Medusa Imperium -By Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

In the day’s yore before the advent of our home grown film industry Nollywood, we often watched Indian, Chinese, and American films. Many would remember iconic movie stars of that generation ranging from Bruce Lee, Amitabh Bachchan, Clint Eastwood. On our shores, we had legendary series like The Village Headmaster, New Masquerade, Cock Crow at Dawn amongst others. If there was a genre of movies loved by my generation, it was adventure movies where all things were possible. It took us to the fantasy world of impossibilities. Take a bow, The Thief of Bagdad, The Return of Sinbad, Superman et al. Enter Greek mythology movies like Clash of the Titans, Troy, Legend of Hercules amongst others. These movies left indelible memories in our psyche growing up as we saw point blank and imbibed the everlasting moral lesson of the triumph of good over evil.

In Greek mythology, Medusa is the most famous of the three monster sister figures known as Gorgons. Of the three, she was the Queen usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes. Unlike her two other sisters Steno the Mighty and Euryale the Far Springer, Medusa was sometimes represented as very beautiful. Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal. Upon her death at the hands of Perseus the demigod, Hercules who was son of Zeus and granddaughter of same Perseus is said to have obtained a lock of Medusa’s hair (which possessed similar powers as the head) from the goddess Athena and gave it to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, as a protection for the town of Tegea against attack. The lock was supposed to bring on a storm, which put the enemy to flight. Our country Nigeria can be likened to the town of Tegea. We are under ‘attack’ but it is not what you are thinking. This is not a military-type attack from an external enemy. It is an attack from within. Our internal enemies are parading themselves as political rulers and the pseudo-saviours of our country. We could do with the antidote from the lock of Medusa’s hair to put these internal enemies to flight.

To drive home this prescription, it will be necessary to take a cursory look at the poisoned chalice that is the successive government in Nigeria in the last two and a half decades. The ‘thiefing’ political class (with the exception of a few) of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 are snuffing ‘oxygen from the life of Nigeria’. The country is presently low in oxygen and in a pathological condition of Hypoxia. On their website, clevelandclinic.org defines this condition as low levels of oxygen in the body tissues. It causes symptoms like confusion, restlessness, difficulty breathing, rapid heart rate, and pallor. Hypoxia is a life-threatening condition requiring urgent attention. You do the correlation dear reader!

Few days ago, the quintessential Governor Alex Otti, signed into law the Abia State of Nigeria Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Repeal Bill of 2024. Mr Otti described the law as part of the efforts made to promote good governance and stewardship in the state. The governor strongly believes that leadership is all about stewardship and should not be viewed as an opportunity to embezzle or siphon public funds. In his words, “government is not about self-interest, it is actually self-interest that destroys government.” Going further, Mr Otti states how prioritising public welfare over individual benefits ought to be given key consideration in policy making. He makes it clear that he is aware that he would be a beneficiary if the law continues to exist. However, he and his team know and can affirm from the evidence of the level of poverty in not only Abia State but our nation at large, that the best use of the funds is to improve the lives of citizens. Mr Otti further points out what stares all Nigerian ‘rulers’ in the face but they remain selectively blind to. This is the fact that poor pensioners should never be owed and need these funds the most – not former office holders. He expressed displeasure over the practice of allocating 80% of the state’s budget to recurrent expenditure and 20% to capital expenditure by past administrations. Not long after, Mr Otti cleared nine years unpaid pension arrears of 12,500 retirees’ and pensioners in the state. He vowed that never again will pensioners be owed a dime in the state. Collect your flowers Your Excellency, Governor Alex Chioma Linus Otti. You have used the `lock of Medusa` to defeat enemies of Abia State who have been sucking the state resources dry.

Another area where we need the lock of medusa is the gross insensitivity of the Nigerian ruling class (ruining crass). This is legion and no point enumerating them. Listening to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu on the recent hike in electricity tariffs, showed a clear detachment from reality of the political class. Nigerians were left gaping as the Minister uttered the words; “we must tell the truth to ourselves. We don`t have the culture of consumption management in this country in terms of (electricity) power just because of the cheap tariff we pay”. Although, the increase from N68 to N225 per kilowatt-hour is for band A customers only, Nigerians are taken aback as many do not understand why they now have to pay for a service they do not really enjoy. Other Nigerians are also coming to grasp as to the categorisation of electricity supply into band A, B, C, D, E, and the specified duration of power supply assigned to it daily. Is this methodology a global practice? Inflation rate as of January 2024 is at 30% and citizens are battling the toughest hardships in more than 20 years.

The cost of living has more than tripled in the last 10 months. The tariff increase will further affect business owners and cut to bare bones the survival of businesses. Disposable income of many Nigerians already struggling to eke a living in the current economic situation will tend towards zero. How a minister and a former deputy governor of the central bank could insinuate that the mismanagement of electricity by Nigerians is the cause of unstable power supply is baffling. The three major economic power houses in Africa are Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria. Egypt with a population of 112 million has 50,000 Megawatts generated electricity capacity. South Africa with a population of 60 million has 58,000 MW and wait for it, Nigeria (supposed giant of Africa) with a population of over 220 million has power generation and supply from its national grid revolves between 3,500MW and 4,500MW. You do the Maths! Medusa, where are your locks?

Of a truth, the blame for the paucity in our electricity generation and supply cannot be placed solely on the current administration of President Bola A. Tinubu. PBAT is barely a year in the saddle. The worry however for many Nigerians is the blurry roadmap for the sector by the present government going by the unguarded outburst by the minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu. The removal of petrol subsidy (unplanned) by fiat on inauguration day by the president and the subsequent avalanche in the ecosystem is pushing the citizens to stupor. The livelihood of several millions of Nigerians is hanging by the thread. Worse still is the widespread notion that although `subsidy is gone`, the government is/may still be paying subsidy on petrol inter alia. The floating of the naira/unification of the forex market juxtaposed with the intervening sales of dollars to Bureau de Change, BDCs few months later are some of the policy somersaults. Does it mean the floating of the currency has been stopped? What are the medium and long-term effects of these decisions on the country? Are the people and businesses not being suffocated? Are productive activities in the economy now on the up? Is it enough to throw money around as cash transfers (gone mute after the initial `gra-gra`) to a handful of citizens or distribute so-called palliatives? How sustainable and effective are these measures? Medusa’s locks, where are they?

In conclusion and without any iota of doubt, the reality today is that the giant, Nigeria is clinically hypoxic. In medical practice, the treatment for hypoxia depends on the underlying cause. The cause might be a one-time event, or it could be an ongoing condition. The case of Nigeria is the latter, but the solution is not far-fetched. Away from the Medusa heralded in Greek mythology earlier, there is another type of Medusa. This Medusa is a web-based resource used in the U.K National Health Service, NHS. It provides guidance on the preparation and administration of injectable medicines in adult and paediatric clinical areas. It contains over 400 monographs for medicines given via the intravenous (IV) route. Nigeria`s health status certainly can do with an IV injection now. There is a need for the `injection` of pace and a human face to government policies and decisions. The current knee-jerk approach should be jettisoned, and the wellbeing of the ordinary citizenry put on the front burner. The happiness of the majority is the primary responsibility of government. The promise of a better future is not enough. The picture of the future ought to be seen today. Between the Medusa’s locks from ancient Greece and the Injections to save life from modern UK NHS Medusa, one thing is clear, our Nigeria needs the Medusa effect.

Dr Agbons is Lead, Institute of Good Governance and Leadership @www.twin2.org