By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

Time is a continuum, an endless cyclical movement that alternates between night and day. But it is humans that delineated it into days, weeks, months, and years. So we bade good-bye to 2023, consigning it to the dump-site of history.

The year, 2023, straddled between annus horribilis and annus mirabilis in that the troubles we encountered in the year did not consume us. And God, the sovereign of our universe, spared our lives, which offered us the opportunity to continue striving to realise our goals both as individuals and as a country.

In 2023, the geographical contraption, which was christened Nigeria by Lord Lugard’s mistress, Ms Flora Shaw, did not shed her oxymoronic description: a man-child. The man-child is a fitting descriptive epithet for Nigeria in that she has not realized her potential in spite of her possession of abundant human and material resources. Since her attainment of political freedom in 1960, Nigeria is mired and bogged down in national underdevelopment.

Today, Nigeria is hobbled by economic recession, the rape of her democracy, infrastructural deficit, violent secessionist agitations, technological backwardness, dysfunctional educational system, and comatose healthcare delivery system. And the list of Nigeria's problems has kept on burgeoning. The stark fact is that our past military rulers and successive political leaders had failed to leapfrog Nigeria to the acme of technological and economical advancement.

In 2023, Nigeria had a lot of troubles. She tottered near the precipice of descending into political conflagration, which could have made 2023 an annus horribilis for Nigeria. And we all witnessed the problems that beset our country. That Nigeria survived those problems should be attributed to providential intervention.

For example, in the run-up to the 2023 general election, our politicians' electioneering deepened our ethnic and political fissures. The Igbo people of southeast Nigeria were pitted against the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria. And the age-long ethnic animosity, which has existed between the Hausa/Fulani people and the Igbo people, exacerbated during the 2023 electioneering.

Again, the implementation of the redesigning of the naira notes caused scarcity of naira notes, with its calamitous and devastating consequences for us. The change of the old naira notes, which was later stopped, increased the economic hardship of Nigerians. Nigerians survived that period of cash crunch, however.

As Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief, following the easing up of the scarcity of the old naira notes, the release of the 2023 presidential election result, which showed that Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election, increased the political tension in the country. The Obidients – the supporters of Mr. Peter Obi – registered their displeasure with the presidential election result, saying unequivocally that the presidential election was rigged by INEC officials and APC honchos in favour of Bola Tinubu.

And Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was the runner-up in that divisive presidential election, went the whole hog to compel the Chicago State University to make public the certificates it issued to Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The release of Bola Tinubu’s certificates by the Chicago State University to Atiku Abubakar, which was to be tendered as evidence at the Supreme Court, failed to tilt the presidential election litigation in favour of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Now, Bola Tinubu has led Nigeria for months, executing policies aimed at remaking Nigeria and ameliorating our economic hardship. Bola Tinubu, who governed Lagos state for eight years and fought for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria, is well-acquainted with Nigeria's multifarious and hydra-headed problems. So he is in a pole position to tackle our country's many different problems.

But has his whimsical withdrawal of oil subsidy shored up our economy? The answer to this question is a categorical no. Millions of unemployed university graduates still pound the pavement on a daily basis in search of the non-existent white and blue collar jobs. And millions of Nigerians, who live below the breadline, scavenge in refuse dumps for leftovers.

And our security challenges have not abated. So it is imperative for him to rejig our security architecture and think out new ways for tackling the prevailing monster of insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria. Recently, we’re treated to a macabre dance of death in Jos, Plateau state, which highlighted the recrudescence of violent killings in Plateau state. And in the southeast, secessionist agitators still carry out homicidal deeds to strike fear into our minds.

But now, the year, 2023, with all its troubles has been relegated to the waste-bin of history. And the year, 2024, which had been chafing at the threshold of our cosmos has poked its head out for a birth. The good thing about 2024 is that it will start on a clean slate, without the baggage and negative influence of 2023.

So it behooves President Tinubu to do the right thing in order that history will be kind to him. His meddling in some states' political fights, which can be settled through constitutional means, portrays him as an idling meddlesome interloper, who has run out of ideas on how to lead Nigeria. Instead, he should rack his brains to think out solutions for our diverse national problems.

For example, our depressed economy should be diversified away from crude-oil so as to create job opportunities for millions of unemployed Nigerians. He should address urgently and holistically, too, our problems of epileptic electricity supply and infrastructural rot, which hinder the rapid industrialization of Nigeria.

And he should address the monster of insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria, revamp our educational system, and boost our moribund health sector.

President Tinubu should know that achieving national unity in Nigeria is a sin qua non for the rapid development of Nigeria. A country that is embroiled in political turmoil cannot achieve great economic and technological feats. The ball is now in his court; so, he should make hay while the sun shines.

•Okoye, a poet, whose poems have been published in national literary anthologies, writes from Obosi, Anambra State.

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