Moment of Truth Another Synonym for a Nigerian Before you start - TopicsExpress

Moment of Truth Another Synonym for a Nigerian Before you start to wonder, let me say quickly that everybody related by blood to the geographical entity single-handedly named as Nigeria by the late Mrs C. Lugard in1914 does not have many things in common. Mrs. Lugard was the respectable wife of the then Governor General representing the King of England, Lord F. Lugard who amalgamated the Northern and Southern protectorates with the Lagos colony. Since then, there has never been a nation known as Nigeria in the real sense but a conglomeration of strange bedfellows in a marriage of inconvenience. The truth is that what we have is a South Westerner owing allegiance to a Yoruba nation, an Easterner owing allegiance to the Igbo nation, a Northerner owing allegiance to the Hausa-Fulani nation and of recent the political novelty of a South-south claiming to be indigene of an Ijaw nation. Be truthful to yourself, the first thing that comes to your mind about your origin is that you are a Yoruba or Ibo or Fulani. Unfortunately in this so-called Nigeria, even politics does not mix us. We only try to mix politics on the basis of permanent interest where some people see others as mugun or stupids and come together to deceive them. There is no unity in Nigeria’s economy; even the benevolence of God in giving us oil is not allowed to unite us. Nigeria is such a country that has no connective nexus among its nations. Even the thinking of Nigerians is sectional! Think of it, friends, the diets are also sectional. I can go on and on but I’ll leave the rest to those who will get to read my book on what’s wrong with Nigeria. However all hopes are not lost; there is ONE particular thing that generally unify us and is common to all Nigerians. All the tribes that make up Nigeria like to be given pleasures and progress on a platter of gold and that all manna must come from heaven everlastingly. We sit on our bums, yawns, scavenge, drink and dance away our sorrows. An average Nigerian believes that life ends with having much money and living in opulence. He does mind the means and he is skilful at that. The whole world knows that if you want to deceive a Nigerian, put the secret in a book and not the one for his chosen profession. He will never open it. Any group of people who will not read or seek intellect is doomed. ALL THAT A NIGERIAN READS AND STUDIES ARE HIS BOOKS TO PASS HIS EXAMS AND PROFESSIONS; and that is if they don’t find another means of passing the exams. Just some days ago during the verification exercise in Edo state, the governor discovered that some teachers could not read and by extension could not write. Or how can a teacher write correctly if she cannot read? Even if a farmer seeks further intellectual knowledge outside his known zone, his harvest will be bumpier. But in Nigeria, a Doctor will only read books concerning medicine; an accountant will only read accounting books etc. Even the voluntary books of life like the Bible and Quran are never studied by Nigerians. They leave that to the Pastors and Imams. This is to the advantage of the Pastor who will interpret the holy book to achieve his own end because he knows that his congregation will not study the scriptures. Whoever is lazy will definitely be a coward. Nigerians are cowards and you wonder why? Because we are lazy intellectually. All we want is to get money or our own share without knowledge. That’s why instead of fighting for principles, we seek ways of getting our own and share of the national cake. The slogan is once my family is ok, the rest can go to hell. This is the only thing that cuts across all ethnic groups in Nigeria. We are lazy and then cowards. We are afraid of death; we cannot revolt; we cannot protest; we cannot demand our rights; we cannot even organise ourselves hence we cannot join the Arab springs; revolution cannot take place in Nigeria because as Governor Rotimi Amaechi puts it in both his press interview during the crisis in Ph and on Ben television in London on 31/7/2013, Nigerians have got such an unimaginable elastic to absorb anything thrown at them by their leaders. I think his Excellency is 100% correct. We are idiots and stupid and will endure several slaps without retaliation. Without reading widely, education is not complete. Without being curious about what goes on in other disciplines or areas, development is elusive. Ask yourself, how many other books or write-ups or novels have you read in the last year outside your field. Without reading widely, you will have no confidence to stand up against tyranny. We must stop being illiterates in Nigeria. Stand out and change, any money spent to buy variety of books is a good investment in knowledge. My people perish for lack of knowledge, so says the holy book Another synonym for a Nigerian is Intellectual laziness. Study and stand up for your right, at least because of future generations. See you next week, by HIS grace when we shall be talking about the capitalist pastors. May God increase you and shower His love on you. Have a blessed week, friends and families.