The news from almost all the states now is the war between the residents and state governments over taxes and all that. State governments are doing everything to dislodge street traders, hawkers and all manner of petty traders, chasing them away from where they eke out a living for themselves.
Task forces are being raised on a regular basis and unleashed on the hapless street traders, many of whom are in the informal sector of the economy.
There is also another fad going on around the states- the issue of banning commercial tricycle, motorcycle operators. These transporters who provide services to the poorest of the poor in society are being dislodged in many states.
In a country with a serious challenge that leaves a large percentage of the populace living below poverty line, the political leaders are worsening the people’s woes by chasing them about, seeking more revenue.
Truth be told, does it benefit the society to have an army of street traders and hawkers all over the place? By no means! Is it in the interest of society that some criminal elements use motorcycles and tricycles to carry out heinous crimes? Not at all. But is the blanket ban on people’s sources of livelihood a sign of good governance? It is very doubtful.
Nigeria sure needs to be organised like other countries even in Africa. People throwing out wares on the streets and major roads cannot be said to be a good practice. But a government gets a society like itself.
The Nigerian masses could be said to be among the most abused people on the globe, by their own brand of leaders. They do not enjoy anything from their government. They provide everything they need for themselves and by themselves. They give themselves education. They provide themselves water, health care, housing, name it. Government does not exist for them. Everyday they hear about billions and trillions of naira being moved by government and their officials. They do not partake of the oil money; they only hear when things are not going as government expects in terms of revenue accruing to it. To say that the Nigerian masses have been pushed to the wall is to put it mildly.
While they push their task forces on the hapless citizens, corruption is walking on all fours in government cycles.
Someone said: “We have the political class and the elite contributing their quota to the crime and corruption scenes. They allocate to themselves the heavy weight of the wealth of the country. They have the resources to gift hundreds of legislators N160m plus SUVs each, all costing a princely N57.6b. There’s room to vote N21b palatial mansion for Nigeria’s Vice President in Abuja. But we don’t have the funds for a living wage for the producers of the nation’s wealth.”
We must begin to focus attention on treating the real causes of the symptom that is manifesting outside. People are reacting to the complete neglect by government; that is why a university graduate is riding Okada; a lady who is a Master’s degree holder is trading on second-hand clothing (Okrika) by the road side. Is Nigeria really working for all?
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