Thursday, December 13, 2012

OF MISSING ITEMS AND THINGS ARISING



I lose things easily.  Little things especially- pens, keys, socks, cigarette lighters. I used to get exasperated and go into horribly depressive moods until I thought of a way to deal with it: keep everything in plain view. No hiding, no double layers in drawers- no concealment. Everything on my reading table- except my socks of course. 

I used to be like Nigeria. But Nigeria loses big things. We lose huge ships- it goes ‘missing’ like a button in a large bedroom. We lose 2.1 billion in 1,000naira bills- it goes missing like a check carelessly placed in a book amidst a large library of books. We lose pension funds- 195 billion naira goes missing. We lose 12 billion dollars of oil windfall. We lose high profile criminal suspects- a suspected terrorist walks quietly out of custody. No jail break or massive earthquake that breaks the jail bars. The guy just goes missing.

That anyone can boldly announce that 195 billion went missing, with a straight face and not fear the wrath of a nation shows something else that we have lost. We have lost the ability to say no, to ask why, to demand change. So a government official can announce, in a country that is barely able to pay a minimum wage of 18,000 naira (117 dollars a month or less than 4 dollars a day) that he intends to build a new mansion worth 16 billion naira. And maybe he deserves it, having worked so hard and selflessly for the country, but the fact that he can propose it means we have lost all sense of propriety or decency. 

Only recently a government ministry announced the real problem of our power sector.  Evil spirits, they said. And you know, I agree with them. Look at it this way. A spirit is something you cannot see right? So someone or something usually sabotages power projects. Someone we can’t see converts the money for the power sector to personal use. Someone we can’t see refuses to let Nigerians have uninterrupted power supply. And that someone or something is evil. Is the ministry not correct then to blame our problems on evil spirits? Or maybe I am missing something. 

 One of our most influential Ministers just lost her mother. Not to the cold hands of death. But to the hands of abductors (the temperature of whose hands I am unsure of). The 82 year old went missing from her Ogwuashi-Uku palace. This is not the first time the relative of a Minister will go missing. It is becoming increasingly common in many parts of the country to go missing, reappearing only after a ransom has been paid. 

Since the disappearance of the Minister’s mother I have read many reactions ranging from indifference to outright jubilation. I read one comment that said: “So what if the Okonjo-Iweala’s mother got missing”. I realized that something else was missing. Empathy.

Nigeria, (or more particularly, its leaders) has beaten and raped us so much that we have, probably purely as a self-preservation strategy, gone numb. We are numb to the suffering, to the pain, to the theft, to the violence, to the corruption, to the darkness. We have become numb so that we can survive. So that when the next many billons go missing we do not go crazy. So that when salaries delay, we keep going to work and find other sources of income, or just go hungry. So that when we have no electricity for weeks on end we do not run naked into the streets pulling our hair out. So that when the next bombing happens we sigh and worry only when someone we know died in the blast. So that when our President tells us he will need a billion a year to feed him and his guests we will not lose sleep. So that when he tells us he needs a new multi-billion naira banquet hall to dine in while the rest of the country goes hungry we will just sigh and keep boiling our stones. 

But we need empathy. We cannot afford to lose that which makes us human. If we lose empathy, and probably, someday get rid of this bad government, we will only replace their cold, unfeeling disregard for citizens with something similarly lacking in empathy. We cannot become like those that oppress us. We must not lose all feeling. We must not stay in the dark depth that allows us to lynch people in the streets for stealing wallets; that makes us do things like bludgeon and set ablaze young men upon an unsubstantiated accusation; that makes us kill our neighbors because they are of a different tribe or religion.

One thing that will help Nigeria is what helped me keep track of the things I lose easily: keeping everything open, everything in plain view. We must open national debate. Talk about the big elephant(s) in the room. Talk about the things that threaten to tear us apart. Open up government processes. The more open government processes are, the harder it is to perpetrate the kind of monumental fraud that we find today. And we do have the Freedom of Information Act, which gives citizens the right to demand access to information from public institutions. The Act allows anyone to demand information without a need to show reason for such demand. 

The laws exist. The resources exist. We have the manpower. What we need is the will. The will to move from sighing and complaining to demanding and acting. We have a choice. Act. Or lose. 

I do not have as much resilience as Nigeria. So I am working on a plan to stop losing big things. Like cars. Like jobs. Like love.

