Opinion

By Sa’adatu Aliyu

It was in the harmattan of December 2023. My siblings and I were at home when my elder sister, the firstborn, called to update us on her husband’s current state.

He had recently undergone surgery and was back home recovering with his family. I couldn’t tell whether she spoke calmly or sounded agitated when she called my brother on the phone. But as soon as he hung up, he said she told him that her husband’s sickness had resurfaced, and they were heading to the hospital.

Aside from my faith in God that everything would be fine, I remained calm because I believed it was normal for people to fall ill from time to time. Sometimes, the illness may be severe, and other times, it may not, but eventually, everything will be fine. I held onto this thought as I continued eating my plate of boiled yam.

But shortly after, my brother called back to ask what was happening, as anxiety was starting to get the better of him. I kept eating the soft yam with a sprinkling of oil and “yaji” while my brother waited for my sister to answer the phone.

“Ya rasu, he’s dead,” she said as soon as she picked up the phone. My brother then softly exclaimed, “From Allah we are and to Him is our return.”

Since I hadn’t considered the possibility of death in our family and had taken the illness lightly – I mean, I, too, have undergone surgery before – my brother’s words didn’t immediately make me think of death. But I couldn’t explain why my heart sank in terror despite my attempt to brush it off. However, I carefully got out of bed and went to the parlour to ask what was happening.

My brother told me that she said he had passed away. I said, “From Allah we are and to Him is our return,” knowing that after this, I wouldn’t return to eating my yam and that it would be a long night.

This was the only thing I had the strength to do. While I watched my younger siblings break into tears and the news spread to the rest of the world, I pretended to be strong. I wanted to be strong. I couldn’t wail like others. Despite being known as the emotional one in the house, I was unusually calm. I easily shed tears over the slightest pain, but I didn’t cry when I heard the news of my sister’s husband’s death, a man who had loved and treated us well.

Later, I realized it had been three to four months since I last saw him physically. I had been studying in my first year of master’s at university, and due to my health issues and other reasons, I couldn’t visit his house.

Afterwards, I realized I had let many memories of him slip away due to forgetfulness. When the announcement of his death came, I struggled to recall even his appearance. I don’t know if this is a form of betrayal. However, after time had somewhat eased our loss, I began to feel a little bereaved. At least I remembered that he fervently supported my writing and had confidence in my ability to succeed in the literary world.

Then, something gripped me. I felt hollow, like a bottomless abyss, suddenly doubting my ability to be the great writer he always praised. I felt like I had betrayed him. I couldn’t shed a tear, only once, and it was when I went to console my sister, and she expressed gratitude to her siblings for being there. Now, my dreams felt hollow, no longer worth pursuing. He called me “our writer” with delight in his eyes and pride in his voice.

However, perhaps I didn’t break down at his death news because I’ve learned to be a pillar for my family to lean on. Maybe I knew that showing blatant grief would break us all. But this death arrested me unexpectedly, making me exhibit a composure that felt real when it was just a mask. It stole my reason to pray consciously for him despite him being a loved one. It reinforced the reality of death as our eventuality and the need to move on, which I tried to do, perhaps too early.

However, I know the fatality of my emotions. Or perhaps I’d changed as a human being, embarrassed to be perceived as emotional, and had become so cruel and cold in this December harmattan because I’d been accused in the past by people I loved of being too emotional. Ever since maybe I’d subconsciously vowed never to show weakness in the face of adversity. Whatever it may be, now I know that I may never forgive those who have accused me of being too emotional because they’ve essentially succeeded in making me a little less compassionate and merciful.

And if this is just one of those things death does to people – causing them to evolve – then I’ve seen such change in my sister. After spending a month in her house during the mourning period, I saw her sometimes hiding her tears as she remembered her now late husband and sometimes reaching for her phone to place a call to her husband to ask for the location of something she couldn’t find in the house before she remembered he was no more. I’ve since noticed new things about her. She would hide her phone underneath the bed every night when she was about to sleep and ask if I did the same with my phone. “My husband always did that to keep away from robbers in case of a break-in,” she would look at me and say. I didn’t know what to tell her.

