My Nigerianness Has Expired

March 9, 2014 / Adeola / 4 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

One day in December 2006, I sat in my car for more than 4 hours at a gas station in Festac Town, Lagos. We had queued up for petrol because the commodity had been scarce for some time. That morning when I arrived at the gas station at about 6 a.m, I thought I was going to be one of the first people at the station but to my chagrin surprise it appeared that some people slept over at the gas station.

As I waited and drove at snail speed to the nozzle where all the attention was, I saw how people struggled and fought to procure a commodity that is flowing freely right underneath their feet. For the first time in my life, I cried out loud, profusely with lots of tears flowing from my eyes. I was alone. There was no chance of consolation and my emotions burst without any hindrance. I had returned 2 weeks earlier from a place where I just drive to an unmanned gas station, fill my tank and drive away in no time. MyNigerianness had expired.

One day I wrote to a friend discussing about my paternal leave in 2007. He was shocked as I explained the process to him and that the plan was to be at home with my daughter who was one at the time. In 2011 I repeated the process taking care of our second child. In this piece titled- An argument for parental Leave,http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/adeola-aderounmu/an-argument-for-parental-leave-13.html, published here in the village square and in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper I shared the experiences and the benefits of parental leave. But I know how far Nigeria and Nigerians are from such idealism. I know that my Nigeriannesss had expired.

When I’d talked to some people at home and abroad about picking up my children from school and making them dinner, I know the type of scorn and other types of reactions that people show (or sometimes fail to show). But if you grew up with my mother of blessed memory, it was imperative that you could cook. It was our next line of training after high school to take over the kitchen tasks while waiting for admission to the University.

During our younger years, we were required to be at home when the food was made so that we can participate in the consumption. If you were away, your reasons must be genuine and understandable. Unfortunately this family value given to boys and the ability to use it at home in the presence of the female members of the family is not generalised in Nigeria. Things fell apart many years ago and some misunderstanding of cultural values tangled with ego and ignorance.

There was one man I’d met regularly in Stockholm in the early 2000s. He was always late to our meetings and there was always one reason or the other while he came late. My replies were blunt; I always told him that I didn’t believe him. His problem was that he did not know how to shed the African time syndrome. I don’t meet this man again. He had since found his way back to Ibadan.

There are other things that remind me of the African time syndrome. One day I was invited to an event that was slated to start at 5pm. By 7pm, they had not even finished preparing the venue, so I left and when I got home I was able to see one of the football games for the evening. About a week later I heard from other people at another event that the New Yam Festival event went on to start around midnight! I was glad for the call I made-to return home before the evening burnt out. My Nigerianness had expired!

Last summer (2013) I started using my bicycle more often. I biked to the train station and then join the communal transport. When I arrived at work, I would have been on the bicycle, the train and the bus. I thought it would be over by the end of summer. No, it didn’t! I went on to bike to the train station over the autumn and then winter. Around 2008, I’d found the idea of people changing the tyres of their bicycle to winter tyres ridiculous but that was just what I did in December 2013 as winter sets in. My Nigerianness is over!

If someone had shown me this vision in 2001 or even in 2005, I would have laughed. Now I know that myNigerianness had totally expired. I no longer see the egoistic statuses that we went about dissipating when I was living in Nigeria. I know I’m never going to be able to give up that Nigerian sense of fashion and beauty. But for cars, they don’t mean the same thing to me as they did in 2001.

In another essay from July 2007 I’d asked a question: Who Planned Our Lives In Nigeria? Life can be easy or easier if we judge it by the simple things that have self-fulfilling effects. Life can be more meaningful if we don’t live above our incomes and if we stop setting standards just to meet other people’s expectations or their fantasies.

Life is more worth living if we live gracefully. My hope for Nigeria is that the time will come when the majority of the people will stop struggling just to survive but rather that they are presented with the fair opportunities to let them reach their potentials and accomplish happiness built on contentment and selflessness. That time will be freedom time, a freedom that will be fought for.

