What will PMB tell Nigerians on May 29? By TS

In four weeks time President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will be celebrating one year in office. And there is every likelihood that on Democracy Day the President will make a nationwide address where he will tell Nigerians what has been achieved under the ‘Change Party’ as he gives what will effectively be his own version of the ‘State of the Union address’.

But then what exactly can the President tell the citizens, especially the over 15 million people who embraced his ‘change mantra’ to ensure that they ended the 16- year rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last year’s epoch-making General Election?

I’m sure Buhari’s speech writers and close aides will be squirming in their seats struggling to come up with the right words for the President to try to assuage the mass disenchantment that is sweeping across the land. I wonder what kind of spin they will attempt to put on the situation because unfortunately there are just too many visibly ‘bad’ things happening to virtually every Nigerian for the masses not to be wondering if they have not ‘entered one chance.’

Is it the spiralling cost of living, which has so far negated all the promises made in the run up to the election that the APC would make things much better for the people? In fact in the last few months, even the illiterate pepper seller has come to understand the word ‘dollar’- a foreign currency that – has been able to jack up the cost of virtually everything in a country where naira is its official currency!

Is it the lack of fuel at petrol stations across the land, with the resultant queues becoming a daily feature of our lives, coupled with the resulting hike in transport fares and other goods and services? The queues have persisted despite government’s promises that they will soon be ‘a thing of the past!’

In fact only last Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, another promise was made by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu that next week the situation would return to ‘normal.’ Sadly I’m not too sure many people believe him because this was not the first time he made such a promise.

Nigerians don’t want promises but want to be able to drive into a petrol station without any sweat! Is it the total collapse of public power supply across the land which has further put Nigerians on edge because the same government that is aware that there is no power has stubbornly refused to back down on ‘don’t sell to jerry cans’ policy at the fuel stations?

So Nigerians that do not have electricity cannot even generate their own because this policy is denying them their ability to buy fuel for their generators. It’s so sad watching Nigerians lugging generators or their tanks to petrol stations to buy fuel.

Is it the new menace of the ‘Fulani herdsmen,’ who are fast becoming more frightening than the Boko Haram insurgents because of their ability to inflict ‘sorrow, tears and blood’ on a wider scale than their more notorious religious zealots?

Unlike the Boko Haram group whose ‘sphere of operations’ has been restricted to the North Eastern part of the country, the herdsmen are causing havoc not only in the middle belt but now in more places in the southern part of the country.

Like a deadly virus, news of their dastardly activities first started filtering out of Anambra State and other states in the South-East, now the South-West has started receiving its own dose of the virus. The list of ‘woes’ appears to be endless;but then is it all doom and gloom in APC’s first year in power?

Of course APC can point to the war on corruption and all the mind-boggling revelations coming out of how the PDP looted our commonwealth, especially during the past government of Goodluck Jonathan – money if properly spent would have perhaps saved us from the current travails we are going through.

A very good point, but sadly the human nature knows the difference between ‘suffering and smiling’ and right now not too many Nigerians are smiling. And so while the revelations initially captured the imagination they are also fast disappearing like a bad dream while the current situation is what is occupying minds.

And thus, the President’s speechwriters and aides will have a hectic time convincing those that voted for ‘change’ that they did not make a mistake. They will need to ensure that the message given out is not only reassuring but more importantly gives people hope that in the next few months they will begin to notice a difference in their lives for the better.

But then, one month is a long time and who knows perhaps the President will get a lucky break and the fuel queues disappear and electricity becomes more stable and the prices of goods and services go down – Nigerians will immediately forget their current predicaments and will be more than ready to listen to what PMB has to say about his administration and its change promise!