The Unfinished Wahalas
Just as we were putting finishing touches to the launch of Citizen Comfort came another disturbing news. Nigeria economy has slipped yet again to recession, the second in 4 years. This is technically so after the Gross Domestic Product shrank consecutively for two quarters.
The crises keep coming in droves. High level of unemployment, very poor performances of the manufacturing sector and the attendant job losses. Outrageous increases in prices of general goods and services, including increase in the prices of fuel and electricity. Two essential products required to drive the recovery of the economy.
Nigerians in the major urban centers, particularly Lagos , have to contend with traffic logjam on a daily basis. Traffic is not only affecting economic output, its also straining the health of drivers and the commuters.
As if the economic problems were not enough, a novel pandemic corona virus broke out and spread globally like a wildfire and causing more problem for the Nigeria’s almost comatose health facilities.
The corollary to these economic problems is an increase in the level of violence within the polity. Abductions and kidnapping become more vicious than robbery. Area Boys and hoodlums’ activities become more daring than ever. Fraudsters activities equally become more pronounced.
Herders and farmers collision; Boko Haram terrorism; cessation threats and cultists activities increased within the polity.
To clampdown illegalities, governments came up with so many ideas to rid the system of illegal activities. Government fortified Police departments, created and empowered special squads. .
One of such squads was Special Anti-Robbery Squad. The youth became special targets for the SARS. As a youth, if you carry expensive phone on the road, you end up with SARS problems. If you drive expensive car, you are courting SARS Wahala. Even if you chose to ride in hired cars popularly called Uber and you temporarily became car owner by sitting at the owner’s corner, you may end up in SARS net with grave regrets. Its even worse when you have a laptop PC with you, you may become a guest in SARS cell. The youth became shell shocked. And they reacted with Operation End SARS .
Government reacted by changing the name from SARS to SWAT (Special Weapon And Tactics) as if that will address the fundamental problems of youth brutalization. Of course, the youth refused to bulge and the protest went full blown nationwide. The rest, they say, is history.
History was indeed made when government security forces opened live, blank, live and blank bullets on the defenseless peaceful youth protesters on the Lekki Toll gate.
Governments in many states of the federation announced a 24-hour curfew to force the protesters off the road. Not minding the fact that the people and the economy have yet to recover from the pandemic lockdown. To enforce the curfew in Lagos state, the epicenter of the #End SARS protest, government security agencies shot bullets into the armless youths.
Nigeria has a large youth population. But, unfortunately, very idle due to unemployment and underemployment. Many youths of marriageable age remain single because of the economic reality. Graduates remain jobless; The undergraduates and post graduate youth are out of classrooms because of ASSU strike and the pandemic. Parents of these idle youths who are already stressed up economical got their stresses doubled by their children underperformances. And now! The economy has slipped into recession again.
All these problems on Nigerian citizens heads!
Not a few Nigerians have resulted to alcoholism and drugs as escape routes to the problem; Two wrong coping strategies that compounded the problems. Accidents arising from negligence and carelessness have caused too many car crashes, gas explosions, pipeline explosions and other tragedies. More Nigerians are becoming vulnerable to stress induced ailments and mental problems.
The stress, the shocks and traumas in the Nigeria system have become too complex for an average man to handle or manage. Nigerians need to be taught coping strategies to maintain stable health in this unstable system. Strategies that can serve as buffers and shocks absorbers to these mirages of problems. This is important in order to prevent more Nigerians going bunker and in order to minimize stress induced health challenges and prevent untimely deaths.
In order to help Nigerians maintain sanity and apply the right strategies to be able to cope at this most challenging time, we sought help from a clinical psychologist, Dr Aroyewun of the University of Lagos, whose article “Coping tips for hassles of bustling in Nigeria”, a must read to help you survive in the midst of these wahala.
The Beginning of the Problems
The last two decades in Nigeria witnessed a lot of interesting events and several dramatic twists as democratic governance was again ushered in to Nigeria in 1999. It’s the fourth time since her independence in 1960. A new experience and history in the making for the people, particularly the younger generations, who eagerly look forward to dividends of democracy. Dividends such as accountability by government to its people, right to life, freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right of people to choose their leaders.
But what was witnessed in Nigeria was a form of government where vote does not count. The leaders choose and impose themselves on the people through the instrumentality of force. They use thugs who kill, maim, destroy and cause unimaginable chaos in the society. As a result there was no accountability.
