Living is generally difficult, but living in Nigeria is
another reality. Everyone is angry at one thing or the other. I am not just
talking about those on the streets but every single Nigerian living within the
shores of this country who has a good idea of how this country works. The fundamental
cause of all the problems we have is bad leadership and of course NEPA or
whatever it is called these days. These problems in any other country of similar
status would be embroiled in a major war or invasion from Europe or The USA but
we are Naija and “we don see tings”. Lagos is just a mad house on its own and
we Lagosians are so accustomed to the constant madness that its absence is
never craved. We long for the fight between the conductor and the “agberos” at
the bustop, or the police vs Army fight, or the Lastma vs Other Government
officers fight. We long for the opportunity to cross the express when the pedestrian
bridge is not far off just because the bridges are too steep or shaky. We rely
on what we have and expect it to be enough. We expect the Super Eagles to fight
for wages and still go on to win the world cup simply because we are Nigerians.
We would love the first Lady to come on air and lament the display of the super
eagles so we can have something else to laugh at, like she hasn't done enough
already. Our missing girls are still missing and we are waiting for Jack Bauer
and co to go capture the Militants threatening our country’s sovereignty. Nigerians
are just proudly frustrated and all these episodes are ways to channel these
frustrations. We do not expect the government to proffer any long term solution
or any solution at all for that matter. We have given the government plenty of occasions
to prove that they are a government and not a cabal of cake hungry politicians,
they have failed miserably and so we know we can’t do anything to them. They are
like military men in civilian uniforms and we see it as a "no alternative" government because the military in military uniform will Jail you for hash
tagging an officers name. At least we have freedom of speech in this
government. So if Jonathan doesn't bring back our girls or the super eagles
disappoint in the world cup, whether it is their fault or the fault of unseen
circumstances, we take out our collective frustration on whichever scapegoat
comes our way. This is our means of escape from the ever increasing sources of anger, twitter, BBM, Facebook. We rant and
rant until whoever we have marked has committed suicide then we collectively
blame social media and the devil.
So to my fellow countrymen, be careful of the numerous
frustrated people out there. They prey on your weaknesses and failure and
exploit your silence. They hide behind hash tags on social media to vent their
national disappointment. We know it is the fault of the government and we know
the government is not a person so we look for the most recent “F-UP” and label
them. This won’t solve the problem in anyway, just like the National Conference
wont, but we do it anyways and delight in the activity devoid of results. This
is the Naija way. For now we try to change it as we live with it. I am rather
sure we won’t always need a committee to seat before a solution is proffered to
the why we are not a world power or No. 1 in FIFA ranking. The Blame game
however is not the way to go but as the saying goes "na u get ur mouth"
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