Nigeria: Our Destructive Genes

Source: pointblanknews.com

One thing I have learnt in my series of education in America is that communication should be made simple and easy for understanding. Any narrative that involves the end user to use dictionary for understanding is not communication. This is the opposite of some Nigerian writers where ism and high sounding words dot their writings and we say they are well educated. One definition of America is this: anything one is doing and one encounters too much difficulty is not America. Life is easy in America but the people work smartly and tenaciously, a country of law and order, and that is why, it is the greatest country on earth. This does not mean that dollars are found on the streets or grown on trees. Things work in America and it is a choice.

That being said: why we like things to be difficult in Nigeria and why the people of Nigeria are difficult have defiled my imagination and research efforts. Who put that country together and the reason it was put together has also defiled my sense of imagination?  Nigeria is of no good, if I can borrow the language of the American Blacks. If I can go ahead, I can say Nigerian is a drag on the other African countries. If a genuine survey is carried out in Nigeria today without compromise, 89% may want that country to be obliterated from the surface of the earth and the 11% made up government thieves and political rogues may want Nigeria intact.

Now of what good is Nigeria? 1. Nigeria is the second or third most corrupt country in the world, just fantastically corrupt. 2. In Nigeria, oil was discovered in Olobiri, in the present Bayelsa state in 1956 and today, Nigeria has no functional refineries and the country is mired in constant scarcity of premium motor spirit (petrol), aviation fuel, kerosene and coal tar. Can anybody justify to me why we still import refined crude products after 60 years of oil discovery and exploitation?

  1. Today, Nigeria cannot guarantee two hours a week of power supply to homes and industries and most of the time, no power for weeks. 4. The power tussle and political strife that started during the time of Zik, Awo and Beluwa have assumed dangerous dimension today that what is on the lips of everybody is “which way Nigeria”? 5. Roads network in Nigeria are non-existence that accidents occur indiscriminately and people waste their valuable time on the road going to and returning from work.
  2. Nobody is talking about pipe born water any more as if it is anathema in every nook and cranny of the country. 7. A country that talks about diversification of economy when oil price goes downward spiral but when oil price goes up, diversification becomes a forgone talk. 8. Never in the history of Nigeria has unemployment raged to the level it is now. 9. A country that employs secretly the children of well-connected in NNPC, CBN and FIRS but those whose relatives are outside the corridors of power languish in frustrations and depression. 10. A country that encourages her youths to have loath for education. 11. A country that has her legislators as armed robbers and rogues, all in the name of budget padding and what type of laws can they make?
  3. A country that goes after the small thieves but shields the big thieves. 13. A country that has her president punished those that did vote for him and one will then ask, what is democracy after all? 14. A country that kills university education and one wonders who will solve the nation's problems. 15. A country that cannot get it right in electoral voting but still mired in ballot snatching and manipulation of peoples' votes as if the country still operates in the year 1416. 16. Nigeria will never deploy her first eleven for leadership so as to join progressive world economies, and why should such a country exist? 17. A country that muzzles down the independence of people in which true innovation can emanate. 18. A country that does not recognize meritocracy but nepotism, such a country will die by the laws of Darwin. 19. A country in which kidnapping has become way of life and how a kidnapper can asks for ransom and he or she goes and collect it without arrest. Please, call the Americans for help if they will listen.
  4. A country where groups are marginalized and when they protest they are killed; that is the surest way for disintegration of the nation. In Nigeria stakeholders are not equal, a reminder of the political satire of George Orwell, Animal Farm, all animal are equal but some are equal than others. A good leader hears the cries and pains of all and finds solutions to their problems. 21. If the Nigerian president is not the president of all, then the fierce battle that is seemingly characterized the center position will not cease, and peace and progress will continually elude the nation. 22. Why is it that Nigeria is working assiduously in turning their youths into a wasted generation? The competitive advantage of any nation like China and Indian is their population, but 90% of the population in Nigeria has no hope of tomorrow talk less of putting these people into productive force.
  5. The ethnic strife in Nigeria is not abating and the function of a leader is to unite the mosaic nature of a given nation. In America, its diversity is one of her strengths, but in Nigeria, the politicians use our differences for their political ends. Now the Yorubas are the greatest enemies of the Ijaws and vice versa; and the North and South chasm can swallow a train. In fact, the last election heightened the hatred between the Yorubas and Igbos and the South-South. 24. Until recently, I have never heard of the Fulani Herdsmen carrying guns to move from one place to another rearing their cows: they now boldly kill at will, rape women and kidnap people. Why are these developments and our president kept quiet in veil ignorance to protect his people at the expense of others?
  6. Can anybody tell me why things do not function in Nigeria? Visit any city in Nigeria, the gutters smell and the drainage stagnant, and to worsen the situation, the populace dumps rubbish into the stagnant drainage. 26. Are we pigs in Nigeria? 27. Our so called leaders visit Europe, USA, Canada and the far east, do they see the scenes in Nigeria in all these countries? 28 What is wrong with Nigerians? 29. Why is it that in Nigeria, traders and buyers block roads to sell and buy? Traffic is either slowed down or entirely blocked and sometimes, moving vehicle plunges into the market and slaughter people. 30. Are we animals in Nigeria? 30. Is there anybody in leadership position to make these people behave like human beings? 31. Is there any time in Nigeria we can say enough is enough, and instead of us behaving like animals, it will come to the point where we can turn to a new leaf and inject some elements of moral rectitude in all of us?

This madness has to come to an end and we can do better as a nation. Our destructive genes can be cured by a visit to the appropriate doctors, behavior modification specialists and true acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prince of peace and master of entrepreneurship. China and Malaysia were the scums of the earth before but they resolved that enough was enough. Dubai was a desert but somebody, a leader resolved to turn it into one of the most beautiful cities on earth. It is time we stopped our madness and instead of working hard to develop our cities, we prefer to visit other developed cities of the world and stash our commonwealth there. This is a destructive gene we must obliterate.

My good friend, Ugochukwu Ejinkonye, once wrote that “if I can provide electricity, provide pipe born water, provide security and do the road by myself, then why do I need a government'? One can conclude that the various governments in Nigeria, from the dead local government to the federal are useless and of no good.

If Nigeria is gone, can we look from somewhere helplessly and lonely, to ask a couple from white Americans, to come and procreate in Nigeria so as to have the genes of the Americans, in order for Nigeria to metamorphose from slums to celebrated cities full of promises. Let us admit it, Nigeria is not working; it is only working for the oppressors. Nigeria we have at moment is that in which a potential ambassador designee can say with all sureness that the capital of Lagos State is Lagos; while others could not recite our national anthem. Can somebody drag that woman to Alausa, Ikeja before she says that Imo State is in Ghana when she goes outside the country? God Bless Nigeria if we can allow Him to do so.

Chukwuma Iwuanyanwu contributes this piece from Los Angeles, California.

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