Nigerians rose in unison, for once, again, and joined the rest of the universe to usher in the New Year, 2017, on that eventful midnight of Saturday, December 31, 2016 – the last day of an unforgettable year in the annals of Nigeria in recent times – as they remained awake to witness a momentary fascinating phase of nature's weaving of time and history through a graciously seamless transition from 2016 to 2017, by a split second.
Remarkably, and true to an age-tested tradition, especially in Igbo-speaking areas of the country, frenzied shouting by visibly happy crowds in all nooks and crannies of even the remotest hinterlands of the country by the populace; booming of canons, colourful fireworks flashing across the sky, accompanied by a staccato of bangers (popularly called 'knockout') and even real gunshots, were all significant mode of the people's expression of gratitude and appreciation to the Almighty God for sparing their lives to witness the arrival of the New Year. Indeed, everybody had cause to shout “hurray!” for having survived, outlived and be alive to bid farewell to the gone Year 2016!
The reasons for the frenzied celebration of that turning point in human history obviously revolve around the incontrovertible facts that Nigerians had experienced an unprecedented downturn in their collective fortunes as the unfolding events further exacerbated the bad and ugly situation in the country, socio-politically, economically and in other spheres during that year of our Lord, 2016. They saw senseless massacres of innocent Nigerians in their natural habitats inherited from their forefathers by fellow human beings for various inexplicable reasons and purposes; the masses saw dog-eat-dog scenario whereby members of the same ruling party and occupants of top echelons of government were horrendously gagged, humiliated and demystified by law-enforcement agencies for one reason or another, bordering on the anti-graft campaign by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at the centre, climaxing in the mid-night invasion of the abodes of some Supreme and High Court judges, etc.
Since the dawn of the New Year, 2017, the atmosphere has been saturated with boundless joy and reinvigorated spirit (amongst the populace) in anticipation of a brighter phase and greater goodies to accompany it! Yes, Nigerians are looking forward to the long-awaited POSITIVE CHANGE and rosier living standards without the usual hiccups of persistent power failures/outages by the national electicity grid. They expect constant availability of cheap and affordable staple commodities and quick solution to the exorbitant costs of goods in the local markets. They wish for more balanced diets on their dining tables and urgent reversal of the present ugly and excruciating economic situation, in order to mellow its abrasive effects which have continued to make life very unbearable for the common man.
The Nigerian workers, whose take-home pay no longer takes them home, envisage an upward adjustment of their salaries in form of reviewed national minimum wage structure which they perceive to be long overdue, in view of the prevailing situation in the country. As what is good for the goose is also palatable sauce to the gander, organised labour agitates for wage adjustment in line with or comparable to the jumbo remunerations paid to political officer-holders and members of the two arms of government at all levels in the country. After all, workers are the geese that lay the golden eggs and deserve commensurate reward, as tenaciously contested by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its counterpart, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which are the apex bodies of legally recognised, functional industrial unions in the nation.
It is also generally expected that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration will translate all the enticing electioneering campaign promises encapsulated in his much-vaunted 'Change' manifesto into real visible, tangible and verifiable reality. In other words, Nigerians will be delighted with more action by the FG and less sloganeering, propaganda and political jingoism which the ruling party so far, abundantly seems to have in stock.
Looking back at the previous year that was heavily laden with lots of controversies, uncertainties, serious security challenges posed by Boko Haram Islamist insurgents, Niger Delta militants and Pro-Biafra agitation groups in the South-East as well as the Shi'ite Muslim Movement hostilities in Kaduna, Katsina, Kano and elsewhere in the Northern states of the federation, worsened by spiraling cost of living occasioned by ongoing economic recession. Indeed, the citizenry has genuine reason to demand for more action by their democratically-elected leaders to take immediate drastic measures for possible lasting panacea to all these myriads of national challenges besetting the unity, progress and stability of the country, especially since the restoration of civilian rule in May 1999.
Youths and jobless school-leavers look forward in anticipation of employment opportunities to become self-subsistence. Peasant farmers in the hinterlands desire a year devoid of undue harassment, intimidation, molestation and violent attacks by armed nomadic herdsmen but a positive change by way of timely provision of necessary agricultural inputs, like fertilizers, hybrid seed crops, herbicides, insecticides and other essential requirements for bumper local food production, owing to the stiff FG ban on imported rice, etc. Nigeria has no alternative at this point in time, than to encourage the peasant farmers through mechanized agriculture with deployment of tractors, harrowers and modern machinery to boost large-scale food production in the country.
FG, State and Local Governments should settle all debts owed contractors to inject money into circulation as a way of cushioning the vagaries of the economic depression, particularly the reimbursement of funds spent by state governments to rehabilitate dilapidated FG roads, such as the over N43 billion owed Anambra State government by the FG in that regard. Industrialists and businessmen want an urgent policy initiative to nip the free falling of the Nigerian currency (naira) in the foreign exchange market, which invariably, catapulted prices of imported raw materials, plants and equipmentsbeyond imaginable astronomical proportions. Ditto, the teaming jobless Nigerians on the streets are looking forward to the enforcement of the FG's social benefits to accommodate more and wider spectrum of downtrodden citizens in 2017, through effective and efficient implementation of the national budget, and without the hitherto antagonism and confrontation amongst the tiers of government that tended to retard the pace of national development, generally.
We ask God to touch the hearts of our leaders to use the abundant natural and human resources He has given us for the benefit of all Nigerians. We wish you a New Year filled with peace, hope, joy and love!
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