Dateline was Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The Senate, led by its President, Godswill Akpabio while deliberating on a resolution urging the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and 11 Electricity Distribution Companies, urged them to halt their proposed tariff increase in order to “allow poor Nigerians breathe”.

That was it! The trending video of that plenary session has ever since sparked off public outrage, setting the social media literally ablaze. Should the senators have been asked to vote for the poor to breathe? According to Prof. Pat Utomi, that was totally unacceptable. Said he: “I am traumatised by this mocking of the poor by our Senate. In a decent society we should have had resignations by now. To mock the poor is to mock God”. But he was not alone. Many of the responses were filled with the venting of unprintable expletives, and angst of concerned Nigerians. By this it is evident that the political elite are largely unaware of the anger in the land, over anti-people policies that have led millions more into the poverty bracket.

One of the comments that should serve as a note of warning to our policy makers came from foodnetworking2. It states that: “As you lay your bed, you lie on it! They know all we do is ‘cruise’ about everything. We don’t challenge them for hardship. We just cruise some more. Why won’t they mock us?” That is an ominous signal from the greatly aggrieved members of the society.

Those aware are asking sincere questions about a dysfunctional political structure obviously skewed in favour of the overtly rich Nigerians, against the poor. They are asking the question of why many of the politicians keep recycling themselves in the corridors of self-serving power, as if it is their birthright? They also wonder when Nigerians would have leaders that wear their tattered shoes, and therefore, feel their pains.

The warning being given is for the political leaders to understand that the people’s patience has an elasticity limit, which should not be taken for granted. Much as we are averse to any anti-democratic leadership move, the angst of the people of the neighbouring Niger Republic, who began to throw stones at their former political leaders soon after the coup d’état that ousted President Mohammed Bazoum should be a hard lesson to ours to glean from. Perhaps, this is the right time for them to understand the gravity of the persisting poverty-related challenges Nigeria is currently experiencing. For instance, the results of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) are an indication of it. According to the Survey, 63 per cent of people living in Nigeria are multi-dimensionally poor.

That equates to 133 million people. 68 per cent or 86 million of these people live in the North. And 35 per cent or 47 million are in the South geopolitical zone. These frightening figures came out of the collaboration amongst the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the National Social SafetyNet Coordinating Office (NASSCO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Also making an input is the Oxford Poverty Development Initiative (OPDI).

Similarly, Nigeria ranks 157 out of the 189 communities on the Human Development Index (HDI). That is according to the UNDP .And the Oxfam’s Commitment on Reducing Inequality (OCRI) had this to say about Nigeria’s parlous poverty situation: “Nigeria remains the country where the government is the least committed to reducing inequality in West Africa.”

Though this report was published in 2019 the socioeconomic situation is not looking brighter some four years after. With one in four Nigerians lacking access to safe water, and over 130 million lacking adequate sanitation, as well having about 20 million out-of-school children there is serious cause of concern.

That is more so, as over 112 million hapless citizens are deep in extreme poverty; living on less than $1.90 per day. In the light of the above-stated precarious poverty challenge, our current set of lawmakers should consider this as the best time to make the needed sacrifices for the economy to stabilize. They should learn from the likes of great philanthropists such as Warren Buffett as well as Bill and Melinda Gates who as of 2022 have donated $48 billion and $70 billion respectively to combat the challenges of poverty and diseases.

It would therefore be heartwarming for them to make laws to place themselves and all elected political leaders/appointees on a percentage of their current humongous pay packages that are out of sync with the harsh economic realities on ground. Doing so will truly make the poor Nigerians breathe.

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