The Nigeria I grew up in was a place of relative peace and tranquility. It may have been seen with the eyes of a child, but it was a nice place. Our parents worked hard; fathers especially and most mothers stayed home and watched the children.
Marriage was a sacred institution into which all young girls looked forward to entering. Fathers took care of their families financially and worked to give them the best. Sundays were for church services no matter the different denominations, and Friday was for mosques. Children went to schools. We all strived hard to achieve good grades to get into the best schools.
The quota system was present, but excellence and hard work still paid off. Children of the rich, middle class, and poor mingled in same schools purely because of excellence. It sounds like a Norman Rockwell family portrait, but it really was as close. Then enter bad leadership, corruption, tribalism, nepotism, unemployment and, finally, terrorism. The division between church and state became blurred.
I call this a collective responsibility because it is so. As Nigerians, we love to talk about our country. We criticize our leaders and country but never really look at our personal contributions to the failure or how to correct them. I perceive us as a country of cowards, me included, because no matter what the issue is or how bad, we talk and find a way to “manage” without holding anyone responsible or demanding accountability. Who will bell the cat?”
Walk through this with me and, while not infallible, I am sure you will agree with me on some of these submissions.
Leadership
There is no doubt that our leaders have failed us. Successive leaders have come and gone, and each seems to get worse or leave us worse off. We yearn for the good old days when things in Government seemed to work, but systematic rape and corruption of the country have almost brought us to our knees. We are not there yet but close enough. Leadership is no more disguised as caring for the country or constituencies; it is an open disregard and almost contempt for the people. The voices of the people get dimmer and those of the poor and defenceless do not get heard at all. The conscience of leadership no longer exists.
Leaders are no longer people of vision and principle, but of mediocrity and crass godfatherism. The impunity of corruption is mindboggling. No one cares because no one is held accountable. The contemporaries of our leaders are equally as corrupt and lack the moral stand to call for caution. The masses, as usual, will complain but find a way to “manage.”
What is a leader without vision? Without vision, we are like ship without rudder. We as Nigerians are better than this and surely deserve better! We have allowed our leaders who surround themselves with sycophants to continue to lead us into the ground. We do not hold them accountable but instead, in our way, give them indefinite power over us… as if we have been bought at the right price.
Where are our roads?
Where is our healthcare?
Where is our electricity?
Where is our education?
Where is our safety?
Where is the press with honest reporting when you need one?
These have been mortgaged on the altar of bad leadership. The amazing thing about the situation is that we act as if we deserve no better. As long as we give that impression, this is what we get. Our leaders tell us that Boko Haram Islamist insurgents are under control. Regarding electricity, they say we will see the Promised Land soon.
We sit and swallow such nonsense. We continue to “manage.” Why should the leadership change when we give them no incentive to change? When it is time for change, we are bought over with our money; we see the short-term gains over the long-term for us, our children, and our future generations. We leave power in the hands of the chosen and incompetent few as they play musical chairs. We surely deserve better.
We The People
I have blamed the leadership enough; now it is time for we the people. We as Nigerians all come from various ethnicities and states. One common denominator is that our villages have leaders, both men and women. Our community leaders have also become culpable in the cesspool of corruption. We as individuals turn our eyes away from right and wrong in the favour of money. Let us talk about armed robbery, kidnapping, and general mayhem: Everyone knows everyone in most villages or places of abode.
You know those who go to work each day, and you know those who loaf around or sleep in the daytime when honest people are working. We know our children who hang around doing nothing. Yet we see them with expensive cars, phones, and cash unaccounted for. Do we ask where these came from? No; instead, we brag about our children who give us gifts we know they could not have acquired legally or honestly. We give them titles and pour accolades on them. We give them special places of honour in the house of God without questioning the validity of this sudden largesse. Who are we fooling?
