By Prisca Sam-Duru

We are getting close! We will continue to push until we get it right in this country.

Of course, you heard that President Bola Tinubu slashed delegation for federal government foreign trips and, his convoy to 60%. That’s good news. But nna mhen, that presidential convoy to the Lagos Central Mosque during the recent holiday was ridiculously intimidating.

That wasn’t the first time since he assumed office actually. The worst is that rather than hailing their president as is usual whenever heads of states visit a particular area, the people were screaming ‘ebi npa wa oooo’, meaning we are hungry. To get the full import of that cry, you do a word-to-word translation; it means, hunger is killing us.

Yes, hunger is killing Nigerians yet, some people in government are embattled now for allegedly stealing from the same people dying of hunger. This is more like robbing the dead. It’s a shame honestly. 

Sadly, the whole world heard that cry coming from people whose country is richer than most developed countries.  Such a display of flamboyance while the people suffer in penury didn’t make sense. Perhaps that was what informed the decision of the president to slash his convoy by 60%. 

Nigerians are smart and funny. Do you know what they are saying right now?- That the 60% slash is to divert the attention of Nigerians from Betta Edu and Tunji Ojo’s corruption cases. Hahahahaha!

Going forward, Netizens have been comparing the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Christmas trip from London to his home in Yorkshire with that of our president’s convoy. They’ve been circulating a video showing Sunak distributing gifts and putting smiles on the faces of people as he travelled. That’s good to be emulated. This shows how developed countries are managing their resources while governments of so-called third-world countries are wasteful. This move by President Tinubu is, therefore, a welcome development; he should please, cut down more.

Next are the National Assembly members. They should cut down their pay and bogus allowances. We were told recently that they voted 10 billion naira for car parks and recreation. We understand. Those 160 million naira jeeps will need befitting space; it’s called, big man, big trouble. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of poor Nigerians.