The internet is not pressuring the youth…the internet is not only in Nigeria. Maybe you lot are just thieves and the internet made it easier not to carry a gun?
— Ferdinand (@Burmese_Tyga_) January 30, 2022
There are many instances when Nigerians assume negativity is a Nigerian phenomenon. The tweet above encapsulates all we may be trying to say, but there’s more.
Nigeria is a prosperous country, and Nigeria gets to the end as far as difference goes. There are vast differences in languages and cultures with many ethnic groups, ideas, knowledge of history, politics, and personal ideologies. It is almost like Nigeria should not have been amalgamated, but here we are, and it must work.
In this difference, there are similarities. At least, our skin colours do not differ as much – even though we have whites among us. There are inferences in our languages such that someone speaking Igbakin may understand some of what an Igbo man says. A Hausa man may understand some parts of the Yoruba culture because he has seen it in his culture. It is a long list.
Amid all of the differences and similarities, we all seem to arrive at a certain point – that negativity is native to Nigeria. It did not start last week, and may not end in a bit. This is why we will quickly agree if Transparency International says Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. We will not blink an eye before we agree that Nigeria is the poverty capital. We will not take a step before we agree that the country has the most unfriendly economic policies the world over. We can even argue that Nigeria has the most thugs in the galaxy.
Read also: Reasons ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ will not stop anytime soon | What to do next?
These ‘agreements’ are not because we have not travelled and seen what is obtainable outside the country’s shores, it is because we have internalised these things, and may not agree that there are other countries whose citizens get an hourly dose of bad news.
It is not a competition. In fact, it should not be a competition, and we should not be doing comparisons either. Every country is unique and has it peculiarities, so when we say ‘See the US, they are the best at everything’, we seem to forget that it took decades upon decades to get to the point where they are. And if we want to get there, we may need to be a little more angry than ‘little pissed’, and fight oppressive systems.
When we argue that our leaders are the worst globally, we forget that it is a democracy. They can be removed and sent back to their villages. But, this may not happen because we do not even know who these leaders are – our LCDA chairmen, LGA chairmen, councillors, House of Representative members, Senators. Anybody who is not the governor or President is unnecessary to many Nigerians. We look up to the top and forget grassroots leadership.
It is only in Nigeria that we celebrate mediocre leadership because ‘the last government failed to commission any projects’. In Nigeria, people remove their shirts to fight bus conductors but shake hands with thieving politicians. It is only in Nigeria that we argue over whose higher institutions are better than the other when all of them are the same. It is only in Nigeria that our mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers increase the price of goods like agbalumo, palm oil, mango, etc because the dollar-naira exchange rate has increased.
It is only in Nigeria that we go all out for the lesser demon because we are unsure the new, though experienced, face will do the job. On a lighter note, it is only in Nigeria that selling enlargement products is a lucrative business.
But, many circumstances we list, assuming they happen only in Nigeria, are mostly not factual. If only we had researched before we made comments, we would learn that Nigeria is not stagnant water like we all assume. We need responsible leadership to make it faster though.
There’s a big DO NOT URINATE sign along Tejuosho road, Yaba, with 50k fine attached to it. The way people face that wall and urinate in front of that sign unprovoked ehn. Only in Nigeria you’d see such barbaric behavior
— Valar Morghulis (@viccetti) January 31, 2022
It is only in Nigeria that's no food for lazy man but lazy women dey chop bellefull steady
— Comrade_Olowo (@Comrd_Olowo) January 31, 2022
Leave a replyComments