Nigerians probably don’t need any soothsayers to tell them that this might be a difficult year, if they are to judge by their experience of 2023. The last two years have been among the toughest in the annals of this country. Everything that could go wrong with the country and Nigerians as a people appear to have gone wrong.

Nigerians suffered in a manner they’ve not had to at any other time in the national memory except, perhaps, during the civil war. The convergence of the worst forms of economic meltdown, political instability and social insecurity in one national space and within a short period all but ruined what was left of our national fabric. 

The central government in those years appeared to have surrendered the reins of governance to whoever controlled the different ministries and sectors of our national life that they were in charge of. There were many of them and since, as we have now come to know, they were all left to their own devices and nobody demanded explanation from them, every one did what they thought was right. Much like the biblical Jews did before the constitution of their monarchy. The chaos that was our national life during this period may not be rivalled or equalled for a long time to come. And we pray that we never get to such a bend again.

Our situation was, however, enough to make the most ignorant of us to assume the status of a prophet and pretend to know the future (if they are disposed to or made of a religious cast of mind), or an academic expert with knowledge of our national trend (if they harbour scholarly pretensions). We have inflicted so much damage on ourselves and our national life, signposted by the economy that has been rendered comatose by runaway inflation now put at an official but alarmingly disastrous 28% even by the President, and a derelict exchange rate that has reduced the value of the national currency to its worst ever- these. These are more than enough indices to place anyone at that point they could with flippant ease make projections about the future of this country. 

Their dire predictions need not be our destiny. Nor must we set so much store by them to such an extent that they become self-fulfilling prophecies. The country can and should chart a different path. But the predictions that 2024 will be tougher than 2023 have been coming in thick and fast even before 2023 ended. Being aware of what our experiences were like last year, we should worry about what tragedy it would all be, if we are being told to expect worse in the new year. And the end-time predictions are not about to stop. Neither from the pulpits where political charlatans masquerading as oracular spokespersons of God hold court nor among politicians out on the hustings but pretending to be offering expert insights on the economy. 

Every two- penny “analyst” is suddenly acting as if they know more about what ails the country and have the panacea for healing her- every one except those currently entrusted with the responsibility of steering us away from the projected storm ahead of us. A lot of these latter-day fortune-tellers are partisans or elements of the political system who lost elections and are now clustered together under a nebulous umbrella that identifies them as opposition parties. 

Yes, we all know that there are no opposition parties properly-speaking anywhere in Nigeria today. We may have politicians who stood as presidential contestants in the last election who speak from time to time, mostly in response to perceived or real errors in the actions of those in government, but they do not lead an organised political party that responds to the governing party’s policies and action in any coherent, organised or programmatic manner. They still operate largely as presidential candidates and their interventions and comments are carefully geared towards courting potential voters or votes in the next local or national elections. 

They are not prepared to do the real work of opposition parties whose actions and policies are ideologically-driven from the grass roots. The present players are Abuja or Lagos politicians with little or no relationship with or control over the policies and action of their parties. Nor do they actually speak and act for other politicians who claim to be members of their parties but whose sole connection to the party is that they found it a convenient platform or as freighting vehicles for their political ambitions. 

The predictions of doom about 2024 are mere wishful thinking of those who never want to see good things happen in Nigeria at these times just so that they can justify their claim that they or the politicians they stand proxy for symbolise better options. The truth, however, is that none of the leading candidates in the last presidential election is new to us and it is on record that none of them offered a path out of our present state of economic stagnation or insecurity that is different from not to say better than what the present president is implementing with all its shortcomings. Their critical utterances are nothing more than sales pitches, the likes of which those in power  today shouted from roof tops when they were yet in opposition. 

Then, they told us the entire idea of oil subsidy was a scam but they were no sooner in government than they started singing a different tune. Today, we as Nigerians all know better- talk is cheap and it was indeed cheap in those years today’s ruling politicians were in opposition. Which is to say that we must take the predictions of doom about what 2024 portends for Nigerians by politicians, either from the pulpit or the hustings, as at best necessary warnings for those in the saddle of power today to step up purposefully to the demands of leadership or at worst sour grape projections of bad losers and their supporters who have turned themselves into pliant dirge masters of our national failures. 

Such individuals and groups of persons have no monopoly on the right to interpret the future of the Nigerian state. They can and should be countered with narratives of national healing, of a future that holds a lot of promises for the growth of our economy, a secure polity where life and property are safe and the value of our currency will rise. All of these must, of course, be preceded by the kind of pain we’ve already passed through and for which we demand similar sacrifice on the part of those in power. The other alternative is to surrender to the narratives of doom. We reject these. Let’s all have a prosperous 2024!