I borrow this headline from my 2013 book, titled, “Delicate Distress: An Interpreter’s Account of the Nigerian Dilemma”.
It is clear to one and all that Nigeria as we know it today is in a dilemma. Nigerians themselves are even in a more precarious situation. In fact, the complacent disposition of Nigerians since their suffering assumed a staggering dimension under the present administration raises the all-important question: are Nigerians happy under the Bola Tinubu order? This question commends itself for consideration given the fact that the outrage, which should naturally trail the hardship in the land, is completely absent. What could be responsible for this? Are Nigerians truly a happy-go-lucky breed? Is it the case that Belial, one of the fallen archangels in John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost”, is truly a symbolic representation of the Nigerian condition?
Much more than this, the laissez fare attitude of Nigerians to a situation that is practically snuffing life out of them reminds one of the verdict of a group of ethnologists who described Nigerians as the happiest people on earth. Operating under the umbrella of World Values Survey, the network of international social scientists, in a 2003 research work, held that Nigerians are the happiest people on earth. According to the researchers, Nigerians have a genetic propensity for happiness. That was why, according them, no situation wears them out.
This packaging of Nigerians, as far-reaching as it was, attracted strident responses from a number of quarters. Most of those who picked holes with the survey smelt racism in the verdict. Happiness, as good as it may appear, is not always positive. As a matter of fact, happiness is, oftentimes, associated with the imbecilic and the unthinking. When this is the case, as it often is, happiness is not a virtue to celebrate. It is even worse when happiness is said to be genetically propelled, as the one heaped on Nigerians by the foreign ethnologists. The suggestion in that categorization is that Nigerians are congenitally stupid. That explains why they gloss over everything. Indeed, it is axiomatic that no normal human being can be happy at all times.
Even though the researchers made some valid points about the Nigerian character, they missed the point when they assumed that Nigerians are one people. The Igbo, the Hausa, the Yoruba and some other ethnic groups that make up Nigeria are not of the same biological stock. They are disparate entities with differing genetic compositions. Perhaps what may have been responsible for the seeming uniformity in the way Nigerians respond to suffering is the common environment in which they all find themselves.
Regardless of the merit, or lack of it, of this association of Nigerians with happiness, their present material condition will go a long in situating the extent of the pact that Nigerians have with happiness. But what remains worrisome is the life of ease that Nigerians live. Nigeria is fast becoming a land where nobody wants to die. It is a country where everybody wants to find paradise. The result of all this is that the country is left to find its own course. The citizens are individuals who worry about nothing but themselves.
This notwithstanding, it is safe to say that no Nigerian, of whatever persuasion, could have imagined the affliction that has befallen the country in recent months. When the jostle for the presidency was going on last year, the overriding consideration of the majority of Nigerians was to get a leadership that would give them a breath of fresh air.
Before 2023 happened on us, Nigerians thought that the country was drifting. They pointed copiously at many things that the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, could have done better. They said that the man failed to deliver on his campaign promises because he was led astray by a certain cabal. And so the people wanted a quick end to the Buhari administration.
Buhari has since bowed out of office. But rather than the breather the people expected, what took over was an affliction of sorts. Nigerians have never had cause to smile since May 29, 2023. Rather than savour the promises of a new beginning, which that fateful day was supposed to bring with it, Nigerians had their expectations cut short. The President who had just been sworn in told them that subsidy was gone. The message dropped casually from the lips of the new President. But its effect has been poisonous. What came across initially as a harmless slip was to metamorphose, within a few hours, into a monstrous policy change. The pump price of premium motor spirit took an instant upward spiral. The pump prices of other petroleum products were to follow suit in quick succession. The energy crisis that began on May 29, 2023, is still very much with us. It is even getting worse by the day.
The Nigerian economy, generally speaking, is in tatters. Prices of goods and services have gone beyond the reach of the people. The inflationary spiral appears unstoppable. The result is the hunger that is ravaging the land. But what is most disconcerting about all this is that there is no end in sight. Nigerians appear condemned to a bottomless pit.
Strangely, the people are not doing anything about the situation. Everyone is in his little corner groaning and moaning. Everybody is worried about himself. Nobody is sparing any thought for the country. This nonchalant disposition is worrisome. Why are Nigerians complacent in the face of imminent death?
Some fellows whom I had cause to share my worries with appear unanimous in their dissection of the situation. They say that Nigerians are incapacitated by tribal considerations. They argue that Nigeria is not one country. According to them, if Nigeria were to be a united country, the people, no matter where they come from, will be concerned about what is going on. In the absence of this national spirit, any uprising from any part of the country will be viewed with tribal lenses. It will not enjoy national appeal. A section of the country will end up playing the ethnic card. When this happens, the whole idea of the protest will come to naught. Given this scenario, Nigerians can only look morosely like doomed voyagers as they are doing at moment. But how far will they go with this disposition? How long will a people remain slaves to paralysis of will? Seeking to answer these questions will be a tall order. The questions bear a ring of metaphysics. And like all metaphysical questions, they do not admit of easy solutions.