I AM almost sure that there are very few Nigerians who do not know that a lot of things are not well with our country at this point in time. It is trite to restate that insecurity is worsening, while the economy remains in the doldrums. Cost of living continues to soar as prices of just about everything take flight off the ground, burst through the roofs, penetrate the atmosphere, and head into outer space.

Every day, there are reports of gruesome killings of fellow compatriots — invariably those who cannot defend themselves — in many parts of the country. We were still trying to wrap our heads round the massacre of scores of fellow compatriots in Angwan Rukuba, Plateau State, when news came again that a serving Brigadier General in our Army fell during an attack by insurgents in war-ravaged Borno.

Just hit the browser on your phone, search Nigeria news, and the grim headlines are thrown at you. Or in town, at the newsstands, crowds of “free readers” gather around vendors to glimpse the day’s headlines on the cover pages of newspapers. They end up discussing the killings, invariably perpetrated by herdsmen on land-grabbing missions in many parts of the country.

Worsening our plight is the US/Israel-Iran war in the Middle East. Because the world has truly become a global village economically, we are literally gritting our teeth here as rising prices of petroleum products have helped drive up the prices of everything else. But part of our woes in this regard are self-inflicted because our leaders simply don’t love us. If they do, they would put on their thinking caps and explore ways and means by which they can make life easier. But, no. They are more interested in who gets elected/re-elected into which office to continue the same old game of working against the peoples of Nigeria.

It is insulting to our collective intelligence for public officials to continue to compare fuel prices in Nigeria with what obtains in India, South Africa, or even the US.

First, South Africa has no oil; it imports its fuel energy needs from other countries. But that country also generates a massive quantity of electricity; South Africa, alongside Egypt, generates about 50% of all electricity generated in Africa. And there are 54 countries on the continent. Is there electricity in Nigeria? Do you call a measly 6,000 mega watts generating capacity adequate for the needs of more than 209 million people?

Stable electricity, as obtains in South Africa, will be a massive relief for us here. At this time, only the poorest of Nigeria’s dirt poor people, countable in millions, do not have generators. Supply of electricity is so bad that people are taking loans to fund installation of solar power. If electricity were available and reliable, we would spend less on fuel energy after fuelling our cars.

Worse is cooking gas.With one kg of cooking gas selling at N1,300 and a 12kg cylinder coming home at N16,000, most homes are resorting to cheaper alternatives. These include reversion to charcoal burners and open hearth cooking with firewood. The effect on the environment can only be imagined.

Some people have started the business of going into the forests and bringing firewood for sale in the cities to people who can no longer afford gas. It’s a typical situation of one step forward, 10 backwards.

While other countries are subsidizing their people, cutting taxes, issuing fuel vouchers to support their vulnerable population, our government is justifying hellish living.

I just can’t wrap my head around what has become of life and living in Nigeria. What is working? Roads remain bad; the few new road projects being done have the contracts going to foreigners with little or no value addition to the local economy. It is generally acknowledged that the construction industry has capacity to absorb large numbers of unemployed people. But when the contracts go to foreigners under opaque circumstances, how can the local population benefit from their own money?

The status of healthcare remains precarious. Hospitals lack drugs and qualified personnel. Before 2015, we had one doctor to 16,000 people. With the “japa” syndrome, which has seen our doctors leaving the country in droves for greener pastures, the ration must have worsened; we’re probably at one doctor to 50,000 people now. God help you if you fall sick. It used to cost under N5,000 to treat malaria; now it’s nearly N30,000. I particularly feel for people living with conditions like diabetes; drugs to manage this condition will now come at astronomic costs.

But I digress. Let government play on the side of Nigerians immediately and execute policies that will make life and living easier.

I said it on this page last week: government should immediately explore how to sell crude to Dangote Refinery at prices that prevailed before the shooting war in the Middle East began. It is the only way to subsidise fuel energy in Nigeria without ripping off the national exchequer.

This is because there is no end in sight to the war against Iran as that country’s mullahs and the US and Israel take hardline positions. If the war should drag on for the next six months, at what price would we be buying petrol and diesel?

I want government to give serious consideration to this suggestion before we all choke to death from economic asphyxia. TGIF.