She cooked spaghetti differently from how we cooked in our house before she was married. She would say, “The foaming top of the ogbono soup must disappear before it’s ready to be eaten.” She did other things I’ll call strange, only because her husband did them. Sometimes, they were against my liking, but I reasoned that perhaps the death of a loved one altered us in ways I could not comprehend. Maybe she held on to those things, even though they sometimes felt strange – a museum of special memories of him that were quickly within reach.

Though I was numb for days after his death, it wasn’t until recently that I was able to pray for him consciously. I hope I’ll pay his rightful due to him, my fervent supporter. May Allah have mercy on him, amin.

Sa’adatu Aliyu is a writer from Zaria. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in Literature at Ahmadu Bello University, where she also works as a lecturer at the Distance Learning Centre. Her writing interests include Prose fiction and International politics. She can be reached at Saadatualiyu36@gmail.com.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad 

There is a massive call for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to restore the petroleum subsidy. The ongoing 10-day “End Bad Governance” protest and the high prices of commodities and services are the result of the removal of fuel subsidies.

If President Ahmed Bola Tinubu does not plan to restore petroleum subsidies, the government must find another way to reduce the price of petroleum products, especially premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol. Petrol is the lifeblood of any nation. The social problems arising from the aftermath of petroleum subsidy removal are purely local issues that require theoretical and practical solutions. 

Sometimes, the government relies solely on experts who understand the problem from a theoretical perspective, forgetting the real players in the petroleum industry who understand the problem from all its angles: importation, depot loading, haulage, retailing, and manpower management.

Apart from the subsidy, there are other ways to drastically reduce the price of petrol. Tinubu should critically consider restoring the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF). Since it is a contributory fund, its source is principally the net surplus revenue recovered from oil marketing companies. The bridging claims paid to petroleum marketers automatically equalise petroleum prices throughout Nigeria while maintaining affordability.

Aquila’s innovative electronic business solution has eliminated any irregular distribution and claims of bridged regulated petroleum products. The Aquila project is an excellent electronic business solution designed to track the movement of petroleum products throughout Nigeria.

Though the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), budgetary provisions, and some economic reasons were the guiding principles that led Tinubu to remove subsidies and float the naira, sometimes national interests—security, economic, and social order—must be paramount. It’s purely a local problem that requires purely home-grown solutions.

Some countries painstakingly control the prices of petrol for national security. These countries often have uniform prices for petrol across the entire country. For example, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Malaysia, Iran, and Venezuela. In most countries, national security overrides other considerations; the government has significant control over fuel pricing and distribution, often through subsidies or state-owned oil companies.

Take India, for instance. India controls petrol prices through market dynamics and government policies, such as daily price adjustments based on the international price of crude oil. The Indian government sometimes provides subsidies to control the prices of petroleum products. This helps keep the prices within a certain range and makes them more affordable for the general public.

The Indian government achieves this through the national oil companies Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). Another mechanism India uses in the price control measures to address inflation concerns, freight, and logistics is that the government can intervene directly by adjusting excise duties or providing relief to the oil marketers.

The Tinubu government should critically consider reintroducing the Petroleum Equalisation Fund. It would sharply reduce petrol prices, bring uniformity in prices throughout Nigeria, bring the 21 NNPC depots to life, restore many lost jobs, and double-check product quality.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja via zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Sunusi Abubakar

With a growing prime working-age population, considerable natural resources endowment, good economic potentials, large labour forces, highly motivated entrepreneurs, vast domestic market, strategic coastal locations, large and fragile agricultural land, and developing ICT sector, Nigeria has favourable economic potential which could lead her to be among the top 20 economies in the world. 

But problems like corruption, nepotism, political instability, inadequate infrastructures and poor economic management are failing its journey to greatness. Unfortunately, all the aforementioned regressive factors are not natural but a breed of artificial additive called colonialism.

