A blogger called it the “Ides of March in August.” Some called it the “Day of Rage.” Others have aptly described it as the “day to take back Nigeria.” Call it what you may but today is August 1, 2024 and what shall not be in doubt is that President Bola Ahmad Tinubu shall today play host to some not-too-August visitors, as Nigerians from all works of life pour onto the streets, if all go as planned, to demand better treatment from the leadership of their country.
Operated under the hashtag: #END BAD GOVERNANCE, a group of Nigerians issued a notice to the Federal Government some weeks back with the intention to embark on ten days of mass protest, starting August 1-10, 2024, to demand reversal of economic polices that the current government had introduced. Some of these policies include the withdrawal of subsidy on petrol, hike in energy (electric power) tariff, further liberalization of the foreign exchange market.
It is worth repeating here that these policies were dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, so called Bretton Woods Institutions, created in December 1945 to mastermind the implementation of the Bretton Woods Agreement of July 1944. Over the years, the two institutions have served “as important pillars for international capital financing and trade activities.” Unfortunately, their advises and the prescriptions contained in the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) that they recommend, have always failed to serve the interest of needy Third World Countries.
From countries of the Latin Americas to poor countries in Africa and the Asia, the one-size-fits-all policies that these two lending institutions propose to third world countries often lead to mass revolts, often because of the hardship that they cause. As for Nigeria, it is a deja vu as the current episode is Nigeria’s second attempt at implementing SAP. The first also ended in a fiasco as the country was thrown into a turmoil of mass revolt that is today remembered as the anti-SAP Riots.
Same as now, the Anti-SAP Riots were a result of the government decision to implement the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in 1986 under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an effort to counteract the impact of declining oil revenue and devaluing the Naira, cutting back on social spending, implementing widespread layoffs, being measures taken to guarantee Nigeria’s eligibility for loans from the IMF.
Public resentment to IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes are fueled by several factors. Apart from the very bitter pills that they prescribe, the failure of the ruling elite to subordinate themselves to the same lifestyle modification that they recommend to the mass of the people, spike most of the anger that drive the protests. In Nigeria, just as the ongoing episode in Kenya, while the people grapple with cost of living crisis, politicians and their families, supposed servants of the people, revel in obscene affluence.
In Nigeria, the numbers tell all the story. Down by 370.55 percent, the local currency was so massively devalued that a US dollar today exchanges for 1,660 naira, instead of N448.0 by end of 2022. With this fall in the value of the naira, and Nigeria being import dependent, the price of all goods skyrocketed. Just to give an example, rice, Nigeria’s most staple food has become a luxury item in many family menus as a 50kg bag, hitherto sold at N7,500 in 2023 now sells between N85,000 and N100,000. Food inflation estimated at 40 percent. While interest rate hovers around 28-30 percent.
President Tinubu, either wittingly or otherwise, it was, who set the tone and pace for the current harsh economic reality buffeting Nigerians when he announced that subsidy on petrol was gone while reading his inaugural speech. Even the most strident advocates of subsidy removal sharply disagreed with the method of withdrawing the very critical subsidy on petrol by the president. This was due to how he announced it without proper review and implementation plan.
The rest, as they say, is now history. The country now tithers precariously by the edge of the cliff. Whether the people will troupe out to carry out the threat of a mass protest shall become manifest momentarily. What is of critical essence going forward is how the law enforcement agents contain the protest that the Federal Government and the sub-nationals can not be excused as having done enough to stave off.