I’m feeling that my hopes mean that the possibility of reviving my Nigerianness may have been lost forever.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigeria: The Rise Of Evil And Terrorism

March 2, 2014March 2, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

When late Musa Yar’ Adua became the ruler of Nigeria in 2007 after one of the several disputed elections in Nigeria, one of his “achievements” was granting amnesty to the Niger Delta militants. He had a 6 or 7 points agenda which included the empty vow to improve power supply. The rest is history.

The stories regarding the origin and the spread of militancy in the Niger Delta creeks are diversed. They are based on different lines of arguments and different schools of thoughts. The arguments are also influenced by political inclinations. The propagation and sustenance of falsehood in Nigeria is also like an occupation on its own. Some people are paid even by government to do this.

However I know some honest people who earn their livelihood by taking dangerous sea trips to fish in Nigerian internal and territorial waters. Therefore what I know for certain based on eyewitnesses’ reports is that the militants became more “useful” when Obasanjo was aiming for his second term in office.

The allegations wrapped Mr. Obasanjo and some governors from the Niger Delta areas in the game plan and the summary was that when the elections were over, the militants became more potent than ever before and they also found new ways and tools to become more relevant than the pre-Obasanjo era.

The things that happened around that time would lend more credence to these narrations from the people that I know and met. For, at that time in the history of Nigeria more people became aware of attacks on national pipelines and the growing spate of kidnapping, first of expatriates and then of any Dick, Tom and Harry escalated. At the beginning of week 9 in 2014 one man referred to as the adopted father of Goodluck Jonathan was kidnapped. He’s surely worth a ransom of USD20bn.

Let me go back in time. When I was a young boy, at my early teen years to be sure, I remembered that I swore never to step my feet on the soils of Northern part of Nigeria. My decision at that time was informed by the types of news and images that I got about Northern Nigeria. For me at that time, the North was the North. I probably had insufficient knowledge of regional geography.

I was one of those kids who read Newspapers from an early age. I could say I was 8 years old when I started reading Newspaper and I remembered that my father specifically bought me books about Nigeria. At age somewhere between 13 or 15 I read Naiwu Osahon’s “A Nation In Custody”. Those kinds of books helped to build my interest in national issues. They also formed me as I saw from an early age that Nigeria was/is ruled by criminals and heading to perdition. We are still on that road. Sadly too, Nigeria and Nigerians are still in custody.

The formative years of a child are important as I’d come to learn and experience personally. I remembered how I “worked” hard to influence my National service. I had little faith in the program and I was not ready to cross the boundaries of western Nigeria. Once I did so just for fun when I stepped my feet on the soil of Cotonou. I knew what I wanted and what I never wanted was to be part of the inexplicable madness of Northern Nigeria where my aboki neighbour could be the one to slice my throat or cut my head during an upheaval.

Terrorism is not an entirely new phenomenon in Nigeria. It had presented itself to us over the ages and years in different forms. In recent times it was painted variously as communal clashes and sometimes as protests over issues relating to Islam within Nigeria. At one time it was a senseless riot connected to a beauty pageant show.

At another time it was related to issues that have nothing to do with Africa. The Danish cartoon saga was entirely a problem of Europe but it went viral and death tolls were hardly reported from anywhere but in Nigeria it became a means to kill in the North. The upheavals and pandemonium that occur in Northern Nigeria were mostly treated with kid gloves and usually swept under the carpets.

These abnormalities in Northern Nigeria that shaped my thoughts during my teen years are parts of the reasons I deemed courageous the decision of some people that I know to go up north for one reason or the other. If things were different, I would have been a good traveller not only across the world but also in my country of birth. I have praises for my friends who went up north. I have praises for those who have settled somewhere in North even to this day and made it their home away from home. That’s how it should be. If you are from a certain country, you should have the right and possibility to choose your settlement, under normal circumstances.