Colonialism was first practised by empires such as Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, and Phoenicia. From about 1550 B.C. onward, these civilisations all extended their borders into surrounding and non-contiguous areas and established colonies that used the physical and population resources of the people they conquered to increase their own power. This resulted in capitalism and imperialism and metamorphosed into neo-colonialism. 

Ancient colonialism is seen worldwide as the origin of capitalism, which is said to be the source of the power and accumulation of Western countries. 

Capitalism is said to emanate from the Cambridge School, a group of economic philosophers. The group was led by the neoclassical economist Alfred Marshall, with Walras, Merger, and British economist John Maynard Keynes on the board. The system always accepts the market system as the best way to organise economic activities in society. They believed in allocating resources through the market forces of demand and supply. 

For them, the commodity is said to be a thing when it is produced to make money. They maintained that the source of their capital accumulation is through profit gained and plough back for future profit, but many people are against this idea. They were cautioned by German economist and human rights lawyer Karl Marx, who described the process as primitive. 

Marx argued that their capital is wherever in the world, made initially through the enclosure movement, dislocation of feudal agrarian productions, huge price inflation, monopolies of trade, acquisition of colonies, extortion enslavement, entombment in the mines of the aboriginal population, looting of indie and Africa as well as hunting of black skins. 

However, capitalism is seen worldwide as the maceration of the proletariat, a low class in society. Capitalism always favoured the bourgeoisie, the owners of the means of production. Moreover, the history of capitalism can only be completed by mentioning the name of the Italian philosopher Machiavelli. 

Machiavelli was the founder of the theory of Mercantilism and a major contributor to the development of capitalism. Mercantilism is an economic system which supports the development of capitalism and the exploitation of the proletariat through the accumulation of monetary reserves by positive balance using the import and export of finished goods. 

Shortly after some economic revolutions that emancipated some countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia, the colonial masters, who were the champions of capitalism, veered to continue their colonial agenda through imperialism. They came up with an idea that saw the integration of world financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank to recolonise former colonies through debt conditionalities. Many African countries fall into their trap. Some managed to escape while others were still bedevilled by it.  

As imperialism seemed ineffective, those colonial masters changed their sinister agenda to neocolonialism. Neocolonialism is also a system that is aimed at giving developed economies indirect control over their former colonies and access to their system of economy, politics, militarism, idealism and other policies to achieve two objectives:

1. Keeping those colonies within the world capitalism system.

2. Preserving the condition of exploitation and unequal exchange between developed and developing economies. 

Like other developing economies, Nigeria is also suffering from the problems of neo-colonialisation.

Neocolonialism paved the way for the developed economies to wage a silent war on Nigeria’s industrial sector indirectly through the development of manufacturing industries and technological advancement. They electrified, mechanised, and chemicalised our agricultural sector. Their dominance mandated our farmers to use pesticides, insecticides, and other agrochemicals mainly produced in their countries. 

Moreover, education is also a victim of neo-colonialisation in Nigeria. The educational sector in Nigeria is neocolonialized through privatization. The government has intentionally neglected our educational sector, leading citizens to enrol their children in private schools at home and abroad. 

Neocolonialisation has also victimised Nigeria’s political landscape. It also affects our system of administration, military,and foreign policy. Western countries have an indirect involvement in Nigeria’s electoral processes through this. They use observation to interfere cunningly in the choice of our leadership. 

However, the ongoing insecurity problems affecting Nigeria are another form of neocolonialism. It is through which Western countries exploit our economy and enjoy the remaining in the name of peacekeeping, intelligence assistance and arms procurement.

With these problems on trend, this is a healing time. It is a time for reflection on what can be done to help Nigeria cunningly harness its economic potential. It is a time to preach against government policies that align with a neocolonialist agenda through dialogue and moral suasion. 

If we fail to reflect as a nation, Nigeria is bound to go back into the decades of direct subjugation, economic exploitation and brutality.

Sunusi Abubakar wrote via muhammadsunusi29@gmail.com.

