Bassey Bassey|10 May 2017
In the study of earth sciences, Magma is said to be a mixture of molten or semi-molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the earth. Magma is a complex high-temperature fluid substance with temperature range 700C to 1300C, when magma solidifies underneath the earth surface It forms igneous rocks which are usually very hard, when it finds its way to the surface of the earth it is called lava and may flow quietly creating new features and scenery as seen in the beautiful islands of Hawaii, at other instances it can be very eruptive and destructive giving birth to what is known as volcanoes.
Volcanoes by themselves may be disruptive but at the same time constructive, volcanism has contributed to soil enrichment, global cooling, gem minerals and stones, land formations (Ryukyu islands between Taiwan and Japan, Aleutian Island off the coast of Alaska etc).
The above analogy ushers us into the narrative of observations I have noted over the year which have occupied public discourse and space. Since the turn of 2017 and even the preceding year Nigeria has been plunged into recession with great efforts made that we do not slide into depression.
Economic policies of the government apparently seem inconsistent to measure up to the realities and demands of the moment, exodus of staff being retrenched especially in the private sector clings to the fundamental relapse of the system. What is more worrisome to me is that the current government is superficial, cosmetic and over-confident in the discharge of their duties which are usually over-hyped with little or no quality, value or impact on the masses.
The clamour by many to give the present administration time to fix itself has further given credence to critics that the government of the day was more particular in clinching power than governance.
Since the turn of the year Nigeria has been transformed into a theatre of plays, drama and screenplay. We are daily distracted by irrelevant issues that inhibit our progress as a nation. In 2017 the president took over two months of extended leave which started off as a holiday break period for medical tourism, the public was fed with all manners of spurious lies, allegations and counter allegations with the senior media officer to the President celebrating that the president spoke to him over the phone (infamous the President called me), as if that wasn’t enough EFCC an apparatus of the Presidency has not relented in its weekly if not daily comedy skits of media trials which up till date most cases have either been lost, withdrawn or awaiting ruling. Is it not alarming and disgraceful that a country in recession is yet to pass the 2017 budget with the first quarter almost ending.
The budget as we know is a powerful fiscal tool with which wealth distribution is attained (even though we are yet to see report of the performance of the 2016 budget). In an attempt to douse and suppress the voices of the masses, the federal government hurriedly announced the school feeding project in a few pilot states, almost immediately pictures of students eating food on bare floor surfaced on online media, raising more reservations about the project and our misplacement of priorities, I won’t bore you with the secrecy that shrouded the funding, and implementation of the program.
Let us not forget that the aim is to always give us something to distract us with, so yet again, the N5000 distribution to indigent members of the country took over newspaper banner headlines, till date I do not know how much has been spent (do you?) or if it is still running, the N-Power initiative is still battling to survive in some states. I am very sure we have not forgotten the “grasscutter” soap opera, which we are still watching. Let’s stop here because the list is endless.
To be continued…
Bassey Bassey
Writes from Calabar