Unfortunately one of the saddest things about Nigeria is the near total failure of governance at all levels. With the current status of Nigeria as a corrupt country and probably the place in the world with the largest accumulation of poor people, the evidence are rife that Nigerians have not govern Nigeria successfully. From one government to another, impunity rose, corruption soar and the plundering of the country’s wealth by people, government and institutions continue unabated. Nigeria is even opened up to plundering by foreign parasites and imperialists. If the wall is not cracked though the lizards will never find a way in. Nigeria is not cracked, she is completely broken. There are no walls of protection literally and figuratively. It appears the goal is to leave the country in an irreversible ruin. Summarily Nigeria is completely derailed and hope is almost lost.

As I was saying, when Yar Adua granted amnesty to the Niger Delta militants, the signals were obvious. It appears that to be heard in Nigeria; you also have to be armed. The militants gained access to government houses. Some of them got some of the best houses in Abuja and in their home states. Militants under Yar Adua became kings and lords.

These aberrations were sustained and taken to new heights by the Goodluck Jonathan’s regime. Militants simply took over parts of the Nigerian economy by obtaining juicy government contracts and jobs. One rascal called Asari Dokubo who had committed several atrocities against the Nigerian state became one of the chief beneficiaries. How terrorists became bedmates with the Nigerian government is not entirely a mystery. Over the years the government has been a beehive for criminals and all manners of people who are not fit for administration and governance.

In the 2014 budget Mr. Jonathan’s corrupt government is dedicating a whooping N63 billion to the militants. You will not find a greater level of insanity in any government around the world. Where in the world are terrorists paid by government? N63bn can change the face Nigeria as a country if the money is used judiciously to target job creation and youth-oriented educational programs. But Nigeria has a minister of finance who found it honourable to present this jagbajantis as a budget plan.

Nigeria has been misgoverned for more than 50 years. Sometimes political and military aggressions, plain violence, state murders and assassinations have been used to steer Nigeria. These crimes are the “rule of law” and the “codes of conducts” for self-preservation in the Nigerian government.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan remains clueless as Nigerians are massacred and murdered by terrorists

Whatever led to the birth and eventual rise of Boko Haram had a fertile soil on which to bloom and “prosper” as sad as it seems. The rise of Boko Haram was too easy. Among the certainties is that Boko Haram became more prominent in the post-Yar Adua amnesty days. Now, under the Jonathan government, Boko Haram came to war.

The origin of Boko Haram is still under debate. They may have been a group of army constructed by the Islamic governments of Northern Nigeria. They may be soldiers who deflected from the Nigerian military. They may be mercenaries from neighbouring countries blended with the illiterate, jobless and ignorant locals in the name of religion and war. Who knows?

There are evidence of misadventures of what appeared to be roles of established governments in the rise and spread of global terrorism. The roles of the United States in the rise of Bin Laden’s led Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan are well documented. When Gaddafi of Libya became the target of the United States and NATO, terrorists were armed to aid the displacement and his eventual murder, just to mention a few examples. People are still studying the Syria scenario.

Hence, in giving so much money, power and space to terrorists who are politically labelled as militants, the federal government of Nigeria will not be the first to directly or indirectly sponsor terrorism. Therefore the roles of the Nigerian federal government and the Islamic governments in Northern Nigeria and the northern elites/rulers deserved to be investigated as Boko Haram continue to flourish right under their noses. Boko Haram may have existed when I made up my mind as a child not to step on the soil of the blood-spillers. They may have been there when the power hungry rulers of Northern Nigeria promised to make Nigeria ungovernable for Mr. Jonathan.

No matter what led to the establishment and the rise of Boko Haram, the failure of governance at the state and federal levels cannot be excluded as additional factors. The majority of dictators and rulers in Nigeria have been from that part of the country. It seems that they deliberately impoverished their people intellectually. Somehow illiteracy and ignorance levels in Northern Nigeria are far higher than the rest of the country. The hypothesis was that the rulers from the North ensured that their people were educationally deficient so that the northern elites will always have their ways among the ignorant populace. Today, the pay-back prices in terms of blood spillage and outright destructions of towns anc cities are inestimable.