By Abdurrazak Muktar

Grades play a crucial role in determining academic and professional opportunities, particularly in Nigeria. The importance of graduating with high grades, such as a 2:1 or a First Class, cannot be overstated. These distinctions not only reflect a high level of academic achievement but also significantly influence career prospects and societal perceptions.

In Nigeria, a First Class degree is often seen as a mark of exceptional capability and dedication. Graduates with such distinctions frequently find themselves in advantageous positions, receiving more attention from employers and academic institutions. This respect is not merely symbolic; it often translates into tangible benefits, such as better job opportunities and career advancement.

The significance of high academic grades is underscored by how people’s attitudes shift upon learning of one’s academic achievements. A First Class graduate, for example, can command immediate respect and open doors that might otherwise remain closed. This is not just about the prestige associated with such grades but also about the perceived reliability and potential of the individual.

The connection between academic success and professional opportunities is evident in real-world scenarios. For instance, prominent individuals in various fields often inquire about a candidate’s degree classification during recruitment or networking conversations. This highlights the weight that academic performance carries in shaping career trajectories.

Moreover, discussing school grades has become a notable topic in the Arewa media space. This debate is one of the region’s most engaging and influential trends, reflecting how deeply academic success is intertwined with personal and professional development. 

The discussion around grades not only fosters a competitive academic environment but also serves as a catalyst for broader conversations about educational standards and career prospects.

In conclusion, while opportunities exist for all graduates, those with higher academic achievements often have enhanced prospects. The debate around school grades, especially within the Arewa media, underscores the critical role that academic performance plays in shaping futures. Thus, striving for excellence in one’s academic pursuits is a matter of personal pride and a strategic advantage in the competitive landscape of career opportunities.

Abdurrazak Muktar (Makarfi) wrote via prof4true1@gmail.com.

By Mutalib Jibril

Have you ever felt a sudden twinge in your back, experienced a sharp pain in your chest, or noticed unusual fatigue? Did you rush to your favorite search engine to discover what might be wrong? You could be a patient of Dr. Google. Even with the best intentions, your search can quickly become a tangled mess of confusion.

Technology has made nearly everything easier and more convenient, giving us access to a wealth of information at our fingertips. This convenience extends to the health sector as well. 

A research review suggested that 90% of people in the United States have searched the internet for health information. It also revealed that 1 in 3 adults have gone online to try to diagnose a medical condition.

Googling your symptoms makes you believe you have a serious or even deadly health condition. When this happens, it’s known as cyberchondria. This term is used for an individual who develops extreme, unwarranted anxiety by using the internet to search for medical information.

For instance, you are experiencing a persistent cough. Almost instinctively, you grab your phone and search “persistent cough is a symptom of ….” In an instant, you are bombarded with a range of potential causes, such as allergies, asthma, tuberculosis, pneumonia, whooping cough, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Now, you are not only coughing but also feeling overwhelmed and anxious. 

Turning to Google to diagnose what is wrong with you can lead to fear and anxiety because Google will not provide specific information about your health.

Online resources can be beneficial but are often confusing, alarming, and filled with inaccurate information. Google has no knowledge of your medical history, current medications, or other personal details crucial for an accurate diagnosis. One of the biggest risks of self-online diagnosis is that it may deter you from seeking the professional help you need.

When your car breaks down, you don’t just Google the problem to find out why it happened. Searching online may provide numerous reasons, but it won’t pinpoint the exact issue. Instead, you consult a mechanic with the expertise to identify and fix the issue. 

Similarly, seeing a medical doctor is more effective when you are experiencing health problems rather than relying on search engines.

When your smartphone starts acting up, you wouldn’t just rely on online searches to troubleshoot the issue. Instead, youwill visit a tech specialist who can fix the problem. Why, then, are you Googling your health problems? These two examples illustrate why seeking expertise is always the best approach.

Medical doctors undergo years of training that fully equip them with the precision to diagnose and treat a wide range of medical conditions that Google simply cannot match.

