DOCTORS AND OTHERS ARE LEAVING UK, USA, CANADA, INDIA, ETC. NOT JUST NIGERIA.

WHERE IS OUR COMMUNITY SPIRIT?

Thinking back to when I was a child, growing up in Nigeria, it’s heart-wrenching to see how things have deteriorated in my beloved nation of Nigeria. As children we looked forward to the monthly times of the night when the moon was in full bloom; we went out to play, boys and girls together. Sometimes we had ‘grandma’ Theresa Onwenafa Nkemchor my great uncle’s wife and a prolific folk story teller entertain us with moonlight tales. It was a time when my grandmother did not have to worry that we were out late playing with our female and male cousins and friends. She did not have to worry that we could be raped. It was an era when rape was a taboo and gang-raping not heard of.

When young mothers wanted to go to the farm or stream to fetch some water, they made loose sand dunes and sat their babies there and merely informed their neighbours that the babies were outside. These neighbours did not use the babies for rituals; they played with them, washed them, fed them, and strapped them to their backs until they fell asleep. The stronger younger mothers cared for the elderly ones by sharing their food, firewood and water with them. This was the sort of caring, supportive, loving and giving environment I grew up in. What has happened to community spirit, fending and supporting one another selflessly? How did we arrive at the situation of today where all we think about is how to rip the next person off? How?

How did we lose this community spirit? How did we stop being each others care-giver even though more people now claim to be Christians and Muslims today? In the days that I speak about, corruption was known but those who were accused of corruption lost their jobs, went to jail and some were known to have committed suicide rather than face their shameful acts. They felt very sorry for the shame they brought to their families and communities. In some cases, they were ostracised from their families for daring to bring shame to their clans. 

Today, we see criminals being idolised and worshipped as heroes; traditional rulers and religious leaders crawl in a beggarly form to the door steps of known criminals for the handouts they can get from them. Encomiums are poured on them; chieftaincy titles are given to them to reward their criminalities. They occupy the front rows in churches and mosques because ‘they have made it.’

This ‘making it’ syndrome is one other reason we are ready to do anything, cheat, kill, maim or deceive in a bid to make it. Our corrupt politicians are the ones leading the way. They walk around like peacocks, receiving the highest honour and accolades our land could give. The same politicians who commandeer monies voted for essential basic amenities for themselves, friends and families are showered with encomiums; the same corrupt and selfish politicians  who have littered our nation with countless uncompleted projects, leaving our people in the 20^th century; the same politicians who have turned our roads into untimely death traps that could have been avoided saving many families the heartache of loss of loved ones; The same politicians who have turned our hospitals, into mere consulting rooms leaving Nigerians to grapple with the risk of self-medication and at the mercy of adulterated medicines that litter our pharmacies and chemists; same politicians who have neglected our educational system and responsible for our universities producing a half-baked youth population with little or no skills  for the workplace or life; same politicians who have looked away, while our young women are repeatedly raped and sexually harassed in institutions of higher learning in order to acquire certificates that are not backed with relevant skills; same politicians who have led the way in corrupting our judicial system concretely paving the way for ‘Cash and carry judiciary’ where only the poor pay for their crimes with sentences far heavier that their crimes; the same politicians who have turned the nation into one massive generating set rather than effectively harnessing our resources to provide uninterrupted electricity supply for our people thereby easing our sufferings and preventing untimely deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. Yes these politicians are the same ones who have left our teeming youth population without jobs, forcing millions of them to fend for themselves in the most dishonourable manners; the same politicians under whose watch, Nigerians’ average life expectancy has plummeted to 47.56 years, same politicians that have the church and Islamic leaders in their pockets, using our common wealth to fund pilgrimages to holy lands rather than execute projects that would put food on the tables of needy Nigerians; the same ones who have bought the Nigerian press since Dele Giwa, our press only sing their praises thereby, taking on the role of sycophancy rather than being the voice of conscience and reason; same political elite that have over the years, foisted on Nigerians mediocre leadership who have fumbled with identifying and dealing with issues that affect ordinary Nigerians; same political leaders who have perfected the art of giving state capitals (except Asaba) a face lift while neglecting the rest of the states, giving the false impression that their States are making progress; oh yes, they have looked the other way while Boko Haram, MEND and Kidnappers pick up the intimidation, harassment and terrorisation of Nigerians from where the Police have left off; they have turned Nigeria into a nation where everything is shrouded in secrecy , as a result, Nigerians have become a nation of rumour-mongers who make up their own stories as they seem fit. Need I go on? Now how do they qualify for the praise that we shower on them?

