Nigeria at 64 — A Grand Field Game. A Devolving Society
Insights for survival in a heisted kingdom.
To fight on behalf of an ignorant and selfish people, is like to set yourself on fire in order to light the way for blind men!
~ Mohamed Rachid Rida,
Some years back, I was on a company-sponsored training in the USA. I went shopping for sandals a few days before my return home.
The customer, as the saying goes, is king. The lively attendant at the store treated me like one. While my eyes were feasting on the overabundance of choices, every other minute, the lady inquired in her sweet voice,
“Is there anything I can do for you.”
“I’m still looking around first.” Meaning, I don’t think you should blame me for not making up my mind quick enough. I‘m not used to being spoilt for choice. Back home, if my preferred choice is unavailable or unaffordable, I then must prefer what is available and affordable.
Continuing with our brief usual shop talk, she inquired,
“Where are you from?”
“Nigeria.”
“Congratulations!”
Congratulations? For what? For all I know, it wasn’t American Independence Day. I’m not even American and I wasn’t celebrating anything.
Seeing my bewildered response, she quickly helped me out.
“Today is October 1st, Nigeria’s Independence Day.”
“O yes, you’re correct. But how do you know?”
“I’m getting married to a Nigerian. We live in Lawton, Oklahoma, and we’ll be throwing a party to celebrate Nigeria’s Independence Day when I get back home from work.
What is there to celebrate for the average Nigerian to celebrate?
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a powerful speech titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
In his speech, he poignantly highlighted the grim contrast between the celebration of American independence and the reality of slavery. He forced his White American audience to see the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom while millions of African Americans were still enslaved.
He expressed that for enslaved people, the Fourth of July was a day of mourning rather than celebration. The ideals of liberty, equality, and justice proclaimed by the Founding Fathers were not extended to African Americans. Douglass emphasized that the joyous celebrations of independence only served to highlight the injustice and cruelty faced by enslaved individuals.
Nigerians, both quietly and vocally, are pondering, “What significance does the commemoration of Nigerian Independence Day hold for the average Nigerian?”
My friend Tony Alika best sums the pervasive attitude of many Nigerians on a Facebook post. Contrarian as it may sound, his witty catch must be imbibed by all Nigerians who wish to survive for another day.
Honestly, I have to confess I am getting worried that I don’t care anymore… It just looks like I got to a point where if you tell me a whole state was stolen or if the whole Atlantic Ocean was gone in the morning, I’ll just side-step and go my merry way. I don’t think it’s a nice place to be but that’s where I am.
The way I just don’t care anymore is dangerous.
Ominous as his conclusion may be, you must imbibe some measure of his stoicism in other to preserve your sanity.
As I reflect on Nigeria at 64, the following thoughts come to my mind.
First is this post from an unknown source captured in my WhatsApp group.
1. So long as we keep glorying in our shackles, there can be no liberation for Nigeria.
Do Good not Because Society is Worth Doing it for, But Because it Is the Right Thing to Do
When the Bolivian military managed to find Che Guevara out of hiding with the information of a shepherd, they asked the shepherd: "Why denouncing a man who sacrificed himself for you and your people's freedom and well-being?" The shepherd replied: "I denounced him because the crackling of arms scares my animals in pasture".
When Mohammed Karim, the gallant Egyptian patriot who undertook to resist the assault of Alexandria launched by Napoleon Bonaparte, was arrested by the French army and sentenced to death, Napoleon appealed to him and said: "I have the trouble to execute a man who has valiantly defended his country. As a soldier myself, I do not wish history to retain the image of a person who stifles the impetus of the patriots that defend the honour and integrity of their homeland. So, I promise you freedom if you pay ten thousand gold coins as financial compensation to my soldiers that the resistance killed".
Smiling, Mohammed Karim replied: "I do not have the full amount requested on me, but I trust that I am indebted more than 100 thousand pieces of gold by the merchants of Alexandria for my role in their defence against foreign invaders; they will pay for sure, this fine, so as to have my life saved"!
Chained hands and feet, Mohammed Karim was taken to the Alexandria market for a tour in search of the sum on which his freedom will depend. But, to his great surprise, no merchant was sympathetic to his fate. Worse still, the natives accused him of being a troublemaker, a destroyer of property, and undermining the economic vitality of the port city of Alexandria.
