This Saudi Accident...One Stampede Too Many!

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Nigerians were shocked to learn yet again, of a stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia that gobbled the lives of pilgrims in their hundreds... 717 at the last count. Coming at the heels of similar deaths from a fallen construction crane some weeks past, one may be so impulsive as to lay the blame of this human loss at the doorsteps of the Saudis for "organizational failure".

But deeper introspection should lead us to wonder why adult humans would tend to rush for things rather await their turns! Even though nationals of countries other than Nigeria embark on such spiritual trips, it must be stated that the tendency of the average Nigerian to scramble and rush for things rather than comport himself in a civil manner is worrisome. We talk rough, act rough, play rough and generally behave rough.

You accidentally steps on a man... and before you can say sorry, he has already pushed you as he braces up for a fight! A full-blooded adult man or woman disagrees with your opinion on social media...and you are readily bathed in gutter language so raw you wonder if your adversary is not merely a beast in human skin!

As we blame the Saudi authorities for this stampede... like we blamed the Nigerian Immigration Service for the stampede that killed scores of university graduates seeking employment, we must examine the propensity of our people to be uncouth and disorderly.... If a fellow who has seen the four walls of a university would rather scramble than queue for a cause, such an individual is undoubtedly indisciplined!

So unfortunate we have to export our "molue and jankara" mentality beyond the shores of Nigeria. So bad that the very fact of the deaths occasioned by these stampedes blurs our sentiments such that we totally absolve these "rushers" of any blame....yet the inability of such persons to be given to proper civil comportment contributes largely to these deaths.

Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.

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Articles by Tosin Akindele