By OBIOTIKA WILFRED TOOCHUKWU

As the festive season draws near, many Nigerians are feeling the pinch of financial stress, anxiety and uncertainty. It doesn't just end at stress, almost every Nigerian is distressed. There's a more and greater distress in the country. Common citizens are in dire distress without any help in view. The middle class citizens are equally raddled and confused while the government has virtually remained complacent. ATMs are empty as banks ration withdrawals. Such impunity and megalomaniac started with the onset of APC governments in 2016. During this time, so much evil, neglect and suffering were forced down the throat of Nigerians. The avalanche of woes begrudging struggling citizens present them with a massive ocean of pain. We have understood wounds and romanced with inner suffering. A lot of people are crushed under the heavy weight of economic adversity.

During the reign of Oliver Cromwell, the British government began to run low on silver for coins. Lord Cromwell sent his men to the local cathedral to see if they could find any precious metal there. After investigating, they reported: ?The only silver we could find is the statues of the saints standing in the corners.? To which the radical, outspoken soldier and statesman of England replied: ?Good! We?ll melt down the saints and put them into circulation!? The above statement could be adjudged an eccentric theology but the political class in Nigeria stand a chance to be melted for the survival of the masses. The president of Nigeria has come out to say that he's incapacitated to rescue Nigerians from their imposed yoke and financial burden. Every day, prices keep going up. In August and October, Nigerians took to the streets to protest against high cost of living but our political leaders rose up to the occasion killing many and sending others to jail. According to Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, the weekly price increase for goods and services has no end in sight. Inflation rate in Nigeria is almost 40%.

Christmas has been messy in just a decade ago. Even the best families encounter stress and complications. Veterans often refer to comrades-in-arms as their "band of brothers". The relationship they share are deeper than those who have not served could ever understand. Their closeness was forged in the horrors of war. Now, Nigerians, home and in diaspora depend on one another leaving no one behind. It's a coping mechanism and response from the severe distress in the country. The usual excitement and joy that come with Christmas are being overshadowed by concerns over soaring prices of foodstuffs, transportation and other essential services. Our deepest hurts often involve our deepest loves. There's no available joy to tap into. Adults could no longer enjoy life like children.

The physical and mental fortitude to endure a season of gratified greed, whose monstrous head dared anyone to gainsay nor confront the status quo is the primordial agent in great distress ravaging the populace. We have leaders who are champions of our baser nature and in them vicariously indulged. We have such a poise in leadership that brought down the economy with such a satisfying and disgraceful crash. The motives for such a wish are presumably as confused, inaccessible and helpless in a cowboy as any other man. Life in Nigeria is complicated and ambivalent. Our political leaders have the legal rights to brutally bludgeon the masses to death with suffering. We may call it the "small stuff". But that's what the 1999 Constitution guaranteed them to do.

Convenience and comfort have taken a flight and a plunge inside the deep blue sea. Discipline is really a good thing when we respond to it correctly especially when it applies to learners. The old, elderly, sick, impregnated, challenged and disabled Nigerians have had a cause to curse. It could be part of the "oil curse" which Nigeria cannot break free from. Norman Vincent Pearle said: "Years wrinkle the skin, but a lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul". Everyone gets angry easily nowadays. The resentment and bitterness decorate their lives with calamity.

In conclusion, when we face our darkest day, we can take solace that God records populations of cities and countries based on men of prayer. The good man never believes that he has fallen down. He is either up or getting up. When we face various hardships, it doesn't signify the end of the world. Anything in this world that is worth possessing requires a struggle to lay hold of it. Behind every prosperous business, someone strived to succeed. Every great country has overcome obstacles of all sorts. Every loving couple has contended for their marriage.

?Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu writes from St. Patrick's Catholic Church Awgbu, Anambra State.

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