Napoleon, in view of the resignation of his people towards him, declared: "I will concede that the sentence of capital punishment be executed not because you killed my soldiers, but for having fought so gallantly for a cowardly people, who care more about their business than about the honour and integrity of their homeland". And Mohammed Karim was publicity executed in the market square of Alexandria.
Mohamed Rachid Rida, Syrian Arab reformator said: "To fight on behalf of an ignorant and selfish people, is like to set yourself on fire in order to light the way for blind men"!
I meditated deeply over this and decided to share so as for us to fully understand the ingratitude of a society that will be ready to shamelessly deny its commitments, its convictions and its values for a pot of soup.
Yet, we must sacrifice and fight for our people. But we must fight with purpose and ensure we and our people know exactly what we are protesting against, or fighting for.
That is why it is self defeating to keep shouting #RevolutionNow without defining and educating the people about the #Revolution.
In Nigeria today, #RevolutionNow means burning down the house and rebuilding from the ashes of this confused native land. I am 100% convinced that our people can never win against oppressive rulers who have perfected their instruments of weaponized poverty and ignorance as tools for oppressing our people.
For me, Revolution means Non-violent resistance, and not joining those who chose to live in lies and compromise. And such Non-violent protests can only start by educating the hearts and minds of the people.
2. Manage It Like That (MILT) Because the Business of Nigeria’s Well Being is None Of My Business (NOMB)
Editi Effiong. In his Medium story wrote about the destructive pervasive MILT culture in Nigeria.
Manage It Like That (MILT) is a Nigerian phrase that expresses the heart and soul of service delivery in Nigeria. It means take it as you see it, and means just that. The word ‘manage’ implies “this isn’t ideal, we know, but by all means make do, because we’re not about offering a substitute”.
Did you order food from the restaurant and got a wrong order? Sorry. But you can’t be so wicked as to expect the poor restaurant to absorb the loss and replace your order. Just manage. It’s not like you’ll die eating fried rice instead of the jollof rice you ordered. Rice is rice, please….
None of My Business (NOMB) — A uniquely Nigerian problem
In Nigeria, nobody cares. NOMB is the pervasive body language in all actions, and interactions of most of our people. From the government to the common man on the street, the atmosphere is saturated with NOMB.
NOMB describes the reactions of typical Nigerians to unpleasant circumstances, situations, or actions of others that should normally elicit strong outrage or disapproval from those nearby or the community.
People typically react to any auspicious event that doesn’t instantly have direct or immediate impacts on them with the attitude of “it is None of My Business — NOMB.”
3. Not Until We Stop Lying to Ourselves
As it is with all other social media platforms, improperly used, TikTok could be a madly effective Weapon of Mass Distraction (WMD). So, I’ve kept it at bay for very long. Recently, I rediscovered its Restricted Mode. With this, I am able to screen out all the vulgar and unhelpful posts.
In one, clip a man asked his pretty wife to choose between a gift of one million dollar cash now, or receiving a penny that doubles its capital every day for 30 days.
The lady opted for the first choice. But at the end of 30 days, the one penny has grown to over five million dollars. No, I don’t blame her, many of us would have made the same choice.
One thing that struck me indelibly was the lady’s admission at the end of the clip.
“Maybe I choose wrong” at the onset.
In Nigeria, we never admit that we are wrong. Past, present, future.
Rather than taking responsibility, we continue to blame others, leading to the nation's downfall through corruption, unjust administration of justice, tribalism, religious and tribal animosity, prejudice, and electoral fraud.
Nobody is willing to admit that the bad choices, policies, and the blind MILT and NOMB formulae of the past have been responsible for our state of disunity and underdevelopment.
“Who do us like this?”
Na we we do ourselves.
(We did these to ourselves.)
Not until we stop our prodigal and profligate ways, Nigeria will continue regressing into the jungle of the Stone Ages.
Yes, we did it to ourselves.
Because choices have consequences.
In the words of Roger Berkowitz, Hannah Arendt's philosophy articulates that,
The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lies will now be accepted as truth, and the truth be defamed as lies, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world — and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this end — is being destroyed.”
For Arendt, “consistent lying, metaphorically speaking, pulls the ground from under our feet and provides no other ground on which to stand.” The result of consistent lying is that we come to experience “a trembling wobbling motion of everything we rely on for our sense of direction and reality.”
In Nigeria, most of our people willingly choose to live in lies. And so long as we prefer lies to truth, (principles, justice, equity,and fairness fairness), there can be no deliverance.