The Boko Haram insurgencies and terrorism that is wrongly tagged as militancy in the South of Nigeria have similar curves. The governors of the oil rich states have over the years looted their people blind. What will remain inexplicable is how the looters and thieves from this region always have the backings of the people they steal from. I have defined the Nigerian syndrome in a previous article.

It is generally known that the local rulers of the Niger Delta region and those who served as ministers in federal and regional institutions like the Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC), the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ought to have been brought to books. They embezzled funds earmarked for the development of the Delta and other places. These rulers are also known to take huge sums from foreign corporations without accountability.

Therefore when addressing the rise of terrorism in the delta as a fallout of gross underdevelopment, maladministration, corruption, nepotism and other vices the bulk goes round in a cycle. The representatives of the delta region have failed their people, the state governments have failed and the federal government is the chief culprit for not ever leading by proper examples.

What the N63bn allocated to the Niger Delta will meet is the greediness of the terrorists. The problems in the region persist. These problems range from lack of basic amenities to serious environmental issues that make the Niger Delta people to be ranked amongst the poorest people in the world. The general percentage of people living under the poverty frame in Nigeria is a hidden global tragedy.

Whatever type of war or destructions that are still attributed to the Niger Deltan terrorists surely are devoid of ideology. They have seen how “easy” it is to become super-rich and influential in government through the use of guns and gun-powders. They have seen how their predecessors have spread all over the places yet still siphoning amnesty funds like leeches and parasites.

What these mostly non-combatant militants hiding in the creeks have not seen is the end to the spillage in their environment. What they have not seen and probably not looking forward to is the implementation of all the policies and promises that have been made by governments and agencies connected to the delta region. They have grown to love the quick money and get rich any-how style. Like their masters-the local chiefs and like the government of Nigeria, the future doesn’t count for them.

Truth is, for more than 53 years Nigerian rulers stole and carted away the treasures of Nigeria. There are no federal plans for nation building and preparing the country for the unborn generations. All Nigerian “roadmaps for development” did not see the light of the day. Not under the military, not under the civilians. Truth is, everything was neglected including education, health and other simple basic infrastructure. Hence, in Nigeria, it actually ought to be a total war on bad governance. All well meaning and Patriotic Nigerians should actually be out there asking the government to surrender, pack and exit.

In Nigeria, the new full-grown terrorism and militancy are delayed responses to the now more than 53 years of absolute waste of the independent status. What the sponsors of these terror groups (whether from inside or external sources) have done is to find the cracks in the walls. It appears that the 3rd generation of post-independence Nigerians are also wasting away.

With the spread of militancy and the popularity of terrorism, one can presume that knee-jerk responses on the part of Nigerian government have made these twin calamities into wars that the Nigerian military will not win easily or early enough. Recent terror attacks in Northern Nigeria show the determination and preparedness of the terrorists and the Fire Brigade Approach of the Nigerian army.

To subdue terrorism in Nigeria on the long run, some political sacrifices must be made. The system of governance must change radically. If pursued honestly the National Conference will provide the catalysts needed for the much needed changes. It is well known that those who have tried to fight off terrorism in the absences of functioning governments and social justice always fail.

The ineffective system of governance in Nigeria has rendered almost all Nigerian government institutions paralysed-they are places for self-enrichment and non- performance. There are no magic doses unfortunately. Therefore when the power that is accumulated to Abuja is decentralised, Nigeria may have taken one giant leap in the right direction.

Nigeria will benefit immensely from a proper change of system of governance. This means that the unitary system of government needs to be abolished in the nearest future. Doing so will on the long term as mentioned earlier probably checkmates future uprisings where terrorists will not be aiming at a central goverment if the ultimate power is not there. In the future N-Eastern Nigeria I am optimistic that a people deciding their own fate will put up enough resistance to fight or resist insurgencies. I don’t think any group of people would like to self-destruct when their destinies are in their own hands.

Regional governments will restore the old Western Nigeria (now being demanded by the Yoruba Congress from a recent gathering in Ibadan) and the other recognised regions that were in existence before the military destroyed the political structures in Nigeria. No doubts, based on newer ideas or ideologies there will be modifications to the regional system in this new century.

