooking gas and worse still SMS charges on all service providers. The things that ought to alleviate suffering are the very ones that are taxed! Besides the hike in SMS fees, there is DSTV, and ordinary DATA too which did not escape their attention.
On top of that, the expectations of those on the ‘legitimate ‘path plummet due to unmanageable bureaucracy. Contractors hardly get paid because of flimsy excuses; when they do, multiple taxes erase their gains, so they don’t know what hit them! As things get tougher on the side of government, so, it becomes worse on the outside. It’s like a spiral; opportunists crawl the streets in the name of “Agents” cashing in on the disadvantaged people to rip them off! They have become so ingenious, creating all sorts of money-making tactics. For example, they have unilaterally hiked the cost of two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, adding “inspection fees, ‘surcharge’, ‘service charge’, ‘20%’ Legal and Agents commission! By the time you compute these spurious charges, you find yourself paying through the nose!
On the road, AMAC officials, as a result of their crazy ‘revenue’ drive, have included private cars, which otherwise would be ‘luxury’ cars, as part of avenues for ‘tax fee’ to government. These SUVs, notably Toyota Sienna, FORD Ranger, Explorer, Expedition, including Hilux of all categories; they stop along the road, sometimes using sharp metal objects, anything to instill fear; when the victims stop, they are harassed for ‘receipts’ which authorized them to be on the road! Failure to produce that would make them forcibly “jack” the car to their station unless you ‘comply’ by paying the fees on the spot. Consequently, a lot of SUV owners have sold off to have peace of mind!
This crazy attitude was extended to this writer when, all of a sudden, some “official” from the AMAC office walked into my office and slapped me with ‘charges’ for owning a ‘television’ and ‘photocopying machine. He said the government had ‘instructed’ them to raise revenue for various programmes. When I asked where the “programmes” were located, he shrugged his shoulders and left quietly. I just stood there and felt bad for my country and generation. Will Nigerians not feel happy if someday they wake up to hear good news like, electricity would be steady henceforth, the elderly from 60 are now exempted from paying transport fees, buying petrol and can walk into any restaurant and eat on government expenses? Where are we going as Nigerians?