In the same vein, when leaders take over the mantle of leadership, one of the first set of assignment they perform is to structure the governance systems and its architecture in such a way that it will only serve their personal interest and that of their cronies. This, invariably, put them at overall advantage over all citizens and further widens the gap and cut citizens completely away from the leadership.
The systematic and persistent government failure facilitates worsening condition of life and living for the citizens. A situation where the leaders are seen as messiah is then created. .
Additionally, the penchant to accumulate and acquire wealth and foreign asset by the leaders was another twist to the new democratic experiment. Some governors are much more richer than the states they govern. These were all at variance with the expectation of the younger generation witnessing democracy as adults for the first time. It can also be said to be the remote causes of Boko haram insurgency and agitation in the Niger delta.
The Recession
Nigeria is a unique country by all standards. Unique people, diverse culture and the ability of Nigeria and Nigerians to adapt to any situation. With uncontrolled looting of her common wealth, came a gradual decay in government ability to provide essential services and basic infrastructural facility which gave birth to hostile business environment and anti-citizens policies fueled by corruption, nepotism and outright stealing of her national resources.
Over the years, these government activities had written several letters to recession but recession seemed to have travelled to another country, however, in 2015 recession accepted our letter of invitation and decided to change its address and dwelling place to Nigeria, bringing along with it the twin economic problems of Inflation and Unemployment.
Accordingly, the two macroeconomic problem of recession, unemployment i.e. People losing their jobs due to reduction in sales, production and supply, which make many organizations to cut-down the number of work force; and inflation i.e. a reduction in the purchasing power of the employees’ income. These have collective and individual implications on the general population and overall living standard of people.
In many household, the bread winner will lose their earning capacity because of many layoffs from jobs and for those who are lucky not to have been laid-off their take home will no longer take them home thereby causing disruptions in the family as many families dynamics change in the negative direction leading to spousal conflicts, physical or emotional abuse within the family and eventually resulting in separation or outright divorce; for some other, they will neither separate nor divorce but there will be a gradual buildup of conflict and violence within the family which may eventually result in mortality or mental health challenges.
Cultism, armed robbery, early sexual exposure and prostitution, advance fee fraud, substance use to mention but a few are all traceable to political leaderships’ mismanagement of the economy. Family’s dynamics negative turn compromises the parental care and control of the children, thereby making the children vulnerable to all kinds anti-social behaviors.
For the parents, the emotional problems arising from the recurrent conflict, violence, separation or divorce, will hinder their ability to think straight and being objective with their life which invariably affects their personality, interpersonal relationship and psychological state. These will further deplete their earning capacity or ability thereby increasing the circle of unemployment, hunger and violence. All these have the tendency to incite the people against the government for not protecting and supporting them in their time of need.
Covid 19
On 22nd March 2020, the Nigerian government announced lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Federal Capital territory due to COVID-19. The lockdown, which was later extended to other states, brought the manufacturing sector to a halt. Many companies and industries laid-off workers and most daily earning businesses lost their capital. .
The people didn’t get the government promised palliative. They were hidden in private ware houses. The national economy nosedived further, resulting into a double jeopardy for the government and the people of Nigeria. More and more people were not able to meet up with their family responsibilities, which further increased the level of anger, bottled up emotion and increased risk for violence.
This situation in Nigeria can be better explained by this algorithm:-A hungry man is an angry man,(hunger is a basic necessity of life, Anger is a mental health challenge), an angry man is an unreasonable man,(Anger and unreasonableness are mental health challenges), an unreasonable man is a violent man,(Unreasonableness and being violent are mental health challenges), A violent man is a mad man,(Being violent and mad are mental health challenges). .
40percent of Nigeria population is living below the poverty line. A society where hunger, unemployment and inability to fulfill the basic necessaries of life feature constantly in their daily life; plethora of social vices will become a permanent feature of such society. This is the lot of Nigeria, hence the tag “a country where anything can happen”. e.g. Boko Haram, Banditry, Kidnapping, Fulani herdsman killing of innocent farmers, southern Kaduna crises, extra- judicial killing, police brutality, substance use problems and psychological challenges, tendency for government to renege on agreement willingly entered in to, frequent strike actions by trade unions because of government insincerity, falsification of age to avoid retirement, campaign for censorship of social media and the entire media space, and shooting of unarmed protesters holding the national flag and singing the national anthem to mention but few. With all these problems, something has to give.
Aroyewun B. A (PhD) Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Lagos
Publisher’s Note: Keep a date with us next week for the second part of Dr Aroyewun’s article; The Coping Tips