The change of the system of governance will not return Nigeria to glory in one night. It may be one of the several steps on the way to recovery. If we make amends today recovery in the regions or acrosss Nigeria can take a decade, half a century or just a few dozen years depending on the will of the people.

In the meantime, the government of Nigeria must not forget its primary duty which is to protect the lives and property of citizens within the boundary of Nigeria. Ending the terrorism in the delta and in the Northern part of Nigeria especially must be done in the shortest time possible without doling out N63bn, or more. Rather it is the Nigerian military that must get all that is needed and required to accomplish the tasks of winning internal wars and fending off external aggressions.

Citizen re-orientation programs which will include patriotism, dignity of labour, promotion of merits, top-level discipline, honesty, trust, commitment to job, family, community and nation/country are among the virtues that will be needed in the various regions that will be reinstated or reconstructed after the National Conference.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Images from SVT Sweden

Terrorists Slaughter Nigerian Children Like Goats AND The World is Looking

February 26, 2014February 26, 2014 / Adeola / 4 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

In NORTHERN Nigeria mostly in Borno State, the terrorist group popularly called Boko Haram have been on the rampage in recent days.

During week 8 of 2014 they reportedly killed more than 200 people in separate attacks. In one attack they actually razed down a whole village and shot the villagers as “sport” as they try to flee.

Nigerian school children slaughtered by Boko Haram

Tuesday-Week 9, Boko Haram stormed a school and killed several students mostly male. Reports suggest that between 29 and 5o pupils may have been killed. They were butchered and some of them were burnt as the school was razed down.

Boko Haram has since been kidnapping women and girls and keeping them as sex slaves.

North Western Nigeria is now probably the most dangerous place to live in the world and definitely the worst place you want your children to be. They are targets for blood thirsty terrorists.

Boko-Haram-sect-image from the Punch Newspaper

Terrorists that target children and women are definietly cowards and murderers.

The government of Nigeria under the rulership of one lazy man called Goodluck Jonathan does not seem to have a clue on how to curb this terror or protect the lives of women, children and other people in Northern Nigeria.

The Nigerian army can oppress civilians and ordinary people but has failed the test of Boko Haram terror.

In January 2014 Boko Haram killed 22 at a church service in Adamawa. The New chief of army staff and Mr. Jonathan boasted that Boko Haram will be history. These boasting and promises have been going on for a long time.

Months after months and attack after attack, the people of Northern Nigeria are promised that Boko Haram will be history. Rather it is Boko Haram that continues to thrive killing civilians and sometimes the members of the Nigerian army too.

So we are now at this point where the cluelessness of Mr. Jonathan is confirmed. Why hasn’t he resigned? Under his watch 20 billion dollars is missing and people are being slaughtered like goats in Northern Nigeria.

The vices and problems in Nigeria have escalated under the reign of Mr. Jonathan. The man who said he had no shoes in 2011 has made sure that many Nigerians now have no shoes.

Mr. Jonathan is incompetent, and has no clues about what the presidency of Nigeria entails. All he has done it to acquire more aircrafts and other personal wealth to himself and the crooks that surround him.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan remains clueless as Nigerians are massacred and murdered by terrorists

It is so bad that Mr. Jonathan made a budgetary allocation for his feeding in the Nigerian budget. These are his priorities-his own comfort.

Everytime Boko Haram attacks, he and his zombie media men are quick to condemn the attack. The efforts of the Nigerian army is nothing to write home about. Why are they not better equipped than the terrorists?

In the end a more permanent solution to the menace of Boko Haram is desired.

There is a need to change the system of government in Nigeria. Having a center with so much power and authority need to be demolished with immediate effect.

Nigeria needs to revert to the system of governance that is based on regional government.

North-western Nigeria is now in the hand of terrorists. They should be flushed out with immediate effects by all means and all force possible.

Under regional government, there will be no morons saying they want to capture Abuja because Abuja will cease to exit. Under regional government the people of North Western Nigerian will equipp their own military to withstand insurgency or to prevent it from raising its ugly head in the first place.

