The tides are getting tougher, the times are biting harder, incomes are shrinking, the mental wellbeing of people is threatened as thoughts of survival cloud the head of an average citizen. People are perplexed. Who will salvage the situation?
How we got here is not far-fetched, but it is important that we briefly examine the promised ‘change’ in the first half and the exalted ‘next level’ in the ongoing second half.
During the pre-season that led to the first half, like a concession, we chorused the change mantra for a new club and team members to fall into the pitch and play a more people-oriented game to the benefit of the masses. Little did anyone know that the proverbial ‘devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know’ would soon greet us in the face.
The expectation and high hopes that heralded the first half was quickly dampened by the extremely disappointing and incompetent manner with which the game was played. That half ended with the current players blaming the former club and its players for supposedly doing so much harm to the playing field. While I struggle to recall specific moments from the first half, perhaps because I have learnt to let bygones be bygones, to avoid relieving unpleasant memories, it is pertinent to state that the period came with mixed feelings that dented the high hopes reposed in Team Change.
Fast-forward to the second half of the ongoing ‘next level’ as it is dubbed, the scorecard is doubly disappointing. One wonders the rationale behind the phrase ‘next level’. What next level is being referred to? Did we have a successful first half? However, and depending on the angle you choose to view this from, the ‘next level’ is like a siamese twin to the former.
The alleged terrible playing field created by the previous club and its team members now looks like a haven as the man on the street could fend and cater for his family compared to the reality of the day. According to the inflation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in May 2021, the current inflation is at 17.93%. The unemployment rate as of the end of 2020 rose to 33.3% from 27.1% recorded as of Q2 2020, indicating that about 23,187,389 (23.2 million) Nigerians remain unemployed. Then food inflation, which affects every household, surged to 21.79% in Q1 of 2021.
Of course, the naira rate to a dollar prior to the first half was between N170 to N190, which was still appreciable compared to the current official rate of N410.78 to a dollar. This invariably means that what was affordable then looking at the trajectory is no longer affordable now with rising FX rates both at the official and black-market rates. Rising inflation and continuous high exchange rates, which impact significantly on the prices for both local and imported products, steadily weakens the domestic currency.
While unemployment remains significant, the working size of the population is stretched and weakened daily as incomes have remained constant and slashed in some cases, but there is a persistent increase in demands from dependents.
This era is an unpleasant one that has caused increased aggression and apprehension among the populace. In the past, we could chorus ‘suffering and smiling’ in the words of the late afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. That is no longer the case as people no longer hide the pressures and suffering under any form of smiles. It is now ‘suffering and frowning’. Go into the streets today, ‘awon eniyan binu gan’ (people are very angry). The frustration is ridiculously justified with the fact that people are easily triggered to anger and violence at the slightest provocation.
Only on the morning of July 13, 2021, I received a call from a friend who expressed disappointment at how her driver was beaten on the spot with a swollen eye and bleeding nose. He was falsely accused of hitting a tricycle.
While this may persist with increasing insecurity and other social challenges, two wrongs will never make a right. The tides may not be favourable, the playing team of the day might have lost the scoring tactics to stabilize the economy, which tells massively on the spectators who have lost their cool. However, we must not let this drive us to become lawless citizens. Venting unnecessary anger at a fellow citizen at the slightest provocation does not have any effect on the team on the playing field. It only worsens our woes.
Amid the agony, this is the time Nigerians should wear the garment of sportsmanship, keeping fingers crossed, hoping for the best and expecting the worst in a worst-case scenario. Of course, nothing lasts forever, and, like change, it remains the only constant thing. The pre-season will be here in no time and the next playing team will be carefully selected. Patience is needed to salvage the situation and that can only come when we maintain and remain our brothers’ keeper to stay alive while it happens in our time.
Adejumoh, a public relations practitioner, social analyst, and corporate communications strategist writes in from Lagos. [email protected]
