“Deaf people can do anything hearing people can do except hear” – King Jordan, first deaf President of Gallaudet University, 1988

By the time you read this article, at least two protests would have been underway in response to pervasive hunger and hardship nationwide. Ironically, those protesting against the Federal Government issued the first threat and threw all governments – FG and states – into a panic. Efforts to dissuade the organisers proved abortive. All the well-fed people in positions of power – the Presidency, the National Assembly, Governors, Ministers, Traditional Rulers, Religious leaders, leaders of the Organised Private Sector, leading journalists and public opinion moulders etc – have been called to Aso Rock for deliberations with Tinubu.

The meetings, most probably, have included lunches featuring the best food money can buy in Nigeria today. In exchange, they have expressed gratitude by calling on the organisers of the planned protest to forget the entire idea because “Tinubu has the best interest of Nigeria at heart”, “the protest might be hijacked by hoodlums and become violent”, “protesters should embrace dialogue”, “offer constructive criticism instead of fomenting trouble which will destroy all the good works Tinubu has been doing” and, “remember that Tinubu inherited an economy totally ruined by his successor.” 

“Love, and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man is starving” – O Henry, 1862-1910, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 232.

To listen to and read all the statements from Nigerian leaders, one would come away with the impression that their views represent the feelings of their people. In reality, nothing can be further from the truth. The fact is; no traditional ruler or religious leader, well-fed, can now claim to speak for millions of his followers now starving to death everyday. Leaders of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, IECF, ASUU, SANU etc – had told their followers not to join the protest – for various reasons informed by self-interest.

If you take a look at the short list again, something very familiar would hit you. The same groups, under different leaderships, backed out of the protests against Abacha in 1994. They sent their ‘First elevens’ to Abacha’s Constitutional Conference, CONFAB; which only real leaders of the South-West boycotted. I called the CONFAB ‘A Ship of Fools’ – which it turned out to be. Now, as then, the leaders went in droves to Aso Rock to express solidarity with Abacha and to advise the protesters – including me – to embrace dialogue, to engage in constructive criticism. History has already recorded that what the protesters wanted was good governance – not worthless dialogue.

“Bandits occupy 102 Zamfara communities; shut down farming” – Report, July 30, 2024.

One thing is certain; irrespective of who joins or remains on the sidelines, pervasive hunger, allied with insecurity, scarcity of everything and rising inflation, will remain the dominant factors in the Nigerian economy for more than two years. Low crude oil production and export has emerged as the major limiting variable impeding economic development and progress; and inducing more borrowing by the FG. There is no sign that high level corruption has abated; and governments, at all levels, have done very little to curb waste. Consequently, hunger will remain a problem for some years. This is a fact that Nigerians, like Biblical Egyptians, must be prepared to live with. This calamity might last seven years – no matter whether protest holds or not. Those loudly proclaiming participation, as well as those disclaiming will all suffer. Neither the leaders of the protest nor those opposed to it can stop millions of stomach from grumbling; and anger from erupting frequently as a result.

MY ADVICE TO BOTH SIDES

“Who takes advice shall never fare the worse” – Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400

Right now, the protesters and their supporters, as well as governments and their praise-singers are like two groups of deaf people shouting at each other. I cannot remember any advice, given on this page, which the governments and opponents involved in desperate combat have followed. I also cannot recollect any instance when the choices made by those in power had not created a worse problem later on. But, giving advice is part of the responsibilities of an opinion maker. We have the luxury, like spectators in a tournament, of seeing more than the players. Furthermore, some of us have been on the beat for so long, we can easily spot recurrent errors of judgment which inevitably are counter-productive.

Palliatives provide the perfect example. Among the lucky recipients of palliatives early in the year in Lagos was Mrs X – mother of twins and three other kids. No father. For days after collecting her share, Tinubu was God. She was full of praises for and maledictions for anybody who spoke ill of ‘Emilokan’. Today, the rice has long been exhausted and she has since joined the rest of us. On the eve of the protest, she was heard loud and clear, supporting it. The truth is; palliatives, as currently conceived, are totally useless. The stomach is a rascal; it forgets by evening time how well it was fed at breakfast time.

The only solution is to shorten the time between now and when poor Nigerians will feed twice a day again. First, the protesters would be best advised to limit the programme to two or three days. Beyond that, only the well-fed will be able to continue. They need to do this because there is very little governments can do in the short-term to bring down prices of food significantly. Zamfara’s sad situation is not an isolated case. Several thousand rural farming communities, particularly in the North, have ceased farming on account of banditry. Communities on the borders of Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi have been under siege for years. The same is true of Borno, Niger, Plateau and Benue states.

There is a direct correlation between scarcity of food and scarcity of farmers everywhere. FG can’t perform magic. Second, the FG should stop receiving all the free-loaders called traditional rulers and religious leaders. Instead, Tinubu should address the Nigerian people; lay the facts before them and present an achievable recovery programme. Among other things, he should let Nigerians realise that the FG owns only land in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Given the Land Use Decree of 1978, which vests all lands in state governments, food production is actually a matter for state governments to manage. Most southern states had out-sourced this responsibility to the North and foreigners producing rice, wheat, maize for our consumption. Commissioners for Agriculture in virtually all southern states are ‘Ghost Commissioners’. None of them is held to any specific target of food output – which should form the basis for evaluation of his/her performance.

The sooner we turn the heat on state governors, the better for us. They own the land; they should produce the food.

URBAN FOOD WARRIORS TO THE RESCUE

“An activist is not the person who says the room is dirty. A real activist is the person who cleans up the room” – Gamaliel Onosode, 1933-2015

Permit me to join the protest my own way by offering one solution which I strongly believe will provide relief in the short-run and permanently. Right now, the quickest way to increase food production incrementally is to start with about 100,000 Urban Food Warriors and increase the number until we reach about five million. Unlike rural communities, no bandits can come to our backyards and balconies and uproot tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and vegetables. We can produce more food quickly; and there is a template for execution of the idea. As far as I am concerned, the protesters should gather for no more than three days; have their say and go home. Very little will be achieved after that. Government and the security agencies should provide adequate protection for all stakeholders and let us prove to the world that a mature democracy is evolving. I would have been there; but for my health challenges.
LOSING LOVED ONES AND LOSING MONEY

“Undertakers are the only people who love corpses. For them, that is food on the table” – Late Mr Frazier, Undertaker, Melrose, Massachusetts, USA, 1968

Mr Frazier and his family were the only black family in Melrose in the 1960s. I met them through Mr and Mrs Aimo of 78, Whitman Avenue. The Fraziers were welcomed in the all-white community because the couple did the work nobody else wanted – they dressed dead bodies. That statement was uttered a few days after Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated. But, before then, I had spent a few evening in their professional parlour – where I learnt, without being told, that the easiest people to dupe are those mourning. Most people worldwide spend more for coffins and caskets than they need to. I just discovered recently how global Mr Frazier’s words were here in Nigeria. Nigerians are being scalped by coffin/casket sellers. Given the hardship in Nigeria now, it might be in your best interest to seek expert advice before going to price the coffin/casket for your loved ones. One family saved N500, 000 on just one box!!!

Read the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS online; any time, anywhere and for very little.