The world cannot keep looking away while children and other vulnerable people are subjected to genocide. This is crime against humanity.

The Nigerian government should know its prime duty. To protect the life and rights of her citizenry. Those who cannot guarantee these are not fit for positions in government.

Mr. Jonathan should know this and one more attack from Boko Haram, I will be shocked that the Nigerian people do not chase Mr. Jonathan out of office by force. Enough is enough!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Follow me on twitter @aderinola

Criminalities in the Nigerian Government

February 26, 2014 / Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

This topic relating to criminality in the Nigerian government continues to be of interest to me with each passing day since I wrote that article in the Nigerian Guardian in 2002 titled “Why Politicians Steal”. I think Nigerians continue to chase shadows and ignore real issues.

For many years we know that people in government like presidents, head of states, governors and other types of political office holders in Nigeria are stealing the wealth of Nigeria. Of course there are other places around the world where the governments are corrupt but Nigeria remains a priority to us. We are from Nigeria.

We know that for some reasons there are selective persecutions and prosecutions in some of the cases/ reports of looting. In Nigeria it is a common and general knowledge that those in power and those in government steal every day. No one can deny for example that Goodluck Jonathan has coveted the Nigerian treasury to personal enrichments. There are excessive records to nail the ruler of Nigeria and his wife from their time in Bayelsa until now.

It’s not rocket science that the likes of Babangida and his co-travellers stole Nigeria’s money and they are living large. What I find difficult to comprehend is how Nigerians deemed criminality as a befitting status for their rulers. Make no mistakes there are no leaders in Nigeria. The use of the word “leader” does not apply to Nigeria. No one is leading that country. The rulers are doing what they like because they captured a country where the people are “religiously” resilient and suffering from the Nigerian syndrome.

In sane climes, all the criminals who have ruled Nigeria will be cooling off in prisons. Going by the magnitude and nature of corruption in Nigeria, all the past rulers are supposed to be in jail. One of the implications of serving justice is that those who are currently looting and stealing in Nigeria will fear for their lives and existence after the days of immunity. The fear will not be in us who are ready to speak the truth in the face of trials and imprisonment without trials.

More than 53 years after independence Nigeria continues to head to a place that sounds like the “road to perdition”. Many Nigerians have lost their moral compasses because of the wealth that they tap from the rulers of Nigeria. Those who are speaking the truth in Nigeria have become endangered species because somehow Nigeria became a country to be captured and milked by all and sundry when the opportunity beckons.

Many Nigerian writers and journalists have “written” their ways to wealth. They took the backdoors to the treasury of Nigeria. Many public relations outfits and experts have laughed to the banks at the expense of the glory of Nigeria. Even some thoughtless people write on behalf of looters/criminals in government for huge pay per article.

Late Fela Anikulapo sang about the missing oil money around 3 decades ago, or more. Since then several billions of naira have disappeared in Nigeria not just from oil money but from other sources of national wealth.

It is very disgraceful and embarrassing the type of people who get to rule and then loot Nigeria. Goodluck Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala and even one Deziani are members of the gang under whose watch billions of dollars have disappeared in Nigeria’s recent history. One of them or all of these people should have been given the boots. Someone should be cooling off in the presence of crime investigators. No. That does not happen in Nigeria. Criminals don’t quit offices and they don’t get investigated. There are cases of witch-hunting every now and then. Political criminals are above the law. When they move on, they are given “tougher” assignments of looting on a bigger scale.

Someone, actually some people continue to connive with some criminals at NNPC over the years to siphon the oil wealth of Nigeria. Babangida did it and he’s living large on money that he stole. All former head of states (dictators) and all former Nigerian rulers have in one way or the other stolen parts of this oil wealth. It is therefore no news that the Jonathan administration found pleasure in making the monies disappear from time to time. No longer a mystery.

As the election (2015) draws closer, more monies continue to disappear. I know that Sani Abacha’s loot disappeared under the watch of Okonjo-Iweala and Obasanjo. I don’t want anyone to give me that counter story again-that the money was used for some projects that already have allocations in the Federal Budget.

