Nigerians, rejoice; palliatives are coming your way. Our brand new president is set to ship cash directly into our accounts and for the next six months, we shall receive monthly largesse that would last us a lifetime.
Imagine whopping 12 million Nigerians receiving a whopping N8000 monthly for a whopping six months! Who says the president has not tried?
However, the problem with most Nigerians is our lack of faith. Some have quickly picked up their calculators and claimed that N8000 in 30 days amounted to 266.666666…daily! Haba!
Maybe the president has read how Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fishes to feed thousands and decided to replicate it. Where we not here when the president once quoted from the Christian scriptures? Where is your faith, Nigerians? Have we forgotten that the First Lady is a pastor and not only active in the ‘oza room’?
Nobody should blame the man if our lack of faith aborts this great vision.
I think the amount is evangelistic as well. Did you not notice the 666 all over the figure? Is that not the mark of the Beast? Could the president not be forewarning us to prepare for the ultimate end? Nigerians, the end might have happened or around the corner but we are too preoccupied o pay heed.
That is another problem Nigerians have. They don’t like to see beyond their noses. The love for immediate gratification always blurs our foresight, even when choosing our leaders and then we end up on the wrong side of Jordan.
If not, why would we feel that the president was deceived by jobbers and described his kindness palliatives for the rich just because our hard-working 360-man House of Representatives pocketed a mere N70b of the package? Why do we say it was responsible for their quick approval of the president’s request?
Na waoh! What can cure Nigerians of jealousy and envy? We complain about everything. Even the ordinary N40 billion meant for the purchase of SUVs for the able lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly has become an issue. There is no opportune time than now for these patriotic Nigerians to ride in SUVs, or do we want them inside Keke Marwa and risk being kidnapped; would it not cost us more to pay a ransom? Let us learn to be magnanimous and appreciate our own, please.
Whoever does not like it should go into politics. Did they stop you from contesting and ‘winning’ an election? Did we not collect ‘shishi shishi’ from them before voting? If that shishi is an investment that must be recovered, i wonder what else is.
The only problem I have is that our accountant president was ill-informed. For instance, methinks the 12 million figure is bloated. How can Nigeria have 12 million poor in a booming economy like ours? Again, when they gave him the N8000 figure, he did not ask how they arrived at that amount. That figure is too much. N8000, haba! With N8000, many of the rich folk would now scramble to be listed among the poor.
A household of four mouths would have more than enough and I pray they don’t get hyperactive thereafter and take to the streets, shouting .’nzogbu, nzogbu’.
Lazy Nigerians, always waiting for handouts. Go to work, please; I didn’t say go to court.
Those who say the president should have created jobs instead are ignorant. There is already work for everyone. Our need is urgent and cannot wait for the years it takes to set up an industry.
We don’t need new factories. We don’t need any stimulus for existing ones either. There are jobs everywhere, even in politics. You could carry someone’s bag and polish his shoes today and by the next dispensation, become the speaker of the House. It has happened before and will happen again; this is Nigeria.
Go to Idumota, or Ariaria, or Sabon Gari markets, one could always see loads to carry. That reminds me of how our president rebranded road sweepers when he was governor in Lagos. He called them Highway Managers and dignified the office. Many of us can testify that the fortunes of these managers improved greatly and they are still in active service.
Oh, you want the president’s son to join you in carrying the load or sweeping the streets? Foolish Nigerians! They don’t even realise that ‘shoe get size’. There are Nigerians and there are Nigerians. The type of Nigerian you are depends on who gave birth to you. It is nobody’s fault if their father is rich.
I read somewhere how Bill Gates’ daughter gave more tip than her father at a restaurant. When asked, Bill said she gave as the daughter of Bill Gates while he gave as his father’s son. Obviously, Bill’s dad did not have loads of cash as Bill had. So, the difference is 7up clear.
I want to urge us to please, leave the president alone. We were all here all those months former vice president Yemi Osibanjo danced kokoma music inside Nigerian markets in the name of Tradermoni. We witnessed how he doled out cash in billions and documented every kobo given. His efforts were so successful an estate was named after Tradermoni in Abuja. So innovative was it that even last month or so, the ecstatic estate went swimming. Did you not feel excited seeing houses and vehicles and people’s property swimming while the owners climbed rooftops as if we were in the days of Noah? Indeed, great things happen in Nigeria.
And I laugh at those who worry how the cash transfer would reach rural dwellers without bank accounts. Why do we like reasoning backward? Who stopped them from having bank accounts? Perhaps, the policy would force them to now open bank accounts. And why would they not have the National Identity Number, NIN, when even foreigners do not just have it but also have voters cards?
In any case, I suggest that Tinubu should forgive Osinbajo for betraying him. The man was only trying his luck; no crime there. Osinbajo, who had excelled in a similar cash transfer project, should be hired. Thankfully, he is out of a job but must still have records of how he did the magic before. However, beneficiaries of Tradermoni must not partake in the current distribution because those traders have been elevated beyond poverty already.
Osibanjo is needed for this project, even if he has returned to his church and got busy for the Lord after confession and being purged of the stains of politics. A reason one pastor went to court for INEC but refused to swear by the bible is certain the God within him cannot discern his testimony, true or false.
Also needed are those who ingeniously fed millions of school children via the school children feeding programme; they could offer much-needed guidance if consulted. It was not easy to feed school children, even when they were locked down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fear that Tinubu has followed in Buhari’s footsteps is preposterous. Whose footsteps do you want him to follow, after all, your own? Did he not say so during electioneering and now he is in the saddle, should he not keep faith with his word?
And by the way, what is wrong with following in Buhari’s footsteps? Was Buhari no longer the best thing to happen to Nigeria? Ungrateful Nigerians! The man has not gone for even two months and we want to sweep his golden memory away… that is unfair.
I also disagree with those who say the president’s cash transfer programme is unacceptable. Those who say you cannot achieve desirable changes by doing the same thing all over again don’t know the value of experience. Even in the last presidential race, experience was trumpeted as a selling point for most campaigners.
Nobody is taking Nigerians for a ride; it is Nigerians who are riding themselves by refusing to see good in good things.
I will counsel Mr. President not to bother himself but to concentrate on the job he has to do. After all, these critical Nigerians also lampooned the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs despite the wonders they did with Emefiele’s reported N500 billion monthly bounties. If in doing the cash transfer some ministers and top government officials get rich, are they not Nigerians? Must all of us be poor?