by Grace Efezokhae

In Nigeria, death is cheap. People die every day and we just say eyah and move on. 

Death is inevitable to man. Death is painful to the loved ones of the deceased. I remembered when my uncle died seven years ago, I cried like a baby and still did some weeks back. What would have pained me more would have been if he had died a “Nigerian death”.

The Nigerian way of dying is worse than death itself. These are the kind of deaths that could have been avoided and such that would not have led to death in a more developed countries in the 21st century.

What would we say of a man who had an accident and was rushed to the police station immediately by a “wise” policeman? The same man may even die because there was no medical personnel on ground to attend to him. This same man may also be taken to the hospital and he will be asked to bring a police report before he can be attended to.

Mr. A takes his wife who is about to put to bed to the hospital and no doctor is available because the doctors are on strike. The “I don’t care” kind of Government has refused to increase their salaries. And so the woman writhes in pains and bleeds to death.

What about the wrong diagnosis by our laboratories that have silently killed people. A man will have prostate cancer and he will be diagnosed of Arthritis. He will be treated of arthritis till the day of his death. There is a popular hospital in Lagos that my family and I fell a victim to. God saved us. I won’t even advise my enemy to go there and complain of even common cough.

“Police is your friend” as they say. Yet, they are gradually growing into our enemies. I can’t even recollect how many times I have read in the newspapers of innocent souls shot by trigger-happy policemen. Infact the height of it was when a policeman shot a conductor because of 50 naira egunje.

In the midst of the gross unemployment in our country, the Nigeria Immigration Service wanted to recruit graduates for employment. They were even asked to pay 1, 500 naira and ten people died as a result of a stampede. Till date, nobody has been held accountable. Life continues as usual.

What about Boko Haram, the statistics of deaths recorded are alarming, “100 feared dead in Bornu”, “Over 70 people feared dead in Iyanya bomb blast” and many more of such. The numbers are increasing by the day and no one has still being held accountable.

So many accidents have occurred not because the drivers were reckless but because of the giant potholes and terrible roads. Go to Apapa and you will shed tears for the daily Apapa commuters and the number of people those forbidden trailers have killed with their yeye containers.

In Nigeria, death is cheap. People die every day and we just say eyah and move on. But then we can’t just move on with the emotional trauma all these has brought on us. We are silently living in fear. A lady who has been seeking admission into the University will be reluctant to attend the University of Maiduguri even if it is with a scholarship and her preferred course choice. We will still prefer the women to give birth to their babies and do major surgeries abroad because we do not trust our health system.

Sometimes, I ask myself “will writing about it make any difference?” It may not but one thing is for sure, this article should create an awareness that things aren’t just going on well in our country and we don’t have to wait till any of our loved ones become a victim of the NIGERIAN DEATH.

And yes, I am tired of everyone blaming Goodluck Jonathan. Even a man who can’t impregnate his wife will blame GEJ. Who do we shift all the blame to? No one but ourselves. I am not in support of all this cat and dog PDP and APC, I AM JUST THE OPPOSITION. Whether you voted in the last elections or not, whether you keep silent or not, WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR BELOVED NIGERIA.

My prayer goes to the Chibok girls, God forbid that they die the NIGERIAN DEATH.

 

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Grace Efezokhae blogs from www.Graciemama.com

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.