The stories of how money disappeared always end up been “the money was used for so, so and so projects”. These projects are already in the fraudulent budget, so please….let us spare ourselves that version of the lies. In line with the above Nigerians also found out this year (2014) how the government of Jonathan presented a budget full of fraud. In another good country the finance minister who dares to present that kind of budget will resign out of shame after 24 hours. The people will also force the government out of power. Nigerians love to glorify criminals in the name of tribalism, nepotism and “l go chop my own” or “It’s God who put them there”.

I’m still also perplexed how these acts of criminalities percolate every facet of the Nigerian life. I wrote in the series “Things that happen in Nigeria” about the criminals in the Nigerian Civil Service. The story has not changed. Nobody in the Nigerian government has been able to address how the directors and bosses in the civil service continue to steal and divert funds into their private accounts through different means.

There is that link between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank that can withdraw large sums of money usually several millions and then share the money directly into the bank accounts of directors for some seminars, projects or meetings planned essentially for self-enrichment. This is looting in the civil service. Put together with other forms of corruption across Nigeria in places of work and services these anomalies contribute to a form of existence that make Nigeria to be one of the worst places to live in the world.

Unfortunately the federal government of Nigeria lacks the moral pedestal to clean up a system when the occupiers of government houses in Abuja have shown tremendous criminal tendencies by looting and carting away billions of dollars. The 20 billion dollar heist can be true and sadly too, a tip of the iceberg. We have seen that for more than 53 years, that is, looting with impunity. Nigeria has lost the plot, completely.

The government of Nigeria does not see the shame in carrying out criminal activities. Goodluck Jonathan does not give a damn. He said so himself. What an emperor! The people are so tired and disconnected from governance that nothing matter to them anymore. Those who are not tired have succumbed to the Nigerian syndrome and you can tell that in Nigeria the judiciary has no “power” over thieves and criminals in government.

The Nigerian police is not free or empowered to arrest or question a ruler who is stealing. The Nigerian police cannot start a process that investigate the minister of finance but someone with the powers of a dictator has found the boldness to sack the Governor of the Central Bank because as we know, “you can’t be part of the problem and criticize the rest of us rightly or wrongly”. Not in Nigeria anyway!

In Nigeria many people are above the law. But if you are unlucky and you pick a pocket unsuccessfully at Agboju market, you will be beaten to death or burnt alive. The Nigerian masses are completely disorientated. They too, have lost the plot and their aggressions are misplaced. They kill people who steal N20 or a product worth N500. In Nigeria criminals who steal mobile phones have been jailed. We have read about undergraduates that are hanged for stealing. A man will die in Lagos for allegedly killing his wife. Imagine what should happen then to the rulers of Nigeria whose maladministration since 1960 has led to the untimely deaths of millions of Nigerians.

In this same Nigeria, the rulers, the governors, ministers, legislators and other public and private office holders have connived to steal, loot and divert billions of dollars, yet nothing has been done. This is why I always emphasise that Nigeria is not an ordinary country. Something does not add up. There is absolute insanity in the public space. All day in the Nigerian government has been for the thieves and looters, it does not appear that the days of the owners are in sight.

In principle, no one owns Nigeria. Therefore those who capture it at any level will continue to use her for their own advantages and benefits. This is the crux of the matter for the 2015 elections. The crux of the matter is not regional autonomy or a parliamentary system of government that will take away power from the emperors in Abuja and in state government houses. The crux of the matter for 2015 is self-preservation and mad politics as usual.

Those who capture INEC and Nigeria in 2015 will continue to destroy Nigeria if the people continue to look the other way and condone madness in high places. Nigeria is ruled by criminals and someway, somehow, there must be a means to stop this anomaly. In Nigeria the rulers are not leaders. They don’t lead, they accumulate wealth in the most primitive manner.

The Nigerian syndrome and the overstretched Nigerian resiliency toned by religion and a blind faith that is not supported by positive works is making Nigeria a place where the future generations will likely curse the day they were born.