When the authorities see these happenings, they turn the other way; they are in the same business of corrupt and primitive acquisition of wealth. Please forget our so-called law-enforcement agents which, by the way, make up a good portion of these totally corrupted elements of society. We let the love of money blind us until, maybe someday, evil comes to visit us, and we cry about the failure of leadership and corruption. And then we “manage.” Where are our elders when we need them to speak for us, if not lining their own pockets and giving titles to questionable individuals?
Sorry for the generalization, but where are the parents protecting their children of questionable characters, accepting whatever they bring home, and actually bragging about them while suppressing that quiet voice called conscience… telling them that all is not well.
We all rape each other, literally! The fuel subsidy removal is an example of greed and avarice in each of us. Price of transportation skyrocketed immediately, even though we had purchased fuel when it was subsidized. The petrol station owner hoarded fuel so profit will be maximized. The market woman immediately increased the price of everything even though fuel was not involved. We all complained but raped each other nonetheless.
We hear our neighbours’ screams and ignore them. We no longer question what is going on. Men no longer talk to each other or admonish each other when wrong is being done to wives and children. We prefer to walk around pretending it is not our business until evil comes to visit us. It may be your daughter screaming someday. Mothers no longer caution their daughters or direct them the right path, and fathers do not speak to their sons. Once again, even within our homes, who will bell the cat?
Churches and Places of Worship
The church is supposed to be a sanctuary and a place for hope for the poor and down trodden, but no more. We at least hope we can get some honesty and justice in the house of worship, but our churches have also become as tainted as the society. The mandates for the church include taking care of widows and orphans, but those virtues seem to have disappeared in the sundry pursuit of money. Our church leaders expect their parishioners to keep them in their lavish lifestyles.
What happened to the pastor visiting sick members? What happened to seeking out the member you have not seen in church for a while? What happened to checking on the poor to see if they need help? What happened to praying with those who are burdened? What happened to taking care of God’s word and protecting the truth? What happened to treating all as equals, as we are all God's creation? What we see today is the church involving itself in politics and dancing to the dictates of corrupt and visionless leaders.
No one, not even people of the cloth, speaks truth to power. On the pulpit, the church leaders join the sycophancy and do not condemn or admonish political leaders going astray. Where is the voice of truth and honesty when you need it? The church has become the very place of business that Christ condemned in the Bible.
Our pastors’ wives must have Jeeps, latest skirt suits, and the fanciest phones all on the back of the parishioners, who are either levied for them or who provide them and no questions asked as we attempt to buy our conscience. In some churches, parishioners provide gifts which are later discovered to be stolen but, alas, we do return such soiled offering because “it is a gift to God.” Truly, God is most merciful!
We clear the front rows of the church for “distinguished dignitaries,” who often arrive late. We give importance to anyone with money to donate to the church. We preach and literally beg on the pulpits but we forget the very task set before us by God to care for his flock, including the downtrodden. Shame on churches and mosques and their leaders: If truth cannot be spoken in the house of God and loudly everywhere, what did Christ die for? What did Prophet Mohammed preach?
The Employed
Our civil service or government employment is a joke. We get employed and work as civil servants. We demand all the benefits due to us loudly, but do no iota of good and honest work to show for the invested trust. Honest workers are frustrated. They can either join or leave. Ghost workers abound, and the system is raped once again. Our leaders employ people not because they are qualified but for their connections. The qualified remain unemployed and resentment grows. Civil servants love to talk about corruption but, if we have dealt with the civil service, you know this body is the most corrupt in the country.
No work is done. People conduct their own businesses on government time. Files are moved or worked on only when bribed. The slow pace of work is ten times slower than the pace of a snail. Everyone wants to be bribed to do what they are paid for. Who is going to hold whom accountable? The civil service leaders cannot clean the setup; you cannot discipline someone with your hands dirty. You cannot discipline the relative of your boss without fear of job loss.
The innocent and the unprotected fear for their jobs; they look for ways to cope. Many compromise themselves or basic principles with the powers that be for job security. Some steal their way through the civil service for job security; others join the mediocrity that calls itself civil service, and all is well. We demand services we will maintain because no one will do it. We are busy finding ways to sabotage our own system for individual gain. Then NEPA officials sabotaged electricity supply and transformers so we could "see them.” Generator merchants are in positions of power in the power generation and distribution network, the very system where failure lines their pockets. Contractors buy their way out of bad business, even if the result kills innocent citizens. We go on strike and, once the leaders are “settled,” to hell for what the workers want.
