Follow Us on Google
Although this vexed question has, man and boy, been a permanent fixture on my mental shelf, I cannot and should not claim credit for it today. That should go to a serving Nigerian senator, whose name I cannot unfortunately here accommodate. I have not been able to stop watching his fiery eight minutes, seven second footage which shows him vibrating on the floor of the senate against the glaring inhuman abandonment of and shameful injustice to the Nigerian masses by our very government. The fact that there are still men like that in power -a man who refuses publicly to alllow his ethnicity and religion and partisanship to dehumanise or corrupt his politics- convinces me beyond every reasonable doubt our so-called nascent democracy and indeed the country still have a chance.
By the way, this entry is not targeted at any particular government or religion or political party. It is targeted only at reality. What is the experience of the average Nigerian in Nigeria? How do our people in government treat or respond to those who are not?
Do they see us as beggars? Do they see us as mere pawns? Do they see us equals? Do they even see us as human beings?
Are they bothered at all how we are slaughtered and buried like goats week in, week out? Do they lose sleep knowing the excruciating hardship or grinding poverty or both that their policies throw the masses into? What goes through those minds of theirs seeing what most of us endure just to eke out a living while they swim in stupendous plenty? How much do our men and women of power care about us?
As funny and unthinkable as they may sound, these posers are informed by the nonexistent or at best transactional relationship one sees between the leader and the led in Nigeria. Followers who suddenly find themselves in leadership forget what they went through and condemned, acting all memory loss and stupid. They only regain their humanity and sense the day they find themselves out of power. Or, the day they seek reelection.
Until then, the country continues toing and froing like an insane pendulum. It provides nothing for the citizens: not electricity, not water, not security, not opportunities, not roads, not justice. So, it gets nothing in return: not loyalty, not peace, not unity, not understanding, not respect. There is a price to pay if Nigeria wants Nigerians on the same page with it.
As we speak, nations are going to every length flying all over the place to evacuate own citizens from Wuhan Province of China -no thanks to the Coronavirus. But, (at the point of piecing this up) Nigeria is not only so deeply asleep but also snoring so offensively. Sssh, leave the president alone: it is our way, not his. Abandoning or ignoring our nationals at home and abroad is a Nigerian thing: it was so in the past, it is so now and -God forbid- it would always be so.
Because, truth to tell, treating compatriots as trash is not wholly only a governmental failing. The people are worse culprits. We insult ourselves the way we play politics, the way we allow politics to play us. We underwrite ourselves the way we make and execute lousy electoral choices.
We undervalue ourselves the way we turn on each other while supporting oppressors we should rather stone. We shoot ourselves in the foot the way we impatiently antagonise the same government we fought so bitterly to install. We maim ourselves and our future the way we would rather steal from or destroy Nigeria. We place very little value on self and country the way we talk, the way we behave, the way we believe, the way we eat, the way we disagree, the way we judge, the way we play, the way we fight; the way we praise, the way we criticise; the way we love, the way we hate; the way we smile, the way we frown; the way we laugh, the way we cry; the way we defend, the way we attack; the way we fan, the way we crosstitute!
Nigeria is where it is because of the actions and inactions of Nigerians. Our government -at every stratum- is mostly cabal centric and party centric because an alarming majority of our people either don’t prefer any better or don’t give a damn. National discourses are guided by ethnic, religious, political, pecuniary, and such other parochial biases; never by nationalism let alone love. Across the three tiers, leaders worry more about people from own clan, tribe, party, religion or club than fairness vis-à-vis the rest of their jurisdiction.
Yes, things are this horrendous nationwide. However, we lie if we blame only current power holders for this Stone Age situation. Things have been this way forever. It is silly to asterisk this mass failure as totally an APC or PDP or NPN or even military fault because it is not: every Nigerian is to blame.
The day we all say we have had enough is the day government shall start paying premium to us. That is the day government complete with its agents and agencies shall start showing us some respect. That is the day these servants turned masters shall start exercising some fear in relating with us. That is the day they shall start serving us the three course buffets appropriated by our constitution and annual budget instead of the crumbs we have been applauding them for.
That is the day government shall become less attractive or lucrative. That is the day Nigeria shall retrace its steps to winning ways. That is the day the value of the Nigerian life shall surge at home and abroad. And -forget all that you think or see- that day is nearer than it ever was and than it ever would be.
God bless Nigeria!