Twitter @aderinola

aderounmu@gmail.com’

The Nigerian Syndrome

February 23, 2014February 23, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

The Nigerian syndrome is the condition in which the people of Nigeria openly support their rulers and politicians who have contributed tremendously to the demeaning of their living conditions.

It is a also a condition where a crook, a corrupt ruler or a known criminal in government gets massive support from a group of die-hard followers who will never see the negative impacts of the criminal acts that have been perpetrated.

For example, James Ibori has/had supporters who even went to a London court to support the cause of him being a criminal. When Alamieyeseigha ran away from London to Bayelsa State he received a heroic welcome.

There are uncountable examples. Alamieyeseigha was even granted pardon by the massively corrupt Jonathan government meaning that the syndrome is displayed not only by individuals but also by the government. Bode George’s criminal charges and ex-convict status were removed by a court of law. His supporters took to “aso-ebi” with religious songs and they celebrated him as a criminal while his trial and imprisonment sailed through.

The Nigerian syndrome from the foregoing is suffered by individuals, government and institutions in Nigeria. When the complete analyses of this syndrome are done, it will be worthwhile to do a comparison of it with the popular Stockholm syndrome.

The Nigerian syndrome will definitely open a new chapter in anthropology and human/animal behaviour. It will be a study area that will explore corruption, tribalism, nepotism, extremely low human cognitivity, non-performance in government and many more vices that are related to hitherto inexplicable situations surrounding the mad politics in Nigeria.

For it is amazing how over 53 years of misgivings, mismanagement, maladministration and complete destruction of the institutions of government has not drawn the ire of the Nigerian populace in a united and collective way. It is very disturbing how voices of reasonings have been suppressed and replaced with voices of humans with distorted or frail mentalities.

There are several documented examples of how the people of the states or the regions that have been robbed showed open support for the the criminals that have robbed them through the looting of the treasuries. Sometimes the support cut across states and regions.

It is well known that corruption is systemic in Nigeria and that Nigeria is one of the most stinkingly corrupt countries on the surface of the earth.. Therefore what some Nigerians have done is to compare the degree of corruption of each administration. For example rather than condemn and prosecute Obasanjo, Babangida and all the other corrupt rulers of Nigeria, Nigerians find it more “befitting” to compare the level of corruption in these governments and take sides depending on their “feelings” or “nepotic inclinations”.

Actually, this is worrisome because the ideal thing to do is to condemn all these corrupt rulers and their ministers and accomplices in the government houses across Nigeria. Nigerians don’t condemn corruption in totality. They weigh corruption, especially on tribal scale.

The fact that Jonathan did not start the corruption business in Nigeria has earned him massive support among some groups of Nigerians who are only interested in the emergence of a christian ruler or a ruler from the South of Nigeria. Nigerians are slaves to religion too.

The Nigerian syndrome itself is systemic and and as mentioned earlier deserved to be studied in details. The Nigerian syndrome will make up more than a 4-unit course at any University. It gets wider. In Nigeria intellectuals who are recruited into the government are known to have been part of the looting in government. Journalists like Reuben Abati whom everyone thought can reason logically because of the way he wrote went into government to defend the criminals he had criticized for many years. If you read Abati’s articles while at the Guardian, the complexity of the Nigerian syndrome will take a new turn.

What is it with the mentalities of the ordinary Nigerians that allow them to support the way the government is maltreating them? Why can’t Nigerians see that the government is bad and make a determined and collective efforts to ensure that the government is geared towards competency, accountability and probity? Why do people in government end up as criminals even when they were good people outside of government?

The Nigerian syndrome include the myopic views that Nigerians have on national issues and also their short-term memories of issues that have long lasting effects.

What is wrong with Nigerians? Why do they grade corruption rather than condemn it altogether? What is the relationship between corruption, tribalism, nepotism and Nigeria’s system of completely mad politics?

What is the cure for the Nigerian syndrome and does this cure hold the key to any attempt that will be made to eradicate corruption? In short, is there hope for Nigeria with the system of government that is in place?

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