The Other Problems Of Nigerians By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu August 5, 2013 - 02:00 — siteadmin By Mohd Dahiru Aminu First, as an undergraduate student in a university in Nigeria, my life changed one afternoon when I walked into the office of the head of department to lay a complaint. Get out of my office, he shouted, just before I could lay my complaint. I walked out, and never returned. I heard he was recently promoted to the rank of professor in the university. He is intolerant. He is Nigerian. Second, the other day I was passing by the market when I saw two soldiers beating up a civilian, hardheartedly. They beat him up unpityingly until he was utterly battered. His clothes were tattered. They attacked, stroked, and assaulted him mercilessly. I was told the soldiers were out for his blood because they saw him wearing a camouflage jacket, which they believe only soldiers have the modus operandi to wear. They are crude. They are unsophisticated. We don’t see any wrong in their actions. They are soldiers. They are Nigerians. Third, as I drove one afternoon in Lagos, a group of people who identified themselves as men of the Nigeria Police Force brought my car to a stop. I was asked to park by the roadside. I did. They wanted to see the car’s particulars. I gave them. They asked for my identity card. I showed them. I was asked to pay ten thousand naira or risk being taken to the police station for further questioning. They extorted two thousand five hundred naira, and allowed me to go. No one told me what my crime was. Oh I forgot; the crime must be that I owned a car. They are policemen. They are extortionists. They are Nigerians. Fourth, one evening in the airport, just when I was about undergoing airport security check, I was stopped by an airport official. He asked my name. I told him. He asked where I was travelling. I told him. He looked at my luggage. No security threat was found. But he couldn’t ask me to go board my flight since I couldn’t give him money. I refused to give money to him even when he asked for it openly; without any attempt for concealment. I walked away and boarded my flight. He was angry and furious. He was greedy. He is Nigerian. Fifth, a woman went to the hospital expecting a baby. She was in labour pains. Childbirth is painful. It was discomforting. It was hurting. It was aching. It was stinging. It was throbbing. It was smarting. It was twinging. The midwives could have consoled her. They could have comforted her. They could have soothed her. They could have calmed her. They could have supported her. No they wouldn’t do that. It’s not in their ethics. They would instead prefer to insult her, and hit her, and smack her, and whack her, all as she laboured hard to push out the baby. Though she was innocent. To the midwives, she was guilty. She was guilty for daring to give birth in Nigeria. They are midwives. They are wicked. They are Nigerians. Sixth, my neighbour, the fifty-something year old civil servant recently got promoted to a higher rank in the office. After two years of his promotion no one has seen any changes in the community, which his office was mandated to oversee. But we saw changes in his lifestyle. We saw changes in the life style of his wives, children, and relations. We were meant to not assume he was a corrupt man, but our eyes couldn’t assume so, as we obviously can discern corruption when we see it. It is true that the old man really helped himself with government coffers. He was said to have paid school fees for a few of the neighbour’s children. He also married again; a “new” wife, a teenager. He’s a nice, God-fearing man, the neighbours say. They are Nigerians. Seventh, the people are illiterates. They are wedged in poverty. The youth are unemployed. Majority of the people lack the access and the ability to harness economic and financial opportunities. But the population is concerned with frivolities. Half of its children are out of school. There is a soaring figure of infant and maternal mortality. There is a massive conglomeration of beggars and the impoverished. But the people are unconcerned about these but are ready to go to war if the Nigerian senate impedes, say, on their “rights” to marry minors. They are vulnerable. They are Nigerians. Above all it is said that a certain foreign power has predicted the disintegration of this foregathering of ours in the very near future. No nation has forged ahead in this manner, said the foreign power. We accused this foreign power of being behind a grand, perfidious plot to divide our “unity.” Such a factual forecast might look like rocket science especially to a people known for rejecting simple realities. But in plain terms such predictions seem real; it seems true! Mohammed Dahiru Aminu wrote from London, United Kingdom. He can be reached at mohd.aminu@gmail
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 17:14:32 +0000
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