Mutalib Jibril wrote via mutalibdantanisabi300@gmail.com.

By Anwar Usman

The nationwide protest organized by Nigerians purposely to highlight the sufferings and hard times that Nigerians are going through was later turned into thuggery, which resulted in vandalizing government properties and stealing people’s belongings.

Everyone who attends the gathering knows precisely what happened and who is responsible for the vandalization during the peaceful protest. It’s unfortunate that some people who didn’t even partake in the protest but only witnessed some part of the event on social media concluded that the protesters were the ones responsible for the vandalization of government properties and went ahead to fault this same youth who is agitating for good governance and food security.

I joined the peaceful demonstration as a citizen to exercise my democratic and civic rights. The demonstration began peacefully, with youth raising placards containing various inscriptions telling the government what was necessary. I also witnessed many instances where the same youth advocated for a peaceful demonstration by warning those trying to cause havoc or unnecessary problems.

It was not until after the address by the governor of Kano state that some angry youth were said to have joined the demonstration and vandalized the NCC office that’s yet to be commissioned. How is it possible for people who want the government to listen to their yearnings and aspirations to end up in this barbaric act? 

A lot of misinformation on social media claimed that this youth initially organized the demonstration to loot. But this opinion is strictly for those who think citizens should not tell the government the difficulties they’re going through through protest. These people are very well aware of the situation in the north and Nigeria.

In reality, these thugs were hired to disrupt the demonstration process. Is there any place that one can find rocks of the same size on a state road? How do the rocks get there? How could there be a political gathering while the protest is ongoing? This tells you that these uneducated thugs were hired to fault and disrupt the demonstration process due to some political reasons I wouldn’t like to mention here.

Look, this demonstration tells you how angry and hungry people are, especially the youth around 20-25 years of age. Although this is a planned demonstration, a time is coming when no one can stop these youth from expressing their anger. Youths were coming out in thousands to express their concern about what has been happening for a year now.

If you think the protest is the main cause of what happened, does that mean people should not participate? Everyone knows the danger of following the Kaduna-Abuja road due to kidnapping and banditry, but does that stop people from following the road? Don’t they want their lives? What about the people of Katsina who are now friends of bandit? 

The vandalization shouldn’t be the yardstick for generalizing these youth who are out to secure their future. If the protest is a means to express dissatisfaction over the government’s inability to meet certain demands, then people must partake,even if that can change their lives. 

Even in the US, the mother of democracy, during the protests, people carried out such acts (not stealing). Assume I’m lying, but fact-check what I said.

The question left unanswered is, where do you think Nigerian youth can find hope, and through what process? This is a democratic era. People must exercise their democratic rights before their leaders can listen to them.

Imagine a country where the president is publicizing that he has no CABAL or a SPONSOR! That is to say, the moment he assumed office, Nigerians were sold to him by the delegates of his political party, and no one could influence his decisions, positively or negatively.

I sympathize with the victims who lost their properties and some lives in the process of the protest, but this shouldn’t be the end. You must lose something to get something, and hopefully, the end of the struggle will yield a positive result.

It’s a time for Nigerian youth to abstain from drugs and vandalism. Do not let anyone use you to cause havoc and dump you in a dustbin. Think for yourselves, attend school, and build your future because success is yours.

The people behind this thuggery sent their children abroad, schooling in the world’s first-class universities, whereas the sons of the common person are dealing with drugs, joblessness, and uncertainties of life.

The government should use what happened in Kano as a case study. It’s always said that “a hungry man is an angry man.” The government should try to listen to Nigerians’ yearnings and provide immediate solutions to their sufferings. If not, no one can dare stop these youth the next time they’ll be on the street in the name of protest.

God bless Nigeria. May Nigerian succeed, amin.

Anwar Usman Hassan wrote from Kano via usmananwarhassan@gmail.com.

By Fodio Ahmed 

The education crisis in Northern Nigeria has reached alarming proportions, with millions of children out of school and illiteracy rates soaring. We must take immediate action to address this crisis, and a private and public partnership led by the Federal Government is the way forward.

