IN 1651, Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century British philosopher, wrote LEVIATHAN, a book in which he famously said that human existences within societies that lacked strong governments would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”.

Hobbes painted a grim picture of the feral “state of nature” that would prevail if people roamed around, indulging their worst instincts unchecked.

He concluded that individuals signed up to a civilising social contract because they realised that exchanging dangerous freedoms for the protection a powerful central authority can provide was the only way to avoid discord, civil war, penury and death.

Read Also: Uncollected PVCs by youths worry APC Northwest 

Honouring the social contract

Nigeria hasn’t yet degenerated into a classic Hobbesian nightmare. But we are getting there because our government is not honouring the social contract.

Life has been pretty awful for the average Nigerian for a long time. Things were bad enough during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure. They have gone from bad to worse since Jonathan handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. And we are hitting new all-time lows every day.

NOTHING is going well: Insecurity is rife in every single geopolitical zone. Prices of food, fuel and other basics are skyrocketing.  You go to the bank and they’ll tell you that you cannot withdraw your own money because they simply don’t have enough cash in the branch.

And the brain drain is in full flood as thousands of despairing citizens who can’t find decent jobs here – or simply feel unsafe and stressed on their home turf – flee to Canada, Europe, the West Indies, etc. If you have internationally marketable skills, why stay in a country where merit is rarely appreciated.

I recently chanced upon a video featuring Professor Usman Yusuf, the former National Health Insurance Scheme boss. His comments were so apt and interesting that I had the video transcribed, so I could share the contents with you:

My generation, we owe this country a debt of gratitude we can never repay, because this country has given us more than we have given back. And I look at your generation and I feel really sorry for your generation. Our parents didn’t pay a penny from primary school to university, we got out of university in our part three and we were already at level 8. We bought cars when we were in part three and when we came back you had a house, you had a car.

And now, Nigerian youths, you cannot find a job unless you’re the son of who and who, or unless you pay. In a nation that all of us benefited, this is where we are. And ladies and gentlemen, let me remind all you youths, you think you can sit in the boys’ quarters doing TiK ToK and think something will come to you, I have news for you: life does not come with a remote control. You have to stand up and change things yourselves.

Nations are built by youths, all across the world, not the aged. You have the power to change things. You cannot sit and lament or continue to be used by these failed politicians who keep recycling themselves. You must change this country, and you have what it takes. What it takes is you have the number, that number is what they need. In 2023 they will come to you and give you money to either be thugs, or to be at the polling station and after that you will never see them again. Don’t let them use you, use them instead.

This is what I say ladies and gentlemen: use your PVCs to flush bandits out of government, because there are a lot of bandits in government, those who do not care about us. Ladies and gentlemen, I am old enough to have seen 13 administrations in this country, from that of General Gowon when we were in secondary school to the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

All these 13 administrations, none of them came with this much goodwill like this government came, but unfortunately, they have squandered this goodwill! They are arrogant and disconnected from the realities of our people.

I come from Katsina, and in many villages you go to, you bring out a thousand Naira and go to the village square and nobody can give you change, because nobody has it. Before this government came, 50 kg of rice was N7,000 now it is N27, N28, N30,000, out of the reach of the common man. I get calls from my former classmates to send them N1,000, N2000.

You go home, you give a person N1,000 or N500, he will pray for you and your grandparents. Our people have been turned into beggars by this insensitive government, from the states to the Federal Government. The governors in the state have emasculated the local governments. 

If there are local governments in the villages, there will be things to do, but the state governor has taken everything into the capital…

So what next?

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