[OPINION] Elofokanbale: A Sarcasm of Sympathy, Mockery, And Reproach

BY  BUSY BRAIN

Like a plague of locusts, the wind of pangs spread around the nooks and crannies of the country. At the moment, both the needy and the wealthy are stuck in the murky water of agony orchestrated by a very rigid policy. The voice of the poor is louder but cannot affect any change, it is mere echoes of the usual lamentation falling on deaf ears. No egress at the spellbound. It is really a time of sympathy as larger percentage of citizens are already suffocating.

Elofokanbale, a metaphorical utterance of President Tinubu during electioneering to instill renewed hope is now the popular lyric on the street. The video footage of President Tinubu during one of his campaigns premised on reducing fuel price, staple foods, and commodities. Antithetically, the ‘Elofokanbale’ message is now a lyric of sympathy, mockery, and reproach to many of us who supported the renewed hope agenda. The fuel, staple foods and commodities Mr. President promised to reduce are expensive in multifold.

Recently, a staunch loyalist to Mr. President and Fuji maestro, King Wasiu Ayinde sent a message to the President and of course, a point-blank truth any reasonable follower should tell his boss. Wasiu Ayinde earned more respect from Nigerians who are not Fuji lovers by calling a spade a spade on the current situation of the country. It takes myopic and dogmatic followers to see the current aggressive inflation as a normal consequence of people’s choice to elect President Tinubu. When peoples’ lamentation for bad governance is taken for hatred and chauvinism, there is fire on the mountain.

What seems like convolution to me is the nature of offense we have committed as Nigerians to deserve a conundrum and doldrums-like penance. Nigerians have had enough under a two-term administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. During Buhari’s regime, how many of Adepele’s multiple and interlock teeth could be counted? What the eyes saw could not be accounted with bare mouth. It was a series of ‘shege'(torment) and now, the whole situation is like a ‘shege pro max’. Down to the lowest class, the country is no longer at ease.

When an economy grows, citizens do well and get richer, even if it is marginally, as they have jobs, good salaries, and an improved quality of life. Companies and investors also make profits. The situation here is contrary, it is ‘monkey dey work, baboons dey chop,’ under the stench of cool breeze, cascading down our rivers of hope. To actualize the first stage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that is, food, clothes, and shelter, it is really a survival of the fittest. Salary earners, market women, medieval, and geriatrics, hue and cry to bemoan the current policy and economic subjugation.

Over the years, it has been a tale of lamentation, from kidnapping to banditry. It seems the security architecture is exacerbated by the gruesome killing of traditional rulers and intermittent kidnapping in the country. We are already on board of the renewed hope, where is the egress?

One of my recent engagements with my highly revered boss, scholar and financial expert, Dr. Azeez Yisa hammered on the influx of importation without export. The production level is at the lower ebb and is telling hard on the economy. We import almost everything without exporting and our poor production level has pushed Nigeria into a monopolistic economy, but the bottom line of the problem is that, the factors of production are threatened. Of course, there is land, but the capital to mobilize labor is a mirage and no entrepreneur will take the risk to secure the loan and cultivate land for ranchers. The government needs to create a conducive atmosphere for seamless production. The spate of insecurity and herdsmen menace have threatened farming. The aggressive inflation rate has shut down many businesses. Only the upper class whose pyramid of needs has risen to self-actualization can manipulate the factors and survive the corollary. Low-income earners seeking physiological needs dare not to venture into production in the face of conspicuous threats. As a matter of fact, the government needs to make production process to be seamless for a robust economy rather than sharing grains as palliative with endurance sermon.

Nigerians are already swimming in the pool of renewed hope; hoping to sail through in peace and not in pieces. May President Tinubu succeed. God bless Nigeria.