04/07/2022
It is often tricky to pin down the problem with this country. You go to a public institution (a school, a ministry, a hospital, almost everywhere) and see people abandoning their duties, congregating to discuss the problem with Nigeria! They don't see how they create another problem in the process. You draw their attention to this and they accuse you of being disrespectful!
Different WhatsApp groups are filled with people who have stolen every naira passing through their desks but complaining how badly our country is doing. Corrupt people condemning corruption! Former presidents and former governors are lecturing us on how to develop Nigeria as if their minds were filled with bricks when they had the opportunity to do so. Comrades and activists lament the poor state of public sectors and services. But the moment they are brought into the system, they suddenly take a reverse position. They would tell you how the leader was trying, that the resources were scarce, bla bla bla. But they will never tell you how their fat allowances have made the resources scarce!
I know many of us who are okay to bypass every procedure, disrespect queues (in banks, filling stations, etc), disobey traffic regulations, bypass nepa meters, offer bribes, solicit for bribes, cheat at every opportunity, dismiss due process as "mere formalities," etc. But they are still bitterly unhappy about the Nigerian situation.
We perpetuate problems when we benefit from them. We condemn them when they don't favour us! I see many Nigerian problems lamenting Nigerian problems!
These problems are not abstractions. We live them. We suffer from them. We create them. We benefit from them. Perhaps we are the problem. Perhaps! Just a possibility.
