Deadly rice stampedes: Suppose President Tinubu bans rice? - Ikeddy ISIGUZO

ONCE President Bola Ahmed Tinubu addresses Nigerians it is clear that his silence is actually golden, as it gives chances to guess what the President feels about ordinary Nigerians, the hungry, the poor, the weak, those excluded from Tinubu’s concerns because they are not rich.

The President rushing in with a media chat, after 18 months in office, and days after the "poverty stampede" in Ibadan, where mainly children died, was thought to be an opportunity to explain to Nigerians, elicit their support as they go through a crushing economic crisis that the President gloats about as if the entire purpose of his policies is to inflict pains.

The deaths in Ibadan that were over 35, were followed by similar incidents in a church in Abuja, and an individual's event in Okija. The deaths resulted from free distribution of rice to the needy.

Poverty once personal, private, is now public, and deadly. Just blame rice.

Are opponents using free rice to distract the President from focusing on his economic policies? The President should ban rice for more clarity. No rice, no stampede, no deaths. One of my teachers said the solution to headache was decapitation - no head, no headache, or any ache for that matter.

We remember Tinubu promised Nigerians "agbado (corn) and cassava". Not rice.

More people have fallen into poverty without the President's permission. Should they? Could this account for the President not knowing about them? What really does the President know about Nigerians?

Does he know that more people would have died if they knew of these events? Food is beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians. Tinubu does not feel the impact of his harsh economic practices of lavish spending on presidential consumptions, unproductive as they are.

Some call the spendings reckless. Would you blame them? In the midst of a drifting economy, soaring inflation, no jobs, hunger, anger, capped with insecurity, the President bought jets, including one for the Vice President, and maintains a bloated cabinet.

He used the presidential chat as a platform to defend his Ministers. They are performing. He sounded as if he needed more people like the bunch that maintains a distance from the daily challenges people face.

For the President to see "switching off things" as the solution to poor electricity supply - and the frequency with which the national grid collapses - was one indication that governance has become a joke. When the Minister of Power, months ago, held the same position on electricity, the public tore him to shreds. The Minister apologise.

Tinubu blamed the organisers for the stampede, “I see this as a very great error on the part of the organisers.” He said he had been giving out foodstuffs, including envelopes, smoothly at his Bourdillon residence in the past 25 years. “If you do not have enough to give, don’t publicise it,” he advised organisers. The organisers too are poor, and have no Bourdillon pedigrees. These things count.

Do not expect Tinubu to blame the new wave of incremental poverty his hope agenda has renewed. He did not. He will not. If Tinubu halts the slide to absolute poverty for more Nigerians, there would be no deadly rice stampedes, and no organisers to blame.

Other Nigerians have organised these events for years without incidents. Large crowds would turn up and go home home safely. Was it not rice they shared? What is the difference now?

People are out searching for something to eat, anything. Even if "pure water" is being shared, there will be stampede. Our people are living by the minute. They have lost hope.

Nigerians have no assurance that someone cares about their efforts to survive. Millions of our compatriots are ready to do anything to survive. While at it, insecurity is not allowing them to breathe. Sadly, more of our people are falling into crimes with the times.

Employment opportunities are shrinking. The few jobs available are for relations of those in power, the rich, the very rich, the same ones who accuse us of greed. Do they have a different meaning for greed?

Last October, the Senate President, His Excellency Obong Godswill Akpabio on the floor of the Senate advised poor Nigerians, "Times are difficult, wherever you see free food, please endeavour to avail yourself”. Could the people have followed Akpabio's perspective of the solution to poverty and the hard times?

Mocking the poor is Akpabio's favourite idea of enlivening Senate sessions. “The prayer is that, let the poor breathe, and Senator Mustapha has seconded that the poor should breathe. Those who are in support of the additional prayer that the poor should be allowed to breathe, say ‘ayes’ and those who are against say ‘nay,’” Akpabio had said in July 2023 during a debate on the 15 per cent hike of electricity tariff. “The ayes have it! The poor must be allowed to breathe,” Akpabio concluded.

At a Niger Delta Development Commission event in July 2024, Akpabio mocked those who called for demonstration over the economic hardship. “Those who want to protest can protest, but let us be there eating,” the former Akwa Ibom State Governor had said.

In Tinubu's 18 months, poverty has pole-vaulted to dizzy heights that left Nigerians dazed. The only thing worse is the President's spectacular performances when addressing his failure to rein in inflation as he drives the economy with the enthusiasm of kids playing with new toys.

People are hungry. Some people around the President call poor, hungry Nigerians "greedy". Someone looking for what to eat is greedy? Have we fallen so low to justify the President's unwillingness to accept that the problem is well beyond him?

Is he using his uncaring attitude as a buffer? He is the bigger problem by refusing to engage the people. Rather, he talks down on them when he decides to talk, well aware that he has nothing to say.

Take the tax bills, for instance, they have their merits. Tinubu thinks it is beneath him to discuss issues the radical bills raise. He sneers, the bills will be passed.

He takes responsibility for nothing. Tinubu sounds like Rik Rok and Shaggy in their famous 2000 hit song, "It Wasn’t Me". The President provides answers without addressing our concerns. The answers are always dismissive.

The major lesson of 2024 is that Nigerians have to continue looking after themselves. It may even annoy those who are just discovering that they cannot decide when we should stop breathing.

Happy New Year, that is peaceful - prosperity will follow peace.

Finally...

INFLATION to crash from 34.6% to 15% in 12 months, is what the President has promised in 2025. Safe trip, Mr. President.

FEDEERAL Capital Territory Minister Ezewoke Nyesom Wike said of those who accuse him of land grabbing, "Peo­ple say land grabbing, do you grab what you are in charge of? I am in charge of land in Abuja how will I go and grab what I am in charge of? Those, who are grabbing land are whom I am dealing with". Wike, at the Port Harcourt event where he spoke, did not forget to call Governor Sim Fubara, "this boy".

ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues