Nigeria, The Story That Keeps on Giving:
Nigeria is a story that keeps on giving. We just endured the #ENDSARS protests, the killing of peaceful protesters in Lagos, the half-hazard response by our president, the killing, looting and wanton destruction that followed and you would think Nigeria as a nation would take a break from scandals and nonchalance? Well guess again, we will not!!
The Army Flogging A Female In Public.
Barely weeks after our children protested the killing, abuse, and torture by SARS operatives, what happened? We are looking at yet more images of now the military elevating themselves to demi-god status and publicly whipping females in public and shaving hairs of young men whose hair style they do not like. Was this not exactly what the youth were protesting? Maybe we need to individually protest each unit of our security forces for them to get the message that dehumanizing a Nigerian citizen is the same regardless of which branch of the security apparatus is dishing the treatment. So yesterday it was #ENDSARS, today is should be #ENDMILITARYABUSE and then tomorrow would be #ENDCUSTOMEXTORTION. How stupid are we really, how dumb can we be? This is beyond being absurd!!
The Story Is Simple. Our leaders and Security Personnel Are TONE DEAF!
Regardless of how you want to slice and dice the average Nigerian politician, the bottom line is that they are tone deaf and do not care. The IGP, barely a couple of weeks ago, released a list of dos and donts for the police department which include specifically, cutting hair, checking phones and computers, and judging peoples attires, and what do we have here, the military doing exactly the same and in full view of the recording public with citizens walking by with their hands in the air as if there we are in a hostage situation. If these men and women of the military have no respect for their commanders, why should they expect the youth to respect them? I am speaking here “tongue in cheek” assuming that their commanders never told them to behave the way they did. The big question is…what has the police, military, customs, and other groups learned from the #ENDSARS protests? Probably nothing. In fact, in their minds, they are wondering who in the hell gave our youth the audacity to question their treatment? Such is our country Nigeria.
When Others Treat Us Like Secondhand Citizens, We Did It.
Prior to the images of public whipping and cutting hair, a Lagos state legislator, in her infinite wisdom, had informed the world that most of our young men and women are on drugs, and that they should go out there and make something of themselves instead of, “I guess” agitating for their rights. Then we discovered that this same lady used the government palliatives meant for the poor as gifts to guests at her birthday party. What a country. This is truly funny when you think that a good number of Nigerians when and if given the same opportunity, like the Lagos legislator would do exactly what she did. It seems like we Nigerians lack that sense of common decency and care for any dark-skinned person. Suffice to say that, when Trump calls us SHIT-HOLE countries, do not be mad, we did it. When China, Libya or any other country treat Nigerians as second-class citizens, we created that image – do not forget they read the same newspapers and look at the same images we see daily.
Our Behavior Has Far-Reaching Effects.
Most recently, America under President Trump, blocked the ascendancy of Okonjo-Iweala to that position in WTO. While we are reacting with disgust and disdain, given our belief that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is the more qualified person, we should look at the way we treat each other as maybe a reason America does not believe that a second class citizen should lead a first class organization. We should not be complaining when our own leaders have blocked a lot of professionally qualified Nigerians from attaining world class positions simply due to tribal sentiments. So as the rooster mates with the hen, the chicks watch and learn. In this case, the rooster and the hen are Nigerians, while the chicks are the rest of the world. They are treating us just the way we treat ourselves.
Government Promises.
In Nigeria, government promises for reform are a dime a dozen. In 2018, a government panel made recommendations to our federal government on how best to curb the excesses of SARS, nothing happened. On social media, images of federal and state roads becoming collection points for storm water and sewage continue unabated despite government promises to fix these roads. Our primary and secondary schools’ images show falling ceiling and roofs – in fact, do you all remember the story of Stephanie Idolor and the state of her school? The promises by the state government to repair these schools for our children? How many has been fixed till date? If our children and teenagers are subjected to these kinds of dehumanizing and deplorable environment both at home and in schools, no wonder the resort to drugs to numb the pains of hard life and hopelessness. Think about it! Yes, Ms. Lagos legislator, our youth are all on drugs, however, it is due to our failure to provide for them with the basic necessities of life – such as our parents toiled to provide to us. They are on drugs because after a trip from Lagos to the east, one needs real hard drugs to dull the pains of having to endure endless potholes throughout their trip. They are on drugs because we have failed to create opportunities and whenever the lay down to sleep every night, all they vision is hopelessness.
Fellow Nigerians, looking from our antecedents, our country is totally TONE DEAF! To get our message across, we must continue to scream as loud as we could. We must keep the pressure on our elected officials to do good by their citizens. We must call out injustice regardless of who is dishing it out. We must be fearless, resolute, and persistent with our request and agitation for simple Self Respect!
For more information visit www.nairandkobo.com
Comentarios