Peer Review: “The Dependence Of An Independent Nation”

Peer Review: ‘The Dependence of an Independent Nation’

By Hussaini Ibrahim Sulaiman

The scholarly article titled ‘The Dependence of an Independent Nation’ authored by a renowned American–based Nigerian Artwork guru, Prof. Edward Wole Oloukun, simply tagged as Edward Oloukun in the States, heralded how the prevailing devastating hunger shrouding Nigeria’s widespread, vigorously convulsing the citizens, is sheer posing grave concern and fueling the fragile living standard of the masses of the country. The reputable English Professor chided the nonchalant attitude of the relevant authorities who botched to key into providing perpetual solutions to the predicaments.

The perturbing situation has been attributed to multiple factors including the effects of fuel subsidy removal, soaring food prices and the economic downturn. Pundits and other interested citizens have been jealously putting pressure to augment the Federal Government’s efforts to apply holistic mechanisms and general approaches to ensuring it brings all means of ease to the people as the President pledged,

1) Rule on behalf, not over the people. 2) Consult and dialogue, not dictate 3) Treat opponents as colleagues, not as (foes).

On the other hand, under the tortuous processes, the processor has applauded the Federal Government for what he sees as a development for pursuing a sincere and genuine program to restore years of cankerworms and lootings.

Hitherto, the sticking point was that he omitted to mention any of the FG’s policies or programs that deserve applause, if so, why the citizens are screaming all over the country? It was said that since the FG’s decision to remove the fuel subsidy has yielded a positive result as it is saving trillions of naira monthly there’s nothing has been done in the wake of ameliorating the hardship.

It was also discovered that since the inception of this regime on 29 May 2023, the president has borrowed over 11 trillion naira and no one can tell you what exactly the pennies are for. Perhaps, the results so far are difficult to judge. For me, the biggest problem has been a lack of clarity of purpose on the part of the government itself.

The 14th Emir of Kano and one-time former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sunusi Lamido Sunusi, hinged on the current hardship identified dent Tinub’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, over the way he handled the economy.

The emir addeaddedicult situation Nigerians are facing is just the beginning (if the right decision is not put in place) because Nigeria is not exceptional; such situations happened in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Venezuela.

“The previous administration turned adamant about our appeal for corrective measures (on the economic policy). I have said in the presence of the now sitting president in Kaduna state, any politician who tells you that things will be easy, don’t vote for him because he is lying. People merely dismissed my advisory as a political statement.

“If I am to be fair and just to President Bola Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current hardship; for eight years, we were living a fake lifestyle with huge debt from foreign and domestic debts. The Central Bank of Nigeria owes over N30 trillion, which resulted in debt service surpassing 100 per cent.

“I can’t join other Nigerians criticizing Tinubu on the current economic hardship, and I am not saying he is a saint free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak if I see any wrong economic policy of the Tinubu administration in the future.

“It’s injustice for anyone to blame the Tinubu administration for the current economic hardship because there is no other alternative than the removal of the fuel subsidy. After all, Nigeria cannot even afford to pay the subsidy. In the last eight years, the Central Bank continued to print more money, and the Naira continued to depreciate.

There is too much naira in circulation because the CBN is printing the currency without restraint.

“The economy was poorly managed, and they are not willing to take advice; in the last eight years, apart from sycophancy, nothing has been done; those sycophants are those buying the dollar at the rate of N400 and selling it at the rate of N600 to N700.”

Prof. Oloukun emphasized the need for fairness and equality for the ‘Dependency of an Independent Nation.’

Indeed, there’s a need to broaden the reign of selflessness in Nigeria for the country the survive evils. Nigeria is the largest multilingual country in the whole fricAfricacacath also has ahas has vast of different ethnic groups.

Overall, Oloukun’s work is important to the current miserable condition of Nigerians, his points were imperative, making the piece very accurate. In such circumstances, aspects play a vital. To balance this, he should mention the negative side of the citizens and some possible ways of redressing them.