Cries of hunger and despondency in the land have left the realm speculation. The confusion and hardship in communities have reached a pitiable state, where citizens don’t have assurances of how the next meal can be put together, not because they’re lazy, just that the means of production have been heavily taxed by government.

When citizens protested in Minna, Niger State, the other day, the government and the ruling party cried foul. They alleged politicians were behind the protests to cause disaffection in the polity.

Governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), then decided to raise the lamentation a pitch higher than citizens’ often muffled and discounted voices.

It had been said that occupants of Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power, develop hearing problem the moment they lock themselves away from voters, once they gain power. Former President Jonathan once regretted that he was sequestered within the iron curtains of Aso Rock, from the realities of the outside world. They no longer hear cries of the masses.

Nonetheless, the PDP governors, led by their chairman, Bala Mohammed, rightly observed: “the cost of living is skyrocketing, and we’re almost on the road to becoming like Venezuela.” The governors confessed supporting removal of fuel subsidy at the beginning, believing that there would be safety nets to cushion the impact.

They now realise that things are not adding up, especially with the free fall of the naira. They admitted that the responsibility to fix the economy did not lie with the Federal Government alone, but that policies on monetary and economic matters are squarely those of the central government.

They tasked the Tinubu government not to lead the country beyond the current misery and poverty levels. Venezuela is a metaphor for misgovernance and squandered opportunities. Just like Nigeria, the country is rich in oil and gas, but has a misery index score of 330.8, the worst in Latin America as of 2022.

In 2020, Bloomberg’s Misery Index ranked Venezuela the most miserable country on planet earth, using tallies on inflation and unemployment conditions in 60 economies. Soaring prices and unemployment are signs to look out for in measuring a country’s misery status. Hunger and lack of food security are part of it. So, Venezuela is not the place to go and the PDP governors were right to warn about that.

The Federal Government thinks it’s mischief to compare situation in the country to that of Venezuela. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, reminded the PDP governors that they are critical players in the economy and they should as well be accountable.

He said: “Since President Tinubu assumed office, the revenue available to the three tiers of government has more than doubled. All the 36 states, including the 774 local governments, have been receiving significantly larger allocations on the back of the reforms being pursued by President Tinubu to reposition our national economy.”

Idris tasked Nigerians to ask the PDP governors how far and well they have utilise their allocations. Yes, governors of PDP and of other parties owe Nigerians explanation regarding what they’re doing to cushion the hardship in the land. They collected monies from the Infrastructure Support Fund (ISF), to build feeder roads and invest in agriculture. That was in July 2023.

They got part payment of the N5 billion approved by the president to provide palliatives for their constituents in September. There have been other bailouts to states for the purpose of making living comfortable for the people. Certainly, governors have questions to answer, but the overall responsibility to direct the economy is that of the Federal Government.

If the intervention of PDP governors was seen by Abuja as playing to the gallery, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) pointedly blamed the Federal Government’s incoherent policies and laid-back attitude to governance for worsening insecurity and economic hardship in the country. The party cited the near 30 per cent inflation, 41 per cent unemployment and 46 per cent poverty rate as unbearable conditions that threaten the survival of the country.

If that was not loud enough, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111, at a Committee Meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council in Kaduna, last week, presented a stark picture of the poverty and hunger levels in the North, calling on government to urgently find solutions.

He said: “…I don’t think it is the issue of the new government. To me, this government is a continuation of the former government; it is the same party. So, what really is the problem? I think that is one of the reasons we are here to talk to ourselves.” The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) were among those in attendance, to take another look at the issues.

Instead of the usual pushback and denial by the people in government, this is the time to admit that the economy is in dire straits. The price of cement changes every other day. Cooking gas is going out of the reach of many. Producers of bread are threatening that consumers still need to pay more for the product. Government is threatening to discontinue payment of subsidy for electricity. Importers are paying more duties and other levies are on a steady and unannounced increase.

Government’s response to the hardship it created should go beyond throwing money at the problem in the name of palliatives that don’t deliver substantial and comprehensive relief. Government should admit that the hardship is the consequence of its obsession for all manner of taxes, especially tax on imported petrol.

Under normal circumstances, an oil producing country should not incur extra costs for petrol that is refined in other countries. It’s worse, transferring all the liability to citizens and then pretending to use palliatives to ameliorate the damage. The palliatives and monies shared to governors do not solve the problems. Mopping up cash from citizens is the cheap gimmick of a parasitic government, thus rendering millions of citizens economically inactive.

Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda promised the arrival of prosperity. He assured of diversifying from over-dependence on export of crude oil and importation of finished products, which are unhelpful. He announced more attention to agriculture, the young population and industrial growth.

Under his government, he said: “We will improve existing industries and sectors. We will be brave and innovative enough to see how new economic vistas powered by today’s technology can create jobs and provide goods and services that will propel us toward greater prosperity and development.”

Unfortunately, in the first eight months of the administration, manufacturers are reeling under high energy and infrastructure costs, with government still threatening to remove what it claims to be energy support in allegiance to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Many companies have closed shop as the president’s dream to unleash economic growth has suffered grave reversal. Instead of growth, the economic policies have decreed higher costs and higher inflation. More people are becoming less productive and consumers’ capacity to buy has gone down.

In designing the agenda, Tinubu identified the surge in inflation (less than 20per cent then) as one “driven by global supply and production disruptions beyond the control of anyone government, including Nigeria’s. This is supply-driven inflation, not inflation caused by excess demand in an overheated economy.

“To impose the usual anti-inflation medicine of higher interest rates and tighter money-supply will only weaken the patient. The answer to supply-driven inflation is not to suppress normal aggregate demand levels. The better solution is to findways to increase production and supply. To suppress demand will result in the overall loss of economic activity and jobs.

“Worse, since the inflation is grounded in supply side issues, placing this weight on the demand side will do little to answer the root causes of current inflation. In short, we punish the national economy and the people without deriving any meaningful benefit.”

This is exactly where we are. It is important to remind Tinubu of his postulations while on the campaign podium, for him to see the difference between rhetoric and performance. It is either these theories were copied to fill space in the agenda document, even when the writers do not understand them,or they are justmere jargons to mislead voters.

It was the same way Tinubu postulated on fuel subsidy when the administration of Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove it in 2012. Tinubu presented what was a populist road map to fuel subsidy removal that will not hurt citizens. Very well written document.

Today, he has done far worse than what he criticised. Apart from removing fuel subsidy, which he dubbed the Jonathan tax in 2012, his government has pauperised millions in anti-people schemes. Tinubu petrol tax is pushing struggling SMEs out of existence.

The power sector is in a coma. Many fear that despite good ideas and intentions on paper, this government may not summon the will to reform limping sectors where active players in government have direct and entrenched interests through proxies. That’s why it may be stuck with a non-performing power sector for a while. At the end of the day, more money will be thrown at problems rather than fixing them.

In fighting corruption, the Renewed Hope Agenda said: “We will continue the work of the current administration (Buhari’s) in reforming the civil service to fight corruption, reduce bureaucracy, streamline agencies and decrease inefficiency and waste.”

We didn’t see any reform in the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Ministry. Some Presidency associates picked monies from Betta Edu before she was disowned. Then the Presidency deftly ordered the suspension of the entire Social Investment Programme (SIP); and by that the excitement generated by Edugate was systematically deflated.

That’s not how to fight corruption. Let all those who picked monies from Betta Edu be investigated and tried. Publicly, not in locker-room plea bargains.