‘T-Pain’: The Newest Nickname of President Tinubu

I was discussing with a friend about the affairs of Nigeria when he suddenly told me, not to mind ‘T-Pain.’ “He just wants to make life miserable for Nigerians,” he said. T-pain? I was surprised. The T-Pain I know is a black American rapper who had a record hit song, ‘Bartender,’ more than a decade ago. How could he possibly be responsible for the woes facing Nigeria? The friend laughed and told me I wasn’t current with latest happenings. “Go online and see for yourself,” he urged me.

Thus, I went on social media and realized the nickname, ‘T-pain,’ was all over the place. I soon learned that, the ‘T’ stands for Tinubu, while the ‘Pain’ in the name stands for the hardship he has made Nigeria pass through since assuming office over a year ago. Amazing. The name sounded befitting and told the perfect story of the true nature of Nigeria at this present time and day.

While I do not stand for name-calling or derogatory terms being used on leaders, I would forgive anyone frustrated enough to curse at an ineffective leader and with all due respect, that is what President Bola Tinubu effectively is. In times past, we faulted leaders for not doing more. In Tinubu’s case, it isn’t even about doing more; it’s the fact that things are worsening.

In the dailies recently, I saw a report of many listed companies on the stock exchange market voluntarily delisting themselves. The bulk of them are manufacturing firms. These one can no longer cope. Every day, these firms cry to the government for help as the harsh economic climate is forcing them to report heavy losses month-on-month. This reflects in the prices of packaged goods (biscuits etc.): The quality of these products drop, as does the quantity. The size of spaghetti is lesser, now, than it used to be. Biscuits that used to go for N50 now sell for N100. Shockingly, the quantity of these products have also reduced. Who will blame these manufacturing firms? They have to do whatever they have to do to make ends meet and even that isn’t enough.

Just yesterday, our dear Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Cardoso, announced that the interest rate has been hiked yet again! Just wow. Despite the many economic woes, rather than alleviate the sufferings, you hike the interest rate? Interesting. This is painful to say the least. I watched his video announcement in shock. Things are really bad in Nigeria.

The banks have it worse. Imagine the monetary policy that brought a windfall tax on banks recently. These are foreign exchange (FX) monies banks had made a year or so ago, only for the CBN to wake up one day and tax them for these monies made in the past. I was dumbfounded. Damn! That was a big hit. Even military leaders would watch with envy, the audacity of these moves.

Have you tried importing a vehicle into Nigeria? At the ports, you’ll pay multiple levies and custom duties to the extent that tears will roll from your eyes. When you think you are done, along the roads from there, you’ll still meet red-eyed hoodlums with planks and bottles ready to harass you for “our own share.” You must pay them to avoid them vandalizing your beautiful new car. It’s just a nightmare.

For companies, never in their existences have they paid multiple taxes like they presently do. There’s Agency A demanding this tax, different from Agency B and so on. You pay taxes till you can’t even record gains. It’s a miracle some companies are managing to thrive in this hostile market in Nigeria. No wonder a lot of them have moved their production to other countries. Glaxosmithkline Plc closed shop entirely. A lot have moved base to Ghana and neighbouring African countries, from where they bring these products back into Nigeria.

Some who still wonder why these companies do this must surely be asking rhetorical questions: First, what is the state of your power supply in Nigeria? Abysmal. Secondly, do you know how expensive it is sourcing materials in this country? This and many more are reasons that this companies save themselves the stress and move base.

Do we talk about the average commercial drivers on the road? They are now effectively under hoodlums posing as transport unions, being blessed by the President himself. These so-called unions place exorbitant levies on these drivers. A few days ago, drivers in Ogun state protested the new hike in their levies to an astonishing N6, 000 daily. It’s like the unions see the drivers as cash cows that must be milked dry at all cost. Earlier, other sections of protesting drivers blocked the roads of Ilaro in the state for similar reasons.

Many of these issues culminated in the recent #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria protests. The protests was against the hardship Nigerians are presently facing. Food is now gold in Nigeria. The continuous hike in pump price has made transport costs so expensive. Salaries are suddenly becoming useless to the earners as it can cater for fewer things these days. What did T-Pain do in reaction to the protests? He begged protesters to go home, promising to deliver N40, 000 bag of rice. Till date, that rice has never made its way to the market. Next, with the help of his dogs, the DSS, and his wicked coconspirators in the Judiciary, he is now, arresting detaining and jailing those protesters who came out as a result of hunger.

Now you see how, in just over a year, President Bola Tinubu has earned this shameful tag of, ‘T-Pain.’ The pain Tinubu is showing Nigerians is unprecedented. Not even military dictators could do half the things he is doing to the citizens. The hardship is unbearable. It makes legendary singer, Eedris Abdulkareem, look like a Prophet of sorts. He was, after all, the one who sang, “Nigeria jagjaga, everything scatter scatter.” Right now, Nigeria is at the edge of a cliff and its, driver, Tinubu, is driving it on to destruction. We all pray it isn’t too late before help comes. Nigeria really needs help. Pray for Nigeria.