(OPINION) Nigerian masqueraders and their peculiarities

Nigerian masqueraders and their peculiarities

By Kehinde Aderemi

Nigeria is indeed a peculiar nation. We are like a big masquerader that dances in the public and acts under false pretences.

Whenever the big masquerade is happy, the face is always enveloped in sadness. And whenever it is sad, it pretends as if all is well.

You can only understand Nigeria and Nigerians when you take time to study our unusual peculiarities that are falsely hidden for the world to see.

Our peculiar mess (remember one of Nigeria’s famous nationalists, politician, orator and mass mobiliser, the late Chief Adegoke Adelabu, Penkelemesi) usually shows in the way we play our politics. The way we manage our economy, health, education and social lives among others.

Whatever happens in Nigeria is not only ordinary, it is something that you need to learn from and seek better understanding about the Nigerian masquerades and the peculiarities.

Each time it crosses my mind that I am a Nigerian, I feel honoured that I am a citizen of the most populous country in Africa and one of the great nations in the world.

But whenever I look around me and see the level of poverty, corruption, waste, underdevelopment, crisis and leadership failures that abound in Nigeria, I begin to understand why Nigerians are still suffering amid plenty.

I wonder how Nigeria got to this sorry state in spite of the abundant human and material resources bestowed on us by nature. I also marvel at how God has truly blessed us with leaders that are so mean, narrow-minded, heartless selfish and very insensitive to the plights of the people.

Imagine the challenges, the self-inflicted pains Nigerians face daily with the present scarcity of naira in the country. Did you know the numbers of people that have lost their lives or that of their relatives because they could not access their personal account during emergencies?

Did you ever think of the numbers of people that have also lost their businesses as a result of the cash crunch in Nigeria. This is the Nigerian masquerade. However, we are yet to see clearly. It is sad that Nigerians are yet to get it right. We are yet to read between the lines for us to know why we are still making the same mistake over and over again.

On the issue of the new naira note, the Central Bank of Nigeria gave us fantastic reasons for redesigning the naira note, but it is sad that the policy had no human face. With the suffering experienced so far with the naira swap policy, it is my view that the reasons for the new CBN policy cannot be said to be in the interest of the mass of the people.

As far as I am concerned, the policy implementation and the timing was wrong. The commercial banks are also caught in the web of this “anti-people” policy that has made the commercial banks even more vulnerable.

These challenges have undermined our efforts toward total recovery of the Nigerian economy. In saner climes, things are done the right way, but in Nigeria everything is possible. It is only in Nigeria, an oil-producing country, that the citizens spend days waiting in the queue at the filling station just to buy Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as fuel.

It is only in Nigeria that you use our currency – naira – to buy naira at a higher rate when the banks could not dispense the naira notes. It is only in Nigeria that the Supreme Court order is meaningless to either the Federal Government or the CBN and nobody will blink an eye.

It is only in Nigeria that our best brains prefer to leave the country (Japa) in order to seek better offer abroad and the leaders would not give a hoot. It is only in Nigeria that the Academic Staff Union of Universities would embark on a prolonged industrial action and the Minister of Education would still retain his job without anybody raising a finger.

Words cannot explain how things are done in the wrong way in our country. In Nigeria, we are just dishonest, unpatriotic and ungodly human beings. It is as if we are on another planet in this country.

It is no denying the fact that our body, soul and the spirit is corrupt. It is a hell living in Nigeria where life is worthless, short, brutish and of no value. Last Thursday’s accident involving the Lagos State staff bus was a sad reminder of the peculiarity of our nation.

The ill-fated driver of the Lagos State Government staff bus was blamed for the incident that led to a train colliding with a bus at the PWD/Shogunle railway line, Agege motor road. The report that the 44-year-old driver, Oluwaseun Osinbajo, had his earpiece on while driving was pathetic. He was said to have ignored the directive of the Flag Officers at the rail line. He drove recklessly and collided with a commercial train at the location. Unfortunately, six out of the 85 passengers on the bus died while 79 civil servants and their dependants on the bus sustained varying degrees of injuries.

That sad incident was a testimony of the Nigerian situation where our leaders usually ignore our warnings. Our leaders are the drivers that determine our fate. They drive the body and the soul of the nation. And once they fail, Nigerians bear the consequences of their failures.

Our leaders are the masqueraders that are in charge of the destinies of over 250 million people. They are very powerful. The power of the presidency is awesome. The position and paraphernalia of the office is great. But God has a way of showing them that there is no power other than His.

The story of the Maradona and the Minna General is still fresh in our memories. Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry the story of the maximum ruler, the late Sanni Abacha, who, after 24 years of his death, is still generous to us and still sending his loot in dollars to us in Nigeria either from heaven or hell.

We also remember the Ota farmer and his third term agenda. Many of our leaders are like the ill-fated BRT driver that looked so remorseful after the sad incident. Many of them have also used their positions of authority to enrich themselves and their cronies.

They all have their names in the dustbin of history. In Nigeria, once a leader takes the driver’s seat and faces the reality of leadership, he acts like God and never listens to the pleas and warnings of the citizens. During their campaigns, a typical Nigerian politician will promise heaven on earth, telling us that everything is possible here in Nigeria. But immediately he wins and gets to the position of power, he forgets his promises and start behaving like God.

The February 25 presidential election was a reflection of how we have failed as a nation. We sought change by choosing our leaders along religious and ethnic lines.

And the results have been a colossal failure. There are issues, especially with the outcome of the election results.

But going forward, there is urgent need for us to change our newly found culture of religious-tribal politics. The present economic situation in the country has revealed so much about our foibles. How can you explain the rationale behind the various foreign loans that have turned Nigeria to a debtor nation. Our survival on foreign loans is not the best for a country like Nigeria.

Our health sector is dead. Nigeria has an unprecedented record of doctors leaving the country for foreign countries. In Nigeria today our health care facilities are nothing but refined mortuaries. In the midst of all the abundant human and material resources, Nigerians are still suffering like an orphan with little or no hope.

Rather than becoming a blessing to Nigerians, our unique endowments and peculiarities have become a curse to the country. That is why we see our country moving two steps forward and three steps backwards. Let me say it for the record that until we change our attitudes and ways, things might continue in this manner.

And I am sure no good Nigerian citizen will be happy to see this country failing from actualising the greatest dream of becoming the leading country in Africa and also a major player in the global community.

.Aderemi writes from Lagos.