18 comments:

  1. I literally had tears rolling down my cheeks...we have gone numb, we have become an angry set of people. I would have said the youngsters would change things but they already have their minds set, they do not want to be the Jesus that saves Nigeria.

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  2. My feelings exactly. that we have the mind to lynch someone who steals N100 but praise and hail those who steal N1b is very telling of our present mindset. I have stopped complaining daily about our nations and its "rulers" but decided instead to do something about it. "God de" is the most lackadaisical attitude we have as a people. May we have the strength to help ourselves

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  3. I enjoyed reading your post. I agree with you that we have become numb; accepted things, in a twisted logic, as some form of self preservation . Where does one get the will now to do as you propose? A seed has to be sown ; there should be a shift in the mind set. It may have to start from one person, but at least it will be a start. It may not even occur in your life time, or mine, but as long as a few individuals are striving and believing in that change, maybe, just maybe, it may catch on and others will follow suit.

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  4. Revolution might be the answer to our problem. Look at Ghana today are they not better for it. China for one executes anyone found to be corrupt whether big or small. Its really pathetic we are literally selling off our farm land where will our children farm?

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  6. As we can clearly see, our leaders have pushed our youth into agents for sugar mummies.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Elnathan John....I miss you so much (blame it on finals). You have made me smile...again!! I wanted to hear something good today and I decided to come around and laugh! You've made me think.. not just think but think about what I can DO to be a better Nigerian instead of drowning in tears every time I'm overwhelmed with the pathetic situation back home. I love Nigeria..and I will do my best to replace some of her broken pieces. Maybe I can love more, forgive more, share with others more, hug more, ACT more...

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  8. What a brilliantly written and heart wrenching post. In the U.S. we don't hear about these sorts of problems, but I'm thankful to have social media which reaches beyond borders.

    Every post, every discussion, every single word helps, because as long as there isn't absolute silence, there is hope. At least, that is how I feel.

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  9. this is powerful. so good to read from you, i do miss your words. hope all is well. ;;;)

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  10. The act of missing is the order of the day. And nobody ask why...nobody ask in a democrazy system you don't ask why

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  14. Of missing items and things arising...I don't think anyone could have written it as perfectly as you have. I guess it's is true what they say about the written word; "when words of truth are to be written they find the writer and then they ring true and real.
    I agree we have been numbed by the constant bombardment of all these evils and I also believe that the "divide and conquer while you rule" strategy has been employed by those in power over the years to separate us by religion and ethnicity. I was born and bred in the city of Kaduna; the proud son of a honorable father from Kogi state. I speak Hausa and a little English. But I can not claim the city I had come to love and as a child had bragged to everyone who would listen that it was the greatest place on earth. If I spill my blood for that city to defend it's people against a ruler who plunders it's wealth and potential it would go unnoticed. And of course my Kogi background regards me an outcast because my father married outside and raised us all to become "omo gambari' Hausa speaking children. So I have come to hate my first love, Kaduna state and demand that my siblings sell every single brick my father has left standing in that city and get out while they can since we are no longer welcome where my father and his generation spent their sweat, blood and tears toiling till they built the greatness now known as the City of Kaduna, now decaying into a community of hate, violence and discrimination.
    Until we become as awakened as societies such the United States where birth or years or significant contribution earn you the right to become indigenous to a community, we shall continue to hate each other, and that son of the soil you just voted for will surely plunder your wealth and leave your descendants with a debt that their grandchildren can never pay (Kaduna State, world bank loans).

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  16. The diease in our midst has eaten us so deeply,
    We just live to die in age of time. Sigh away our own pace and destinies.
    With one great rhythm of hunger and numb-skullness.
    If then, why do we exist..?
    Why do we chant ourselves Gaint of Africa..?
    And why are we Nigerians.?
    For at-most we're numb- skull humans of thoughtless might.
    Cause we perish and bleed in Hunger of Joyous Pains and Disgrace.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The diease in our midst has eaten us so deeply,
    We just live to die in age of time. Sigh away our own pace and destinies.
    With one great rhythm of hunger and numb-skullness.
    If then, why do we exist..?
    Why do we chant ourselves Gaint of Africa..?
    And why are we Nigerians.?
    For at-most we're numb- skull humans of thoughtless might.
    Cause we perish and bleed in Hunger of Joyous Pains and Disgrace.

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