By Adeola Aderounmu

There are several millions of people in Nigeria living in abject poverty and penury. I have been writing about this topic for many years. Over and over again l have defined mass poverty using Nigeria as a point of reference.

Don’t get this twisted few Nigerians are among the richest people in the world. There are legitimate ways to make money in Nigeria and abroad through hardwork, business focus and dedication.

But l will always prefer to write for the Nigerian who does not even know what he is going to do today or the one who has no hope for what he is going to eat for the next 24 hours.

There are over 100 million poor people Nigerians. Nigeria is the global capital of poverty. This is an abnormality because Nigeria is probably the richest country in the world. Nigeria is blessed with natural and human resources and she ought to be the number one nation in the world in terms of prosperity and the good life.

Now ask yourself, how can a country that is probably the richest in the world be home to some of the poorest people in the world? It is a very complicated situation and we have taken too long in this journey to stupidity in Nigeria.

I cannot tell you all about Nigeria but l can give you a quick review of the last decade or so.

Presently Nigeria is ruled (in 2018) by a man called Buhari. By all standards and measure this is a man that is not fit to be the president of Nigeria. This brings me straight to the topic Nigerian politics, the meaning of collective foolishness.

If we are not collectively foolish and stupid in Nigeria we should never have allowed unintelligent and dull people to run our political terrain. Above that, if we are not stupid and foolish we should NEVER have allowed criminals to rule us or to get away anyhow.

Our public institutions failed us and we failed ourselves by not having revolting minds. Somewhere along the way Nigerians became divided in several ways and this divide and rule became another addition to our collective stupidity.

The price we pay is huge. Globally not many people respect Nigerians despite the contributions that Nigerians in the diaspora give to the global economy, global health, global industrialization and global education. In many ways you can count the ways smart and intelligent Nigerians contribute to the world at large after been extracted from home or being born abroad.

But in that failed country called Nigeria, right there in the land, grand stupidity, madness and collective foolishness is the order of the day in politics and public service.

Of all the intelligent people in Nigeria and those we can bring back home from abroad, our president is Buhari. Buhari was a military man, a semi-illiterate who has no business with politics. He is the president. The most obvious anomaly of his emergence as a president is the fact that his deputy is a University professor. You can never find another country in the world displaying such collective stupidity.

Without any apology in sight, Nigerians display total and collective stupidity in allowing this to happen no matter what led to it. It does not matter what led to this, the fact is that it is stupid and foolish.

I mentioned earlier that criminals are ruling Nigeria and that is so correct. One way or the other these criminals are not going away soon as they continue to win cases in courts to prolong their criminal careers. I don’t care that these criminals won court cases and I don’t give a shit about whether l can prove the cases myself.

The list is long and they are all in the APC and PDP. All of them are criminals. This is the collective foolishness in Nigeria. It is the collective stupidity-that criminals are the politicians.

They are criminals because they are looting, stealing and living big. They have cars beyond their needs. They have houses beyond their needs, they live abroad and in Nigeria, their families are mostly abroad, they seek medical help abroad. Their children, relations and close acquaintances all go to school abroad or they travel abroad to lavish Nigeria’s stolen wealth.

If Nigerian politicians are not thieves or criminals, there will be not one single bad road in Nigeria. Nigerians roads are among the worst roads l have seen all my life. The roads in Nigeria clearly show the absence of sane governance. Pray you never have an emergency in Nigeria and need to seek medical help more than 5 km from your home. The result can be death! A journey of 15 minutes can take you 3 hours or more if you ever get going! In some cases, you can end up in deadlock traffic.

Public education is now history in Nigeria. Government shows little or no interest in public education and illiteracy has risen sharply in Nigeria. Private schools have been erected in every corner in Nigeria. So many of them are mushroom schools and a few of them are good standards. Huge sums of money are paid for education making it a luxury in modern day Nigeria.

Health is no longer wealth in Nigeria. There is poor health delivery to the masses and just like education, the health service you get is a measure of your pocket and getting quality health  is therefore a luxury. Maternal deaths are still common especially during child birth and death during childhood especially from preventable and curable diseases including malaria are still rampant.

You can go on like l have done over the years to list the problems with Nigeria. I know that some people always shout “but what are the solutions you are prescribing”.

There is only one solution-that which has worked for all the developed countries in the world.

The solution is good governance.

But how can Nigeria have good governance when criminals, morons, illiterates, useless people, mumus, foolish and stupid idiots are running the politics? Why can’t the rest of us agree and come together to end this rubbish.

And when we talk about good governance, we cannot have it through the useless unitary/military system we have in Nigeria.

Nigeria is what it is because of our divergent opinions which has resulted in our collected foolishness. The public institutions failed us and we failed ourselves by becoming comfortable with bad governments. We became afraid rather than securing our total freedom and ensuring that our children have a place they can call home. Many of us found our way out of Nigeria and are not planning to return.

But we must save Nigeria.

In some cases we brought good people to government but because of the way government is run these good people became bad people. They never talk or resign or point out the problems they are facing. Rather they become accomplices and only talk when they are out of office and out of favour. That is another form of stupidity even by those who we think are intelligent and professionals.

So Nigeria is in a dilemma.

Where these types of problems have occurred before like in Europe, the turn around to sanity started with violent and bloody revolutions. Nigeria may get there.

But that is avoidable if reasons prevail even now.

Nigerians need to discuss at the regional levels and each state and region in Nigeria owe it a responsibility to seek the help of her brilliant minds and best brains. Enough of all these idiots and fools in political offices/positions!

Nigeria can become the best place to live in the world in less than 10 years! It is a possibility if we round up all these criminals in power and bundle them into prisons. We take back all our monies in their local and international accounts.

We can reorganize Nigeria at the regional levels and speed up development through healthy development projects. We can rebuild Nigeria on the strength of our regional prowess and human resources. We can make the big oil companies to follow our tunes or kick them out of Nigeria for good.

We can open up more ports across Nigeria to aid even regional development and decongest Lagos.

With dedication and patriotism we can build up the education industry and make primary education compulsory again. We can reform our health institutions and make Nigeria the health base of Africa.

We can harness the youth and make them productive rather than unemployed and criminally minded.

There is a lot we can do in Nigeria and as Nigerians if we first take the power away from the center and ensure that only our best minds and our best brains are entrusted with the running of public affairs.

We must trace back our steps and existence to the time before the 1966 military coup. We must trace back to the time when we love one another and helped one another.

I know there is a lot of problems in Nigeria because of tribalism and nepotism, that it is not a secret that people are brought into different offices not because of what they know but because they are from a certain part of the country. When we turn back to regional government and a ceremonial head of state with very limited power, all that nonsense will stop and education, merit and dignity will be restored.

If we don’t resolve to stop all the atrocities and all the nonsense that is going on in our politics and if in 2019 the status quo is still the case then l still owe no one any apology because it means we are all still foolish and stupid.

The only cure to our collective foolishness and stupidity that has made Nigeria one of the worst places to be born or live is a radical decision and a collective will to see that we change things for the best in the shortest possible time.

A vote for a Buhari, Atiku or Saraki for example in 2019 is pure madness. I just thought l should add that we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a better outcome.

Away with criminals by all means and by any means!

I never know where to stop my articles and essays and that probably makes me the angriest Nigerian alive today. I am also the saddest Nigerian take it or leave it! It does not matter that l live a good life, l am sad and angry everyday because Nigeria is a total mess and a complete horror to behold. I know we can have it good and lovely and it hurts how we think, reason, act and how selfish and wicked we have become as a people.

The Angry and Sad Blogger!

aderounmu@gmail.com

@aderinola