By Adesegun Damazio
Each time someone highlights the gross disadvantages of being a Nigerian, you must before anything else understand the outcry is borne out of deep-seated pain and regret.
The outcry is borne out of longstanding endurance of all ills, a perpetual miasma that engulfs every well-meaning human in its path with nothing but anguish as its resultant debris.
About fifteen years ago, President Emmanuel Macron was an intern at the French Embassy in Nigeria and lived among us. Today, our president occupies the same position as he did 35 years ago and currently seeks a four-year extension.
Since the Berger tanker explosion, not a single culprit or company has been named or brought to book. And in spite of several eyewitness accounts and dash cam footage, no inquest has been authorized. Take it or leave it, it appears the victims – men, pregnant mother, families, children – died for nought. No compensation, no honour.
Another video recently surfaced where a young lawyer could be seen lamenting the brutality meted out on him by two members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad from Kem Selem Police Division. He’d only gone to seek his outstanding salary owed him by his employer who had previously issued him a dud cheque.
Just yesterday, another team of SARS officials gruesomely murdered a young lady in her prime on the streets of Abuja. She was due to complete her NYSC scheme today, 5th July, 2018. Trust the police to either claim accidental discharge or an act of self defense.
Few days ago, nine (+ or -) police officers were murdered in cold blood in Abuja and had their guns taken away by unknown assailants. There’s been no official statement released by the DPO or DSP concerning their identities. But we’ve seen several unidentified social media users theorize those ammunition are being stored in preps for an imminent revolution.
The same theorists asked doubters to explain the increased rate of disappearance of SARS officers and their weapons, though unknown to the media and unreported by security outfits. At first, you can discard the accounts but on introspection, also ponder why some of them now dress casually, as against the typical uniform or branded polo.
Also, two top government spokespersons were rumored to have made incendiary comments in the media. One postulated that it’s better to cede ancestral land to marauding herdsmen than die defending it and the other claimed Nigerians currently enjoy more electricity than they actually need.
According to Amnesty International, a total of about 1,705 lives have been lost to herdsmen/farmers killings and communal banditry in Nigeria in 2018 alone, while Boko Haram claimed 112 victims within the same period.
The British General Medical Council has announced that starting from November 2018, Nigerian doctors will now be able to write board exams in two more locations in Nigeria, with an additional plan to make questions less bulky. This means that more medical professionals will be able to port. And if you’re in doubt, jot down the number of medical exports between June 2017 – June 2018 and see if it would not have more than doubled by June 2019.
This is a country with high infant and maternal mortality rate, decrepit health care and where less than 3% have medical insurance while others are just one debilitating illness away from a GoFundMe crusade.
Amidst all of this, our own president has resorted to spiritual warfare and of course, travel blogging. He wishes Nigeria well from the abroad and by so doing, relives the Nigerian dream. He’s visibly unbothered by our misery and I’d be surprised if people are still surprised by his actions.
And if bad news bothers you, I double dare you to counter this post with any newsworthy development of large-scale benefit to average Nigerians at the moment.
Do you now see why calamity must not befall us a second time
