I have been thinking about something lately, and the more I think about it, the more disturbing it becomes.
A lot of Nigerians became poor without doing anything wrong.
They didn’t stop working. They didn’t become lazy. They didn’t suddenly become irresponsible.
They simply woke up one day and realised that the money they had worked for could no longer buy the things it used to buy.
Think about someone earning ���100,000 a month.
The person still wakes up early every morning, goes to work, puts in the same hours, probably works even harder, gets promoted occasionally and does everything society says a responsible person should do.
Yet every year, that person seems to be able to afford less.
At some point, ₦50,000 could buy a reasonable amount of food for the house. Today, you can enter the market with the same ₦50,000 and genuinely wonder where the money went.
Nothing happened to you.
The economy happened to you.
And I think this is something we don’t talk about enough.
Imagine working hard for years, only for circumstances completely outside your control to quietly reduce the value of everything you have worked for.
You didn’t lose your job.
You didn’t lose your salary.
But somehow, you lost your standard of living.
That is poverty too.
And this is why I struggle with the way we sometimes discuss palliatives.
Of course, when people are hungry, you must find ways to help them immediately. There is nothing wrong with providing temporary relief.
But surely, the bigger question should be:
Why did millions of working Nigerians suddenly need palliatives in the first place?
If a man could comfortably buy a bag of rice from his salary a few years ago and today he needs government assistance to buy that same bag of rice, giving him rice may solve today’s hunger.
But it has not solved the actual problem.
The real problem is that his labour has lost value.
And perhaps that is what we should be obsessed with fixing.
How do we make the Nigerian worker’s income valuable again?
How do we make ₦100,000 buy more next year, rather than less?
How do we make food cheaper by producing more?
How do we reduce the cost of energy and transportation?
How do we build an economy where salaries can actually keep up with the cost of living?
Because when I think deeply about it, perhaps one of the greatest things a government can do for its people is not to keep giving them money.
It is to build an economy where the money they earn has value.
There is dignity in being able to take care of yourself from the product of your own labour.
There is dignity in a teacher being able to feed a family from teaching.
There is dignity in a nurse being able to pay rent from nursing.
There is dignity in a young person working an honest job and gradually seeing life improve.
People should be able to look back after five years of hard work and say, “My life has become better.”
Not, “I earn more money today, but somehow I can afford less.”
That is the part that keeps bothering me.
Millions of Nigerians are not asking to become millionaires overnight.
They just want hard work to make sense again.
And maybe that should be one of the simplest ways we measure whether our economy is actually working:
Is the ordinary Nigerian who works hard becoming progressively better off, or progressively poorer?
Everything else is secondary.
IF they were truly rescued and not ransomed or returned pursuant to phone calls between the terrorists and the government, how many terrorists were captured or killed? And how many are going to be charged with killing Mr. Adesiyan who was shot, and Mr. Oyedokun who was butchered?
It’s 25 days since Oyo children were taken.
It’s 25 days since Oyo children were taken.
It’s 25 days since Oyo children were taken.
It’s 25 days since Oyo children were taken.
It’s 25 days since Oyo children were taken.
WHY ARE WE SILENT ABOUT THIS?
Maturity is accepting that you won't always get all the answers or apologies for shit that hurt you, but you heal and give yourself the closure you deserve anyway.
Dear Nigerians,
No matter what you do, no matter the color of your skoi skoi, please make sure you don’t get kidnapped. This message is for everybody.
It doesn’t matter if you’re standing on the mandate or not. Your tribe or religion doesn’t matter. Because if they KIDNAP YOU???!!!
Governors will ask for prayers.
The Military will ask for prayers.
The government will ask for prayers.
Some pastors & religious leaders will gaslight you with prayers. Right now? Your one & only job is to stay alive. You’re all you’ve got! 💔💔
Damilare Oderinde - 8 years old
Deborah Adebowale - 5 years old
Aisha Oguntowo - 10 years old
Lege Taiwo - 12 years old
Balkis Ayanwale - 8 years old
Asa David - 10 years old
Shuaibu Aliyu – 10 years old
Ahmed Aliyu – 7 years old
Muiz Aliyu – 5 years old
Jomiloju Ogunlola – age not known
Agune Noah – 8 years old
Elizabeth Abadi – 5 years old
Tosin Abadi – 9 years old
Pius Stephen – 5 years old
Hannah Ojo – 14 years old
Habidat Ayanwale – 7 years old
Mary Gabriel – 6 years old
Jacob Gabriel - age unknown
@officialABAT #BringBackOurChildren
In Plateau: "We will buy 5,000 surveillance drones."
In Kwara: "We will provide more security."
In Oyo: "We will employ 1,000 forest Guards."
YOU ARE A FOOL IF YOU THINK BOLA TINUBU'S GOVERNMENT HAS PLANS TO TACKLE INSECURITY IN NIGERIA.
The NUT shut down Ikeja Lagos. They shut down Ogun State. Teachers are demanding the immediate release of our children. There is a protest in Port Harcourt. Power belongs to the people. Their authority is what you say it is.
#BringBackOurPupilsAndTeachers