The Other Problems Of Nigerians By Mohammed 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.com