Tell the president: This is Nigeria

Whenever you hear someone say, this is Nigeria, take note and observe the circumstance. He must be justifying one atrocity or the other and the best way to do so is to remind the listener that the setting is the amorphous entity called Nigeria where anything goes.

It is now great wisdom to advise young people getting into business or the public service to learn to bend the rules, adjust the scales, deform codes of conduct and side-step laid down procedures for doing things if they want to make it big, all because this is Nigeria.

Clearly, corrupt government officials are crowned with honour and given a hero’s welcome in their communities. They become role models to young people instead of cooling off in jail. They flaunt their ill-gotten wealth  to the admiration of their ignorant  victims just because this is Nigeria.

This is a place where students are encouraged,  forced by their teachers, to learn how to cheat in examinations right from the primary school. It is a country where the big examination bodies are headquarters of examination fraud. When an exam invigilator gets into an exam hall and boldly announces to the candidates that they must pay him or kiss their dreams goodbye, irrespective of how prepared they are for the exam, we are reminded that this is Nigeria.

Public servants are no longer rewarded according to their level of commitment or achievement but according to how connected they are to the people that matter just because this is Nigeria. Yes, this is Nigeria where level 3 officers own estates in choice places while regular directors that insist on due process are managing an old Mercedes, all because this is Nigeria.

When a public office holder embezzles unimaginable amount of money from the public treasury, the matter is not judged based on the weight of the crime but on the basis of where he comes from and how many mighty men are behind the thief. Yes, this is Nigeria.

This is a country where the majority is kept in perpetual purgatory while the minority lords ride over them rough-shod. It is a country where merit is given a back bench and people are given appointment to key positions knowing full well that they don’t understand what those offices are all about. Yes, a country where an engineer can be appointed to head the finance ministry and a nurse who is well connected can become the minister for petroleum resources.

This is that country where jobs are treated like wares in the market, sold to the highest bidder not minding his suitability for it. It is the place where joblessness is the main job of most public servants and productivity is hardly ever considered in the scheme of things. Yes, this is Nigeria.

It is a country where in the main, only criminals are trusted with power. It is a country where deceit and subterfuge are the currencies with which transactions are done in high places. It’s a place where policies are made for the majority only to serve  the interest of the minority. It’s a place structured to punish the patriotic and reward the criminals. This is Nigeria.

It is a system that ensures that every goodness and love  in the heart of the individual is wiped out and replaced with a desperation to survive fostered by programmed frustration on all sides.

This is a country where citizens are made to pay for steady darkness in order to protect the interest of a few persons who must appropriate the huge sums of money voted for power to private pockets. It is a place where the interest of the foreign and local generator dealers towers above the happiness of millions of citizens.

This is the country where every citizen has to provide everything for himself if he wants the good life.  He must generate his own power, provide his own water, provide security for his family and take care of his refuse disposal needs. Yes, this is Nigeria where budgets are not meant to be implemented. It is a place where human life is worth a sparrow’s head except for the privileged minority who can travel out for proper healthcare.

When someone tells another, this is Nigeria, he wants to remind him that it is a country not worth dying for. It is a country that everyone is expected to exploit maximally for individual survival and ethnic enhancement.  It is a country that no one truly loves but everyone needs to suck from.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of scenarios that make Nigeria a unique country. These are just a few of our special features. This is the mess that the new president must contend with in the next four years.

Please, dear president, give us a country we can be proud of and it will not matter whether you are from the North or South.  If any living soul can transform Nigeria so that patriotism sprouts and thrives in the heart of an average Nigerian, that person will remain a hero for all ages.

God bless Nigeria.

NNENA IHEBOM