The Hike in Electricity Tariff has been a topic in Nigeria for some weeks now and it really exhausting thinking about what the new electricity tariff would look like despite the harsh economy we are struggling to cope with initially. The federal government's intention to remove the subsidy on electricity was disclosed some weeks ago and it has caused a lot of worries for many Nigerians who depend on electricity for a lot of things.
This was the same way the debate about removing the petroleum subsidy started before it finally happened in the country and the effect was unbearable for a while. We started paying double the previous price for petroleum which pumped up the prices of goods since many products we consume are being transported and aside from transportation, a lot of companies depend on gas due to the terrible state of our electricity.
While Nigerians were trying to adjust to the effect of the subsidy removal, the Naira devaluation which caused the price of goods and services to further increase tremendously caught us unaware and the effect of the Naira devaluation is what we are still struggling with at this moment. Fortunately for Nigerians, the Naira started gaining strength against Dollar but the effect is yet to be seen on the cost of things.
The price of goods and services is yet to react to Naira's appreciation against the Dollar and in the midst of all these, it's saddening that electricity has to join the list of things giving us so many headaches in the country. The FG have claimed to be using the subsidy funds to take care of the country's problem but nothing is changing and it would have been very much okay if Nigerians were informed about exactly what these funds are going into so that we would be assured that we aren't just suffering for nothing.
The role of the media in disseminating information, especially on this issue hasn't been the best so far and it baffles what exactly the role of media is today. In the quest to be the citizen's favourite and the first to break any news, the media have neglected their true purpose therefore misleading the people with false information. The media has been negatively influenced by politicians and the government which makes it difficult for us to know exactly what's going on and whenever any media team is trying to bring the truth to the limelight, they are been cut off almost immediately just to prevent the public from knowing the truth.
I am not surprised because many of these bloggers and media agencies belong to politicians but these politicians don't appear as the face of the company. They manipulate the people and spread false information about trending issues which isn't helping matters. We saw how the media manipulated people during the election and these things keep happening over and over again. I can't say how long this has been the case but the internet has helped us in laying our hands on the truth.
It's not like everything we see online is true but we have a high chances of coming across unfiltered information about trending issues online before the press takeaway and add theirs as instructed by their sponsors and owners. This topic reminds me of everything that happened during the End Sars protest in Nigeria, a tragic moment for many Nigerians.
People were being killed every day and the press kept diverting the citizen's attention to other things. Even on the day the Lekki Tollgate massacre happened, the press still didn't dare to tell the world what happened and we wouldn't have known if not for the help of many social media platforms where the witnesses and victims of the tragedy shared updates. The memories of everything that happened that night still bring tears to my eyes and it hurts more to know that the sacrifices of those who lost their lives while fighting for justice ended in vain because nothing has changed since then.
As it stands, I don't trust the media that much and rather than listening or reading what they have to say, I would rather log in on X to see what Nigerians are talking about and I can get fresh facts from there. I am not insisting on the fact that everything coming from the media is fake but Nigerians need unfiltered information, every information should be served as it happened so that we can always know what the future holds for us.
I don't expect any changes to happen in that field anytime soon because it either you dance to the tune of the people in power or get displaced.
This is my entry today's prompt and the initiative is open to every member of the Hive community so feel free to check the announcement post
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