Oh Nigeria, I cry for thee!
The Youths
The youth of our country Nigeria are disadvantaged. They have their future mortgaged by the recklessness of our leaders. They are discounted almost as non-existent, except they are the children of the corrupt leaders. Education has stalled, and unemployment abounds. We keep producing children everywhere as part of our wealth is demonstrated with as many wives, concubines and others that we have. No one thinks about the future we hope to leave these youths. The streets are littered with countless unemployed young men and women. Many young women find unsavoury ways to keep themselves employed. The leadership has surely failed them the most.
By no means do I consider the youths blameless. This is the era of social media networks and other means of seeing outside Nigeria. The youths of the Arab states tried to seize their future. They did something. They tried to hold their leaders accountable. Our youths want all the good things of life now without working: best cell phone—steal from someone or prostitute yourself; best cars/SUV—hold up someone or get a sugar daddy and it is yours; best clothes—along the same lines of nefarious activities.
The youths watch movies, MTV, Euro soccer and see only wealth and glamour. There are also avenues to see hard work, inventions, and innovations. Alas, those are not seen. The privileged youths flaunt daddy or mommy's stolen wealth and look down on their peers who are less privileged. The future of any country depends on its children and youths, but our nation cares not for that.
Diaspora
Those of us who have made it out of Nigeria are equally as culpable. We escape to a civil society created and maintained by others. We enjoy all it brings while we occasionally try to tweak it to suit us; after all, we are Nigerians. We excel in our various careers. We join in bringing added value to these societies in which we live. The only problem is we do not integrate; we remain Nigerians. We long for home and travel as often as we can. We criticize all that is at home and look down our superior noses on the country we call ours. Someone once said to me, “Who do you all expect to fix your country for you? You are all here and living the dream whilst your country rots to hell.”
Look at the people of Indian descent. They live out here, integrate, and still contribute to their society back home. Collectively, they have a voice and sometimes can influence policy in favour of their nation. As Nigerians, we work, live in fancy houses, drive fancy cars, get together, and criticize. We feel better about ourselves but forget from where we come. We have no collective bargaining voice and power.
We like to see ourselves as Nigerians, yet we do nothing to improve our country. We complain about our efforts being impeded from Nigeria, but do we try hard enough? We could go home and teach in schools, join hands and train medical personnel. We could bring our expertise to areas where it is sorely needed but, no, we need to be compensated very nicely because after all we are doing Nigeria a favour! We received free education and walk around the diaspora with no loans, but with an attitude of what has Nigeria ever done for me?!
We look down on the very place we want badly. We have good lives and choose to remain here to give our children better education but, alas, we lose them in the process. We choose to stay here until we age and all our children have moved on, integrated into the society, and then we long for them to return and take care of us. Alas, the price we pay for living in the Diaspora. We live here and pretend Nigeria’s problem is not ours until we go home to visit and get killed or die from poor healthcare. We lament, stay away for a while, and return again. Once more, we find our own way of managing.
I marvelled during the sweep of Arab Spring. People, especially the youths, were ready to fight the status quo for their future. Indigenes in the diaspora leveraged their collective power to help. Some returned to join the fight. Some countries succeeded; others did not; but, at least, they tried. We just manage!
The result is that the Giant of Africa is no more. It is crumbling under the weight of poor leadership, corruption, moral decay, to name but a few. The vivid picture I have of Nigeria is that of a mansion on stilts with its foundation shaking. The structure bows to the side, and it needs but a little push to crumble and disintegrate. Do we all go under while making excuses to justify our actions and ineptitude, or do we try to search our consciences and collectively take responsibility and change our country?
I am afraid of the answer, but we have a choice.
BY NKECHI CYNTHIA ENUMA
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