Cost of being born a Nigerian,
Opinion
You must have heard people say that you can choose where to die but not where to be born. They are not entirely correct about choosing where to die but about where to be born? – 100% right. If one can choose where to be born, obviously, only thieving politicians will choose to come to this world as Nigerians. This country is their ‘Greener pastures’!
Here is a place where the political elite cage the polity to the detriment of the masses. The people watch helplessly, gagged and caged. No more peaceful protests, no demonstrations, no more shouting ‘ebi npawa oo’. We must suffer in silence; that’s the cost of being born a Nigerian.
With ‘vexation of the spirit’, you watch these corruption-personified-humans cruising about both within and outside, with funds meant for the country’s development. Meanwhile, the masses languish in penury. They flaunt opulence right on our faces as their mistresses and arch praise singers viciously attack dissenting voices.
This is a country where citizens have been so hoodwinked that they side with the same politicians impoverishing them and then fighting each other. So pathetic!
A funny country that developed insomnia due to ongoing war between two superpowers but lacks the vigour to stop killer herdsmen from butchering hundreds of Benue people in one attack. They will not allow survivors to protest. Instead, people must swallow their pain, turn out en mass, and in colourful regalia to welcome Mr. President, days after.
Here, the people wish for another Prophet Elijah. He may never come, except God intervenes because here, most revered ministers of God only ‘occupy Nigeria’ when they despise the president in charge. We are asked instead to bind and cast away Nigeria’s spiritual problems when their favourite person heads Aso Rock. They end up robbing their photo opps right on our faces. Prophet Elijah never wined or dined with King Ahab or Ahaziah. He would rather deal with their nonsense in the open.
Here is a place where a so-called social activist brandished weapons in a viral video, threatening a whole tribe. He was rewarded with a photo opp; no caution. And now, if you’re an opponent and you criticize the government, either of two things happens to you; you’re either gagged perpetually or won over. Next, the critique begins to sing a new song for obvious reasons. That’s the cost of being born a Nigerian; losing your integrity once you go back to your vomit. Even looters of state or national treasury are told to cross over to another political party, and their sins are forgiven. And we watch that truly happen with ‘vexation of the spirit’.
Here is a country with a high unemployment rate that has turned the majority of her graduates into Keke, Korope, and okada riders. That’s for decent and industrious citizens, actually. Most feeble Gen Zs prefer Yahoo, Yahoo. Swindling people, including their fellow poor neighbours, sets them on the same pedestal as the looters in power. Many Yahoo boys even add a ‘plus’ (rituals) to their illicit trade; the very reason their girlfriends, etc, constantly go missing. You see them being chased about by officers, and you think it’s for correctional purposes. For where? Someone needs his cut!
A country where the education standard is at the brink. Millions of out-of-school children liter the streets as child labour, while entrance examination bodies have turned the shadow of themselves as ‘Human error’ is fast robbing them of their integrity.
Once upon a time when you could fill a 5-litre container with just one thousand worth of fuel. Then you fill your mini generator set (I pass my neighbour) and engage in the war of the loudest noise with your neighbours. That brand of generator has become extinct; thank God! Our ears are hardly troubled by the sounds of generators from the bigger generators, even without electricity supply. Who can fuel the generators now? The same families that can hardly afford two unbalanced meals a day because staple foods have become luxury? Or is it the ones that can scarcely afford house rents or school fees for their children? The same families that can not buy a family size loaf of bread with one thousand naira?
A 65-year-old country, richly endowed with everything – human, natural resources yet poor. We have everything yet possessing nothing. What an irony!
A country where the people’s heads are hardly over the waters of renewed shege and politicians are already drumming to maintain the status quo come 2027. They care less about how we will survive till then. Their mass exodus to where the ‘national cake’ is yummy testifies that it’s all to boost their personal treasuries.
Sadly, this is a country where the people said yes to democracy in 2023. But in a twist, the electoral umpire threw its hat in the ring and said ‘lai, lai’, that can’t happen. Is a country where a referee in such a crucial battle turns a competitor, a sane clime to be born?
This is an entity where, frustrated, students accept courses against their choices just to gain admission into the university. They graduate into Korope, keke, okada riders, and hawkers in traffic. Funny, the ‘aboki’s escaping from terrorism in the north are now pushing them out of that hustle, hence, the japa conundrum. Many who can’t afford migrating legally embark on journeys of no return through the deserts. While some have their carcasses littering the deserts, others perish in the Mediterranean Sea. Few who make it through Europe end up as slaves. That’s the price for being born a Nigerian!
This is a country where citizens slave in companies owned by foreigners and are paid peanuts; nobody cares. Those out in search of ‘greener pastures’, end up with demeaning jobs just to survive. Very pathetic! A country where someone could serve in a company for over a decade and never graduates from being a casual worker. It is truly a blessed country where women are subtly coerced into using what they have to get what they want. It’s everywhere- entertainment, banking, public and private offices, etc.
In this part of the world, news about how terrorists, bandits, and killer herdsmen unleash mayhem on innocent citizens assault us daily. It turns worse when it’s about how ‘repentant’ Boko haram members are ‘rehabilitated’, given a hero’s welcome party, and reintegrated into the society. ‘An attack on Boko haram is an attack on the north’; does that ring a bell? Now, the monster they created/allowed has become hydra headed. Meanwhile, petty thieves who are caught receive either jungle justice or waste in prison awaiting trial. They spend billions constructing roads that are scarcely used because kidnappers, terrorists have laid siege on them. How can communities be safe with so-called ex terrorists? Little wonder some states are bleeding profusely. And when survivors tried protesting, they were teargassed back home. People must die in silence. That’s the price of being born a Nigerian.
Truly, what politicians have made us become ignites ‘vexation of the spirit’ in the words of King Solomon. You just wish you were born some place saner.
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Opinion You must have heard people say that you can choose where to die but not where to be born. They are not entirely correct about choosing where to die but about where to be born? – 100% right. If one can choose where to be born, obviously, only thieving politicians will choose to come […]
The post Cost of being born a Nigerian appeared first on Vanguard News.
, , Idowu Bankole, {authorlink},, , Vanguard News, June 21, 2025, 2:03 am