4. Nigeria: A Grand Field game. A Devolving Society
In a Facebook post, the writer Moses Oludele Idowu aptly depicted Nigeria as a grand playing field. Only fools kill or maim themselves because of an ordinary game.
There are two dangers, mortal dangers, into which anyone of us can fall; and which we must avoid at all cost. The first is not taking Nigeria seriously. But the second is the worst: taking Nigeria too seriously that we allow events to bother us and dominate our personal space and consciousness and rob us of our inward peace.
Most uneducated and ignorant people are prone to the former but the educated and enlightened and patriots usually fall for the latter….
In a game there are no consequences for losing because it is generally believed that this is thing for fun and amusement and entertainment. No one goes to jail for missing a penalty kick or failing to save a free kick resulting into a loss.
In Nigeria too no one pays any penalty for miscarriage or looting. Has any subsidy thief gone to jail for all the trillions of naira lost, of petrol imported into the country that Customs has no record of its entering into Nigeria?
No, I’m not being cynical.
Once you gain a genuine perspective and analyze events within Nigeria's gamified system, you'll no longer lose sleep. No, you are giving up. It’s just that this is the only way you can avoid forfeiting your sanity because of the maddening crowd and happenings consuming the land.
“And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” So said the Holy Bible.
In a riveting bone-chilling, realistic assessment of Nigeria, Mr. Kelechi Deca wrote
“Let me be honest with you guys.
I have lived the first half of my life. I am on the second half, and I have seen the world. I have paid attention to human developments, and societal changes across the world, so I am in a position to say that we are not going to get that type of society most of us are yearning for ….
There is no way this society will grow. Civilization is far from us because we are an unevolved society. Arrested development at the human evolutionary levels is our lot …
5. When Nigerians stop living by lies
What is the term for someone who repetitively does the same thing, anticipating different outcomes?
Insanity.
I frequently desire to emulate the optimism of other Nigerians, even in the face of the country’s bleak circumstances.
I can’t.
Why?
It is only in Nigeria that some people prefer a Satan from their religion to a God-honoring saint from other religions.
In Nigeria, we elect buccaneering dubious politicians and later start praying to God for deliverance from their hands.
Only in Nigeria will you find people counter-protesting against those who are protesting against the corrupt government in Nigeria. (#EndBadGovernanceInNigeria).
Instead of taking responsibility and governing effectively, the ruler and his supporters in Nigeria consistently blame the opposition for the nation’s problems.
In Nigeria, the rulers urge the people to make sacrifices while the ruling class lives luxuriantly on the country’s diminishing resources.
The list is endless.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being nihilistic.
Our national rebirth will start when we stop living by lies. Unfortunately, the events that unfold each day suggest that we are not yet eager to begin that process.
Why?
Our leaders seem to favor falsehoods, and many of our citizens appear content with this reality. Yet, deep within ourselves, we understand that no one is coming to save us.
The Only Way Out
When violence bursts onto the peaceful human condition, its face is flush with self-assurance, it displays on its banner and proclaims: “I am Violence! Make way, step aside, I will crush you!”
But violence ages swiftly, a few years pass — and it is no longer sure of itself. To prop itself up, to appear decent, it will without fail call forth its ally — Lies. For violence has nothing to cover itself with but lies, and lies can only persist through violence.
And it is not every day and not on every shoulder that violence brings down its heavy hand: It demands of us only a submission to lies, a daily participation in deceit — and this suffices as our fealty.
And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!
~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn — Live Not by Lies
Your Takeaways
Every Nigerians must acknowledge and take responsibility for past mistakes and actions. For the emergence of good leaders, all Nigerians must become engaged, responsible, and civic-minded followers.
It is imperative that we take action and become involved. No one will come to our rescue. A people who deem themselves unworthy of political salvation will not be saved by others.
When we begin to address the root of problems rather than just managing them superficially (MILT) or adhering to the detrimental mindset of 'it is None of my business' (NOMB), Nigeria will emerge and assume its rightful position among the nations.
Ours is a gamified system in which most of the actors get away with high handedness and brazen impunity. Not until we change and embrace truth and accountability, our nation will devolve into extinction.
For Nigeria and indeed for every nation and people, liberation and a society can only get better as the people embrace and live by truth.
None of My Business (NOMB) — A Nigerian Story
Manage It Like That (MILT) — A Nigerian story
Thanks for reading. This essay was originally published on Medium:
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