By Jide Ajani

The connection is sobering. The reality is painful. Tripple tragedies of the same nature. All within 96 hours of each other. That is how 2024 is coming to an end for some Nigerian families. But the tragedy is for Nigeria. In Ibadan, on Wednesday December 18, 35 people died because of a stampede – most of them were children.

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Barely 90 hours later, another set of stampedes, one in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, led to the death of 10 people, while the other, in Anambra State, witnessed over 17 deaths – and still counting as at the time of going to press.  The tragedies occurred while people were hustling for food.  

According to a factcheck report by Premium Times, Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s statement on ‘eating free food when you see it’ was properly situated.  The online publication stated that, “the Senate president made the comment on 14 June 2023, a day after the inauguration of the 10th Assembly. A review of the video of the plenary on 14 June 2023 showed that Mr Akpabio said, ‘Times are difficult, and wherever you see free food, please endeavour to avail yourself’. He was referring to a dinner organised in his honour and the deputy president of the Senate after their inauguration.  Mr Akpabio’s comment was towards his colleagues, not Nigerians. The video shows the senators laughing at Mr Akpabio’s comment.” 

But have some Nigerians taken heed to Akpabio’s statement, hence the rush for freebies and the resultant tragedies?

Is there a linkage between the manifest hardship in the land, the desperation of Nigerians to get just about any palliative and the tragic, consequential outcome? Well, the review of activities across sectors and spheres of endeavour in the last 12 months may very well provide a clue.  Virtually all sectors of the Nigerian life suffered varying degrees of discounts.  Whereas, there were flashes of hope here and there, such turned out to be effervescent in outlook.

In the following days leading up to the end of this year, as well as early next year, Vanguard will be presenting a review of and a look into activities, in 2024 and 2025, respectively, in the following areas: Banking and Finance, Oil and Gas, Power Supply (or lack of it), Blue Economy, Fiscal Policy (Budget 2024), Education, Health, Hi-Tech, Security, Politics, Law and Human Rights, Entertainment, and Sport. If 2023 was tough, 2024 has been much tougher.

Mind you, this type of review is not new.  It was discovered that “several sources have indicated that performance appraisals were invented by Walter D. Scott of WD Scott and Co. in Sydney, Australia, as early as the 1920s.”

Read the first of our reviews for 2024 HERE.

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