The federal government must lead the implementation of an ‘Emergency Education Liberalization of Northern Nigeria.’ This initiative should not only focus on reducing the number of out-of-school children and setting targets for illiteracy reduction but also on implementing a comprehensive strategy that leaves no stone unturned in achieving these goals.

To achieve this, a task force led by the President, with a prominent Northerner as Deputy 1 and a foreign expert as Deputy 2, should be established. This task force should collaborate with international organizations like UNESCO, the UN, the World Bank, and foreign governments like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Morocco.

Furthermore, local and international philanthropists, Northern business leaders like Dangote and BUA, and UN Deputy General Secretary Amina Mohamed should be involved in this initiative. The private sector should manage funds to ensure transparency and efficiency.

In addition, Northern governors and LGA chairmen should submit lists of schools and enrollment figures. At the same time, traditional rulers, Imams, Pastors, celebrities, musicians, and social media influencers should be engaged to promote education. Skills acquisition centers should be established, and technical colleges should receive more equipment.

Finally, I firmly believe this approach can make significant strides in addressing the education crisis in Northern Nigeria. The time for action is now, and we must work together to ensure that every child in the region has access to quality education.

Fodio Ahmed wrote via penfodioahmed@gmail.com.

By Sulyman Pakoyi 

Nigerians protested across major cities against the prevailing economic hardship one year under President Tinubu. The country is witnessing its worst economic crisis in decades. 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, inflation increased from 22.8 in June 2023 to 34.2 in June 2024. The government’s effort to cushion the effect isn’t yielding significant effort considering the removal of petroleum subsidies.

The unbearable cost of living has caused the protesters to demand that the government reduce inflation, provide job opportunities, and fight insecurity and corruption. 

However, if we look back in history, these demands are constantly recurring. Every successive government witnessed at least a protest highlighting these demands, but the demands remain unmet; the situation worsens yearly.

It asks whether the government listens to citizens’ frustration or whether the placard doesn’t state the demand clearly. 

As effective protest could be, it was never enough. After the protest, Nigeria needs to look inward to solve these challenges and alternatives that could proffer solutions after protests.

Advocacy is an important aspect of democracy. It plays a crucial role in holding government responsible. Advocacy on good governance would ensure that after demands are made, citizens can trace whether the government fulfills these demands. 

If advocacy were taken seriously, the government would take its responsibilities seriously and listen to people because there are different advocacy groups tracking government policies and actions.

It is pretty interesting to note that groups advocate good governance in Nigeria, but only a few Nigerians know them and their objectives. 

Also, most groups focus on the Federal government. Advocacy should include sensitizing the public on the responsibilities of other arms and tiers of government, especially the legislative. 

Elections occur every four years. Four to eight years of our lives are in the hands of people we decide to vote for at the polls. Their actions and policies affect our social-economic life.

Electing responsible leaders would save us from placards and fists on the streets expressing our frustration. Responsible leadership will discharge their duties as expected without the citizens on the streets with placards and fists to register their frustration.

While it is important to hold government accountable, citizens also have certain responsibilities. The change we clamor for needs to start with’ me and you.’

The responsibility of building a formidable society where the rule of law prevails does not lie solely on the shoulders of elected officials. Citizens need to take responsibility for their actions and remember that these actions have consequences. That way, a progressive society can be built.

It can’t be stressed enough that Nigerians must learn to hold grudges against the government. Government officials should pay for their inactions through elections, recall, or impeachment. 

The Constitution guarantees citizens the right to recall their representatives who do not serve their people. For instance, section 69 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the right to recall a lawmaker if his/her constituents lose confidence in him/her.

We can’t continue to repay bad leaders with reelection every four years. Our lives depend on their actions. 

The government seems never to be bothered by the pressing issues and instead threatens with violence. It is audacious of a senate president to confidently tell Nigerians he would ‘eat while they are outside protesting.’ 

Protests should last more than a week in 365 days, and we should only engage when the peak of frustration is reached. Nigerians should be able to hold reasonable grudges at every opportunity. 

