• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Many broken sides of Nigeria

Rescuing the Nigerian middle class

Nigeria remains a truly complex nation whose growth is double-edged. As we grew in age and population so have we grown in crime, fraud, terrorism and corruption. I am saddened by the trajectory of the nation and its citizens where everything is run as a deal. You cannot get simple information from an office without someone expecting you to pay for the information.

Security men and women at estates and office complexes feel entitled. People sweeping the streets greet you like they are familiar with you even though they do not know you. I looked out of my window today and those who came to clear refuse were shouting lame greetings because they expect me to step out and give them some money just because they are doing their work.

The self-entitlement is insane. And it is not just even among strangers, it is even within our families.

As elections approach, desperados ready to deceive are on the prowl and quick money fixes are on the rise. We are eating our children through kidnaps and rituals. There is an implosion and the bad guys are looking for who to devour

Many years ago, I travelled out of the country and found to my eternal shame that our data management and policy on many things, including ageing, were non existent.

Of 10 countries that attended the policy dialogue, only Nigeria had no policy on the issue we had gone to discuss. I had tried unsuccessfully to get a hold of any documents relating to the matter before travelling but found myself drowning in offices with the responsibility that tossed me around until I was out of my depth.

As I sat at this policy dialogue with nations speaking about what things they have been doing in their countries, I sat shamefaced while other nations sounded elegant and organised. Our children are all over the world being well behaved because they have to comply with rules outside their country while breaking rules in their country. But then there are others who still carry their foolish Nigerian behaviour to outside climes.

The number of Nigerians who suddenly introduced breaking into an ATM machine and stealing cash in Dubai, the British MP of Nigerian extraction who broke speeding rules in Britain and lied that it was her brother who was driving (he was in fact in Russia) when CCTV clearly showed that she was on the driver’s seat, or the UK nurse of Nigerian extraction, Josephine Iyamu, who got a jail term for trafficking on women for prostitution with the nickname Voodoo politician for ritual associated issues.

Read also: What Nigeria needs is transformational corruption

It is beyond belief when Ghanaians are looking down on Nigerians because they cannot keep simple rules. At home, we pretend it does not matter and then begin to export bad behaviour to other countries.

I have never understood how a nation so blessed is so broken in many parts. Is it the ethnic jingoism, the fraud, the lying or the thuggery? Is it exam malpractices or the constant need to cheat each other? Is it our need to show affluence, buy titles or distribute fuel as gift items? Is it ritual killing and quick money making moves that defy reason?

Or is it our disdain for data or compliance to anything that will make us better. Over 70 percent of Nigerians failed to comply with the Federal Government’s directive to link their to their phone numbers.

Only two days ago, they were all barred from making calls. The linkage process has been on for nearly two years, giving Nigerians many windows to comply. But typically, we simply ignored it.

As elections approach, desperados ready to deceive are on the prowl and quick money fixes are on the rise. We are eating our children through kidnaps and rituals.

There is an implosion and the bad guys are looking for who to devour. Power drunkenness has become a profession. Oh Lord, who will deliver Nigeria? These are troubled times. The news, and the stories are getting sordid by the day. The train bombing, the kidnapped Hanifa, voodoo nurses, child stealers and sellers… Oh Lord, who will rescue us?