SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI
Things are bad in Nigeria; very-very bad. But, you have to step out of Nigeria to fully comprehend the great damage that has been done to the confidence and faith of Nigerians in their country. I write this edition of Saturday Breakfast from the United States and I see on the faces and hear in the voices of practically every Nigerian I meet, the surrender of a conquered people, with no hope of reversing the defeat. The confusion and controversy following the outcome of the February/March elections, have dealt Nigerians in the diaspora a deadly blow. They don’t know who to turn to.
For many, the elections were a chance to change the direction of the country for the better. Let’s not fool ourselves, the divisions that have held the country down in recent years have only become wider. The values that point the way forward have all but evaporated. The institutions that ought to hold the nation together have all been shattered. Nigerians no longer believe in nor trust anyone. There is not much in or about Nigeria today that makes sense to most right-thinking people. Everybody is talking but nobody is listening.
Let’s face it: we have had problems for as long as one can remember. Our dilemma with darkness did not start under the Buhari regime. For many years, we have shouted ‘NEPA!’ in celebration of the odd one hour of light after many hours of darkness. Nigerians have had to wrestle with the pandemic of corruption for as long as one can think of. The difference is that in the past, we had hope that things would get better. Suddenly, we have no hope. We trust nobody and believe in nobody.
Without doubt, we have had too many incompetent and too many corrupt people in too many positions in our country for too long. We even fought a fratricidal war which left thousands of our children with horrific kwashiorkor and hundreds of thousands of our brothers dead. We have had military coups on top of military coups and military rule of all colorations. Now, civilians have taking over the coup plotting and perfected it.
While the Chinese were working on 4G and 5G, Nigerians invented 419 and we have lived through it. Despite all of these, Nigerians always had a kind of swagger. We looked at anyone from anywhere boldly in the eyes and dared whoever that person is to take us on. If you pushed a Nigerian, he pushed you back. We had little doubt that we were a special breed made to face whatever challenges life threw at us. We went into the football field to battle everyone tackle for tackle. Our Eagles were not just Green, they were Super!
Recently, circumstances have made me see Nigerian friends living in several cities in the United States. In many places in the U.S. there are entire Nigerian families – children, father, mother, uncle, auntie, grandfather and grandmother. They have all run away from Nigeria. In some places, it looks like the whole clan has migrated and if they can get visas for their dogs, goats and cats, they would ship them out too.
Almost every Nigerian I met has lost that Nigerian swagger. It does not matter whether they have the green card or the American passport, they don’t talk with the usual Nigerian bravado anymore. They talk like citizens of a failed state. They whisper. They are scared. Most of them left their villages in search of the golden fleece. Their intent was to go back home at the end of the day to where they are not mere statistics but proper citizens. Now, it is beginning to dawn on them that they are never going anywhere. They may die and be buried where they presently live. They may never be more than mere statistics for the rest of their lives.
Some of them from my part of the country who have built exquisite mansions at home have abandoned their mansions to cobwebs, rats, cockroaches and lizards. They know that some eagle-eyed kidnapper is permanently scanning their homes to see when the lights would be turned on. If for any reason they must return home, they must first make a sizeable budget for a small army of security men and keep several millions in a holding account as ransom for the day the kidnapper strikes. Many sleep in hotels far away from their exquisite mansions. The greatest success of all used to be to travel home to celebrate your success. Not anymore!
All over WhatsApp, notifications of “unknown gunmen” raiding police stations and killing policemen on duty at roadblocks, with gory photos that tear at your soul, have become part of the daily consumption of Nigerians. Tell me, if the Police station in your hometown is not safe, where then is safe?
Almost every Nigerian I have met in America wants to talk to me. They think that I know more than they do but I don’t. In fact, I have been treated like someone from the war front. The words they use to describe Nigeria are shocking: ‘nightmare’, ‘wasted’, ‘disgraceful’, ‘tragic’, ‘hopeless’, etc. They seem to be taken aback that I plan to go back to Nigeria after a few weeks. Truly, some look at me as if something has gone wrong with me and I have signed a contract with suicide. “You mean you escaped that horror and you want to go back?!”, I am asked over and over again.
The frightening thing is that most of my best friends of the 1980s and 1990s now live in America. Among them are some really brilliant folks that the Nigerian nation would need to remake itself. Unfortunately, nothing is happening at home that suggests to them that home wants them or that the land of their new struggle has not become their home and future burial ground.
There was the period just before the ‘Ghana must go’ episode when our brothers from the Republic of Ghana used to walk with their heads bowed because their leaders had turned their great nation into a place where no decent person could have a decent life. Many of them ran to Nigeria to do menial jobs. To all intents and purposes, the average Ghanaian man lost his manhood.
Just recently, the “Black Stars” came to Abuja and in front of thousands of Nigerians, casually knocked us out of the World Cup! Nigerians are today walking around with their heads bowed. No confidence… no swagger. Our leaders have turned our great nation into a place without hope. What is this that is happening to the Giant of Africa and its people known for our hitherto unstoppable self-belief? I have always been a great believer in the destiny of our nation. I am however bewildered by what I see. Has our iniquity caught up with us or will we rise again like Ghana?
See you next week!