Those are a few of the ways they have ruled over us, yet we worship them. When they spend 40Billion Naira to build an Airport that should have cost 17Billion Naira, we take Newspaper adverts and buy TV air times to shower praises on them. When we are outraged about the savage gang-raping of a young Nigerian girl, a few of us had the audacity to deny that it happened even though it was memorialised in graphic details for all to see.  When the trial of Mr James Ibori started in far away England, some of us defied shame and good names to demonstrate in favour of someone who showed he had no regards for Nigeria by committing crimes abroad. What's wrong with us? When grumpy old men and women like me question the uncaring, insensitive, selfish and careless actions or inactions of our elected and appointed political officers, we get told by sycophants that we are out of order. Wait a minute, what’s wrong with us?  Why are we afraid to call a spade by its name, a spade? Why can we not stand up for the truth irrespective of whose ox is gored? Why can we not see beyond our noses that the various interest groups that have held us ransom for years do not care about us? They fly from one place to another and only drive to the best spots in Nigeria so never get a chance to meet real Nigerians, the ones who bear the brunt of their misrule. Why do we applaud mediocrity? Why do we make excuses for poor leadership? Why do we keep saying that Rome was not built in a day? People, Nigeria is 51years old. Apart from people who have forms of disabilities or ill-health, a man/woman at 50 who keeps blaming his inability to organise his life on his parents/guardians needs his head examined.

They have pushed us to the wall and our solace is now in religion. This too has become opium for us. We are drunk as with new wine, with religion. Every Nigerian is either a Bible or Islamic student. We know our scriptures very well and this is a good thing because religion has its place in a society such as ours. However, the problem arising from this is that we have all gone to sleep, waiting for God to do the things we ought to be doing. Praying is good but there is time and place for everything. This is the time to speak up against the blanket of corruption that has engulfed our nation.  

In ‘President Jonathan’s Jesus and God democracy’, Sunday Njokede quoted Madeleine Albright as saying, “A nation that says to God it´s all up to you, risk neglecting an obligation to act on its own behalf.” This is where we have found ourselves today and the only people who stand to gain from this stance of resignation are the same politicians. They lead us in prayers with filthy lips and soiled hands and while we shut our eyes in prayers, they cart away our common wealth and by the time we open our eyes after the prayers, our coffers are empty. Who is fooling who? The shameful part is that they have the active support of the religious leaders who are too scared to stand in judgement against those that have preyed on Nigerians because they want to protect their business empires.

I never thought I would be saying this but all hope is not yet lost, Nigerians. There is hope! Naa, not from my generation but surprisingly from a generation that was born in and raised in corruption; a generation that has never known good roads, have never known life with uninterrupted electricity, they have grown in the knowledge that NEPA means, ‘Never expect Power Always’. Many of them have grown up too quickly having to fend for themselves from an early age or have been passed from one rich uncle to another. They have heard their parents complain of non-payment of salaries as at when due. Some of them have had to make do with sitting on the floor of dilapidated classrooms. They have watched as our political leaders enrich themselves and their cronies at the expense of the rest of us. They have seen and in some cases witnessed first hand the level of injustice meted out to the weak and the vulnerable in our society. They have grown to see the effects of the reckless abandon with which my generation and those before us plundered the common wealth of Nigeria. Many of them have watched close family members die from Malaria because they had taken adulterated medications or simply could not afford it at all. Many have known or heard of someone that had died from HIV/AIDS. They have watched helplessly as my generation, carrying on where the generation before mine stopped, plunder their nation.  Over the past fourteen months, I have met and chatted with some brilliant, patriotic YOUNG Nigerians. These young men and women abhor corruption and are vocal about their feelings too. They are detribalised. They accommodate and respect other people’s religions and their ways of life. They are reaching out to their younger generation and those of their own generation too, and re-educating them on the right values; they are teaching them the things that matter and supporting them to have new and corrupt-free mind-sets. They are teaching and showing them that ‘making it’ is not through idolising corrupt people and that it’s ok to look up to honest and patriotic role-models.

These young ones are our hope. They are the battle-axe with which we will bring corruption to a manageable level in Nigeria. It is not a mean feat for them to openly speak up against corruption when all around them is corruption.

Nigeria is a full grown nation. We have failed our children and they are living and reaping the consequences of our selfish deeds and battling to right our wrongs at the same time. We must have a change of attitude. We must resolve to stand together as a people that have suffered under successive uncaring bunch of leaders. Unless we act now, our grand children and their generation will have no place to call their own.

My wish on this annual occasion is that we wake up and demand a responsible government that has the interest and needs of Nigerians at the heart of its governance; Leadership that is accountable to the people, after all they asked to serve us so we should not settle for less.