I think, as Nigerians, our expectations are way too high.
A friend of mine used to say "wetin you no go accept as rich
man, reject am as poor man". The saying simply means keep your standard
constantly high, don't bow to the laws of marginal cost, because if you give
way on something you have to compromise on another that may matter more. We
cannot lower our standards as people on some issues and be outraged when we get
other things of lower standards.
It's a mix of very funny and very sad, the kind of simple things
that have been used to displace the Nigerian common sense, then we rant and
rave trying to prove how high our expectations are.
When you are okay with driving on bad roads and not asking
questions, you want to take offense that customer care is not responding to
you?
When you are okay with no electricity in your house for one week
and yet you want the solar energy company to give you bargain prices?
You are okay with constant interruptions of your leadership and
you think that teachers should come and teach students with unpaid salaries and
no classrooms?
You are okay with all your children going to another country and
standing the risk of being treated as second class citizens yet you take
offense that doctors don't want to work?
A country that will not go after people we know are stealing us
blind, yet you want the rule of Law to supersede when solders go harassing Journalists?
We cannot keep quiet, when a person comes in and destabilises the
country and then complain when people decide that what the person is saying
actually makes sense. You cannot be okay, when you give a child lower marks in
school because of his/her tribe and then go ahead to complain bitterly, because
you think that that deep routed tribalism will give way so that a person in
power considers you first for a position when you are not of the same tribe?
Expectations are way too high.
I am of the opinion that while it's the job of the basic Nigerian
to affect his immediate surroundings with positivity and change what he doesn't
like by speaking up. We can only go so far, if the government is still doing
things in circles locking us into a mess of their own making.
I cannot say I know what the solution to rebuilding our confidence
in this country is, but I think once people are able to put aside age old
divides of tribe and religion, once we are able to set aside unnecessary
differences and sit at the same table and seriously decide on what solutions
will be, once we are able to then take these solutions and implement them step
by step. Then and only then can we see a difference.
A house is only left
volatile, when some areas are not attended or locked. It’s time for the government
to stop ignoring sections of the country that they don't take seriously because
as a Nigerian proverb goes "na so clap dey turn to dance".
That being said, it's time for Nigerians to get serious. Are you
telling me, that you will take the word of a person who hasn't struggled with
you on the streets, who does not know what really hurts you, some person who
drags for fame and scatters your own house? Isn't it time to ask for opportunities
to negotiate your current situation and hold those who you have so valiantly
supported and your elders and leaders accountable for your situation? What will
the real minorities in Nigeria say. The indigenous Abuja folk and the close to
200 tribes that go nearly unrecognised on a daily bases. The minority southerners
that get classified as Igbo and are not.
I unfortunately still have very high expectations, as a human being
and especially as a Nigerian.
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