By Fr Pat Amobi Chukwuma
Few days ago, I went to a certain hospital for medical scanning. It was on a Monday morning. Hardly did I know that it was a scanning day set apart for all pregnant women who registered for their anti-natal programme in the maternity hospital. I wore a brown polo shirt and brown trousers.
Despite appearing in mufti attire, some workers in the hospital knew my identity as a priest. As a patient, I had no option than to sit among the pregnant women of all sizes. A patient must exercise the virtue of patience. Therefore, I patiently waited for my turn.
Suddenly, a familiar nurse came in and shouted, “Father, good morning! What are you doing here?” All eyes were directed on me as if they were watching an interesting film. I smiled and replied, “Hospital is neither a church nor a football field. I am here for medical scanning as recommended by my doctor.” Everybody laughed. Then I shook hands with the nurse before she hurried to her duty post.
Wonders shall never cease! Little children are attentive and sensitive to any situation. When the nurse left, one little boy of about four years surprisingly approached me and clasping me tightly, he asked, “Father, why are you sitting here beside my pregnant mummy? Are you pregnant?” I couldn’t control my laughter until tears started dripping from my two eyes.
As if a whistle was blown, all the pregnant women joined in the laughter session. I even heard the shrill voices of their advanced babies laughing inside their wombs. When the atmosphere became calm, I asked the little boy: “Is your daddy here?” He answered, “My daddy is not here because he is not pregnant. He is at home.” I explained to the inquisitive boy that I was a man like his daddy, and a man did not get pregnant.
Innocently, he asked me, “Then, why are you here?” I told him that I came to see a doctor because of my medical problem.” The boy asked, “Does a Reverend Father fall sick?” I answered, “Yes, because I am a human being and not a ghost.” After this, the little boy went to her pregnant mummy crying, “Mummy, I am hungry!” Looking towards him and his mother, I shook my head sideways and said, “My little boy, you are not alone.
Hunger is a national problem these days.” On hearing this comment, the pregnant women sighed and murmured. Perhaps they were already worried of how to feed their would-be born babies in this period of acute hunger in the country.
It is not an overstatement or contradiction to say that millions of Nigerians, both males and females, are pregnant as a result of hunger. This hunger has given birth to anger. It is a fact that a hungry man is an angry man. Millions of Nigerians are hungry and angry. Consequently, many are sick and some have died. You cannot beat a child and command him not to cry. Crying is an outburst of pain.
Hence, the Nigerian hungry masses want to stage hungry or hardship protest nationwide. The Federal Government on her own part is displeased with the planned protest. The Constitution of Nigeria guaranties peaceful protest. I hope government sponsored touts will not infiltrate the peaceful protesters to cause violence. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu pleads with the hungry and angry Nigerians to give him more time.
He did not state the duration of the ‘more time.’ Does he want to perform miracle overnight? He made a grave mistake by the hasty removal of fuel subsidy just on the day of his inauguration as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. With a wave of hand he shouted, “Subsidy is gone!” Instantly, the cost of the motor spirit called fuel tripled from two hundred and twenty Naira per liter to six hundred and sixty naira per liter.
Today, it is almost nine hundred Naira per liter. The price of fuel controls all essential commodities in the country. After all, every marketer goes to market by means of transportation which involves fuelling. The high cost of transportation must reflect in the buying and selling of the commodities in question.
Food items became so exorbitant and beyond the reach of the common people. Most families can no longer afford three square meals a day. How can they wait indefinitely for the president to alleviate the acute hunger in the land? Do dead bodies eat? Medicine given after death is useless.
The ruling mantra of President Tinubu is Renewed Hope. Where is the hope? If he shuns protest, then he must first of all restore the fuel subsidy and control its usage. He promised to rebuild the moribund refineries by December 2023. This is a failed promise. He increased electricity tariff when we are still suffering from acute power failure nation-wide.
The first thing would have been the provision of constant electricity supply before he thinks of tariff increment. Many companies that depend on electricity have relocated to countries where constant power supply is assured.
The indigent workers that make use of electricity are counting their daily loses. Most of them cannot afford power generators. Hence they are groaning hopelessly. Their daily bread is in jeopardy. Their children have dropped out of school due to poverty.
Insecurity is another cause of hunger. Most farmers can no longer go to farms due to the threat to their lives from the hand of terrorists, bandits, armed herders and kidnappers. Some farmers have lost their lives and farmlands. Some were raped. One of the renewed hope agenda would have been the convocation of National Security Summit to find ways to curb the incessant insecurity threats.
When security is put in place, then farmers can freely return to their farms and cultivate crops which will alleviate the acute hunger in the country. It is a pity that the Giant of Africa is dying of hunger, whereas minor countries in Africa are feeding well. Benue State used to be the food basket of the Nation.
Today, the basket has been destroyed by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and armed herdsmen. The foodstuffs in the basket were carted away by the marauding forces. Thousands of food basket farmers have been murdered in cold blood. The crops left behind were eaten up by the uncontrolled cattle.
The cost of governance breeds hunger among the poor masses. The slogan “Monkey dey work and baboon dey chop” is a perennial problem. Those in the Presidency and the National Assembly do not feel the purses of the citizens. They are living in comfort with tax payers’ money. When hunger is mesmerizing the masses, the President is talking of buying new presidential jet worth billions of money.
The lawmakers renovate their chambers and residential quarters from time to time. They spend billions in changing wardrobes. They drive exorbitant vehicles whose prices can feed the nation for some years. The allowances they take in are enormous. When they are sick, they fly to overseas.
Over there they are transfused with baby blood that makes them look younger and healthier. Over here the poor masses die in unequipped hospitals. There is no element of hunger in Aso Rock and State Government Houses because money flows in and out of them. Also they enjoy maximum protection within and without. The poor masses dying of hunger are attacked and killed by the forces of darkness parading all over the country.
Where is the Renewed Hope? What is on ground is Renewed Hardship. When will the expected Messiah come to feed the hungry masses and curb starvation? If the angry masses are well fed and protected, then, there is no need for any protest. As I am writing, my empty belly is protesting. Please allow me to go and look for something to eat, in order to be alive to write again. See you soonest, if hunger and hardship did not send me to the world beyond.