Protests should be more than placards on popular streets or in front of government offices.  It should teach lessons to the government and even the protesters on the streets.

Sulyman Pakoyi is a corp member serving at The Hope Newspaper.

By Bilyamin Abdulmumin, PhD

In the 25 years of our current uninterrupted democracy, four significant protests stand out: the 2007 protest against fuel price hikes, the 2012 Occupy Nigeria movement, the 2020 EndSARS demonstrations, and the protest against hunger.

When Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure ended, he bid the public goodbye with an unpopular move: increasing the pump price from 65 to 75 naira. Among the ensuing protestors, one placard was ridiculous: “Return the old price, or there will be a revolution.” Imagine adding 10 naira to the pump price, and someone called for a revolution. What would that person call for now?

Why would President Obasanjo end his tenure with a bitter pill for the public? This remains a puzzle I still cannot piece together. Isn’t it when leaders come to leave power that they show the greatest love for the masses? Perhaps this was Obasanjo’s way of punishing us for rejecting his third-term agenda. Maybe he wanted to give his successor, Yar’Adua, a golden baton by allowing him to reverse the pump price, a gesture for which he is still remembered. Anyway, let me not overthink.

The Occupy Nigeria in 2012 is still fresh in our memory. GEJ love lost with Nigerians reached its crescendo, giving rise to Boko haram and a pile of allegations of corruption under his watch as if that was not enough, the peacemaker and true statesman threatened to jack up the pump price to N145, the opposition would find the straw they were looking for, together with many Nigerians they lock down the nation in the protest. Tinubu admits to being involved in this and several other protests, but he tempered them with fragrance by emphasizing that they were peaceful protests.

Like many protests, ENDSARS in 2020 didn’t get momentum in the north thanks to clerics’ admonishing. The trouble is that the Hausa language protests, demonstrations, and riots are perceived differently. So, whenever there is a call for one, riots readily come to mind, which is outrightly prohibited by both scripture and culture. But I found one explanation from an Imam plausible; he said that it is not a peaceful demonstration that was forbidden but that it usually leads to havoc, looting, and sometimes even loss of lives. 

We, therefore, cannot afford to throw a baby with the bath water. There is a need to devise a way to conduct a peaceful demonstration void of wreaking havoc because a demonstration is one of the safety valves of society; whenever enough tension is built, demonstrations can act as a vehicle to bring down the tension. One radical idea is to borrow a leaf from developed nations like England; there should be places like the famous Hyde Park London, also known as Speakers’ Corner, where every grieved Nigerian can go there to voice out their frustrations. We can also have a Ground Zero in New York City where the bereaved gather to relieve their grievances and console each other. But most importantly, they are the safety valves of good governance, employment, recreational and vocational development, and vocational welfare and justice.

The earlier in the list of protests in Nigeria are June 12, SAP, and Ali Must Go. The former one is worthy of discussion. After the push of Nigerians came to shove, the then-military regime toyed with the idea of releasing the power to civilians. Because of several dribbles of public attention and back and forth, IBB would be nicknamed Maradona, which he later padded with air freshener; he said Maradona (Argentina) was playing against just 11 players, but he, as the president was fighting with millions of Nigeria. 

Finally, June 12 was set for the general election; in an unprecedented show of unity, Nigerians en masse elected MKO as president of Nigeria, but only for the military regime to turn down the verdict. Fortunately, or otherwise, the event coincided with the students’ peak, and academic unionism would shut down the country alongside the politicians and other pressure groups. 

Some overzealous went as far as hijacking the plane flying from Lagos to Abuja, diverting it to Niamey, and threatening not to release the plane and hostages until MKO was declared winner of the June 12, 1993, general election. 

This episode is reminiscent of Entebbe Operation; in Entebbe Operation that occurred in 1976, the Air France traveling from Tel Aviv to Paris would be hijacked and diverted to Entebbe, Uganda, where the hijackers demanded the release of 40 Palestinians. That incident became an international sensation thanks to Israel’s successful operation -like in the blockbuster movie, to rescue all the hostages.

