What I Think Is The Problem We Have In Nigeria

When I read our newspapers, listen to our radio stations, watch our TV stations and examine the actions of the people I come across, one thing stands out. Most of us in Nigeria ignore facts. Even when it stares us in the eyes or trips us up, we still ignore it. And that is what I think is our biggest problem in Nigeria.

image: nigerianstalk.org

For some people it's because they are not aware of the facts. Last weekend I heard a driver saying that Nigeria is not mature enough to do permanent voters card. I guess he meant developed enough. Either way, he knows so little about the voters registration process. His case is that of ignorance. 

The other reason people ignore facts is because they chose to. They know the facts and are convinced that they will gain more by ignoring them than accepting them. Our politicians do this almost all the time. They care more about their personal gain than doing what is right.

So why do I think that this is the problem we have in Nigeria? Aren't there people in US and UK who ignore facts? Is this a bigger problem that corruption? 

Yes, there are people in US, UK and every developed country in the world who ignore facts, but not as much as us. We ignore too many obvious facts. Our politicians in government earn too much and employ too many people; they waste too much of the country's money. And we all know, but we ignore it. Boko Haram is flourishing because of few very wealthy people, the government knows these people but wouldn't confront them. It ignores the root of the problem. Our police commits more crime than any group of people in the entire country and we all know it. We ignore both the fact and the police. We ignore so many things that we know should be fixed. And that is what separates us the most from the developed countries: they face their problems headlong.

And as for corruption, there is no where in the world that you won't find corruption. There will always be people wanting to get more than they deserve and taking more than is rightfully theirs. But the real problem is when we let them flourish by ignoring their corrupt activities. When we would rather give a thief a national award than send him to jail. When our legislators and judges ignore obvious facts. That is way more dangerous than the corruption itself. It creates people without conscience and honest people without voices.

We need to confront all the wrong things going on in our country. We need to make wrong doers ashamed of their actions regardless of their political status or wealth. We need to put knowledgeable people in power and make it easy for them to do their jobs. We need to slim down the civil service. We need to pressure the government to reform the police and make them more law abiding. We need to pressure the government to give unlawful soldiers stiffer punishments and swift prosecution. We need to pressure government to put honest leaders in charge of PHCN not people who allow their staff to generate spurious bills and collect bribes. And most importantly, we need to prove that we are bigger than the people in government and that we put them there.