…And finally the economy collapses by Arthur Nwankwo

Few weeks ago, I alerted Nigerians to the inescapable reality of a collapsed Nigerian economy. On that occasion, a lot of people attacked me suggesting that I was a prophet of doom. Despite the hard facts I presented, die-hard Buhari apologists insisted that Buhari method of managing the economy was on course, but I had warned that the president lacks the capacity-both intellectually and physically to tale the Nigerian state out of the woods.

Intrestingly, Muhammadu Buhari has finally admitted to the total collapse of the Nigerian economy. In his own confession yesterday(Aug 11th 2016), Buhari said that the Nigerian economy has collapsed under him. However, he mad another shocking remark probably aimed at rubbing in the naivity and insensitivity of the Nigerian people.

According to Muhammadu Buhari, though it is true that the economy has collapsed, Nigerians are not feeling the pains primarily because of the “prudent way” his administration is managing the economy. I find this comment hugely embarrassing and inept. How can any sensible person say that Nigerians are not feeling the pains of the current hardship? A story is told recently of a woman who had just finished pounding her foo foo and went inside her house to bring plates with which to dish the food. To her utter shock, she came out and saw that the food had disappeared. Still confused, an elderly man at the balcony opposite her house beckoned on her and asked her to check the hut behind her house. The woman then went to the hut as suggested and found a man, his wife and six children swallowing the foofoo with ordinary water. This family had not eaten anything for days. That is the Nigeria we are living in today. Hence, for anybody to suggest that Nigerians are not feeling the pains is, without sounding immodest the height of wickedness and leadership idiocy.

Nigerians are dying every day on account of the present hardship. For any person to say that we are not complaining suggests two things. The first is that the person is a fool and obviously insensitive to our pains or secondly, the person is not living in this country. Both assumptions are correct in this instance but moreso the second assumption. Tucked away in the comfort of Aso-Rock and surrounded by a battalion of marabous and hired security mercenaries, even an otherwise intelligent leader will begin to lose touch with reality.

Muhammadu Buhari has predictably lost touch with the Nigerian reality and that is why he could be bold to say that Nigerians are not feeling the pains. This is not surprising essentially because Abuja has become a theater without audience. The cast is the audience. They stage the play and clap for themselves. This is akin to what happened in Northern Ireland after the Second World War. After the war, the people became very disillusioned and desired a change in the status quo. The government that came into power after the war hit on the expedience of infrastructural development.

The entire Northern Ireland was converted into one huge construction site. The people were constructing a road, and midway they realized that the road they were constructing led to nowhere. Suddenly, they all began to disperse realizing that they have been duped. That is exactly what is happening in Nigeria today. The truth is that it takes intelligence to run any economy. The worst thing you do to yourself is to have a dunce run affairs that bear directly on your destiny. The collapse of the economy has not come to me as a surprise but even the worst is looming.

In the next couple of months, the economy will move from recession to depression and that would complete the cycle of tragedy that this government has brought upon us. I think Buhari has failed and woefully so. He should resign or be impeached. We need a sound mind as a president; not an ethnic and religious jingoist.