The stand-up of the June 12 movement against the military led to the imprisonment of several activists. It claimed many lives, including those of Kudirat Abiola and, later, MKO Abiola himself. To commemorate this event, the Nigerian government changed Democracy Day to June 12, 2018. Although the military officially handed over power to a civilian government on May 29, 1999, the government recognized that no date in Nigerian history symbolized democracy more than June 12. According to this view, democracy was truly restored on June 12. It was only denied.

By Musa Kalim Gambo

Whether you like it or not, populism is the giant stallion politicians ride to victory in every race. They strike at the cords of the utmost desires of the public, exaggerate the failures of the existing structure, and swear by the deities they worship that they possess the magical cure. They have the staff that can open up the Nigerian Red Sea of trouble to ‘let my people go.’

So, this upcoming August protest in Nigeria is another populist stage—dramatic personas will sing the chorus of what everyone already knows, what everyone already endures, and what everyone already believes is no longer humanly possible for the current crop of Nigerian politicians to address. 

#ENDSARS was a huge success (?), to a relative extent. Youths expressed their rage at an overtly abusive agent of the government, a special unit of the Nigerian police force, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, as it became notoriously known in 2020.

The protest was beyond police brutality and high-handedness. This was when the country was amid the coronavirus pandemic, economic recession, and poverty –you could perceive the pungent odor of poverty in the air. Life was becoming unaffordable and unpalatable. So if poverty provides the ground for hunger, then hunger was close relative to anger and frustration,  then it was clear that #ENDARS was bigger than the demand for an end to police brutality. 

It could be concluded that the frustration, hunger, and anger that hung in the air were the oxygen in the protesters’ blood. It was the crucial component of the energy that drove the protesters to the streets—although the activation energy came from the said ‘police brutality’ through the SARS.

Four years later, these youths moved on, and the country’s situation did not seem to display any sign of positive change. The only visible changes, obviously, must be said—there’s a proactive approach to leadership. Even if some government areas prove difficult and impossible, the leadership is resilient. 

It is now widely seen that the federal government has hastily increased the national minimum wage, granted autonomy to local government, launched a student loan scheme, and is vigorously engaging with stakeholders on the eve of this August protest.

The government is already taking important measures to prevent a protest from escalating into an ugly situation.

Here in the North, the Ulama have strong control over the youth, and they are already calling on youths to avoid violence or any action that could potentially undermine the nation’s fragile state. So, if the protest eventually occurs in parts of the North, it is expected to be peaceful. 

The Northerner respects leadership – good or bad, as long as such leadership does not directly conflict with his religious belief, especially the unity of God. But this calm doesn’t suggest silence! Neither does it imply agreement with the prevailing hardship. There will always be strong condemnation and damnation against the extravagant and ostentatious lifestyle of the political elite amidst hardship among the talakwa. This is sometimes expressed in rhetorics – with Allah ya isa.

This weekend, the Hausa political praise singer Dauda Kahutu Rarara, had his Facebook page deleted after users reported him over a song. In Rarara’s usual style, the song in question seeks to indicate that the life of talakawa has improved under the current Nigerian government. It can essentially be said that the song trivializes the grievances of the public against the government. 

Rarara is known to reduce the opposition to his benefactors to nothing, sometimes even mocking them using his rhythm and lyrics. So, this was undoubtedly one of those instances met with the appetizer of the upcoming protest.

Back to the protest—one thing is certain in this part of the world:  no matter how hard the poor fight, the elitist lifestyle that serves as a precursor to their pathetic condition cannot be changed. Protests do not improve the quality of life in this part of the world; they rather push the poor from frying pan to fire, leaving behind ashes of instability and unrest that go on long after the protest is over.

So it’s best to be wise and think twice – peaceful dialogue and engagement with the authorities. 

Musa Kalim Gambo writes from Kaduna via gmkalim.ng@gmail.com.