Are We All Foolish

It’s hardly unusual for one to deliberately throw insults at another. What should provide real concern for discerning minds is when an individual heartily acquiesce to being derided. A haughty man may call another foolish; that would be understandable. It however would be difficult to explain if this same fellow so labeled goes to prove through deeds and words that yes- foolish he truly is.

What actually do Nigeria’s big men think of other folks? I certainly lack the insight to exactly state how any other person may answer but here’s what I know: the bunch who pose as leaders have the full conviction that the rest of us are a large collection of fools! I know because through the years, they acted as if they alone are possessed of any tissue of brain; others hence are daft and should be so treated. I’ll waste no time talking about the myriad of unfulfilled electoral promises that are forcefully drummed into our ears with each passing election; no. it also would be largely unprofitable wasting ink on failed and failing infrastructure nor the continually declining measures of human development. Truth is- poverty has found a comfortable dwelling in Nigeria and in-so-far as it continues to torment every other person except our brand of do little leaders; it’s very welcome. Education is dead and gone forever; let no one daydream; Nigeria’s pretenders long know this hence they hastily ferry their over-indulged kids abroad for kindergarten classes. Health facilities and the doctors have long taken their leave and if in doubt ask Mr. Musa Yaradua of the Presidency. In this country, criminals are leaders and leaders are criminals; if you care to know, take a close look at the main preoccupation of those we erroneously call leaders in Abuja and all the satellite extensions in the 36 states. Truth is: no matter what any body writes or says, Nigeria will never get better; reason is simple- it can’t. Its story would be one of continuous dwarfening and endless retrogression.

The question now is- how many persons are willing to accept this grim reality? Not many I hazard. In this space called Nigeria, thinking is rare. Even self-styled government critics still rely on the same despised government to do their thinking for them. It’s painful that one would label a government “failed” and still rely on her for his individual decisions. Many Nigerians are quite incapable of independent thinking. I lay no claim to being the wisest man in this sphere but I’ll like to separate myself from the web of thinklessness many persons find themselves entangled in.

Here now is my resistance to the raft of official abuses being heaped daily on Nigerians. A short introduction would suffice here; am presently a final year student in one of the many neglected first generation universities in the country. Whenever my school mobilizes me for the now drab NYSC scheme, I’ll personally write to which ever body is in charge to expressly count me off. In fact am already doing that through this medium. It’s affirmation of foolishness serving a fatherland that pays no attention to my welfare. It amounts to self delusion claiming am serving a land that through the greed and insensitivity of her leaders distorted my education- sending me to wander in the streets for months on no end. Can anybody tell me- would it be right to waste a precious year doing service to land that perennially seeks to frustrate the most productive segment of her population with ill-thought ideas and self-serving initiatives. In my wisdom, it would be a fitting retribution if all of us who on account of executive misadventure missed months of serious academic business to collectively boycott this rueful exercise called National Youth Service Scheme.

Come to think of it- the country is strongly held in a few persons’ grip who like to called stakeholders. So then when you hear talks of serving Nigeria, they tacitly imply service to their evil intents and purposes. In their warped thinking, national interest is synonymous with their egoistic agenda. Their sons and daughters who they smuggled abroad to study with proceeds from public till are sent to choice locations and blue chip firms to further their vaunting quest while the very under-privileged- those they like to call fools are sent to some killing fields where they are either raped to death by some deranged fellows in religious garbs or sacrificed in the periodic political upheavals in that same part of the country without anyone bathing an eyelid. There are verifiable statistics to substantiate this. Why then would I lend my young life to such a callous design? Still, many perhaps in a bid to prove me right that Nigerians accept being called fools eagerly thrust themselves to this. Again I ask- why do we, even with the continuous man-made disaster that befall corps members see many young men and women voluntarily set themselves up to be killed for excuses that are at best flimsy? Why have we not seen a collection of youth organizations coming together to proclaim loudly: away with this macabre design! Unpardonable docility I guess. In a more proactive society, the students’ associations would have risen to the task by ordering their members to shun any invitation or call-up or whatever from whatever source that demands them to put their life on the line in the name of service to an entity that torments rather than care. It still might not be too late to start. Parents if they understand and I believe they do (I mean real Nigerian parents), the danger that their kids are faced with in the course of this ought to have staged series of street protest to demand a prompt abolition of the evil plot that has left many of them in perpetual agony. Their reaction ought not to be different from the type they put up when their children embark on self destructive habits like smoking and banditry.

There certainly would be consequences and am not ignorant of that. The authors of the plot have made participation in the exercise a prerequisite for graduate employment and other related matters. I’ll give my personal response to this. In the event that I’m not eligible for employment in either the public or private sector, I’ll be more than glad if that would create an additional opening for one more person. But pray, if job is handed out on the simple premise of participation in the NYSC abracadabra, why then are over 40 million Nigerians of employment age according to figures from World Bank idle- many of them are graduates don’t forget. Why I ask again are most Nigerian youths duped daily by equally unemployed folks who capitalize on others’ jobless status to find daily bread? Newspaper adverts announcing jobs that demand your paying thousands into a certain bank account for recruitment tests are ready examples. To rational minds, the NYSC scheme as presently patterned is nothing short of absolute waste- an avenue to entrench corruption at best- watch how a few equally fraudulent youths pay heavy bribes to the officials to be posted to choice cities- Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt are always top.

There still are many more reasons to abandon the crap designated as NYSC. The demeaning sum handed out as monthly stipends which is hardly enough to sustain any adult for one week- nine thousand naira I heard is no encouragement. Also, the horrible treatment meted out to corps members, absence of adequate welfare scheme for members and the declining prospect of landing meaningful jobs are enough to rattle anyone. Those wasteful months could be gainfully deployed by vibrant minds to get themselves something doing. That would be my option.

On a final note, if Nigerian youths truly want to demonstrate their anger at a society that has heavily aborted their dreams, staying away from the NYSC scheme might be a very good avenue to start. On this, I will lead the way.

Robot  # 1 | 23.10.2009 01:08

...Read the full article.

mad nigerian  # 2 | 23.10.2009 16:39

Good article.You are right on the money.For me,however,Nigeria does not work because Nigerians do not believe in doing what is right.We defend,for instance,our people caught in corruption,on the grounds that they are our sons. On the NYSC,while it is not very efficient,scrapping it,unfortunately,is not the solution.Most rural schools,for example, rely on NYSC teachers,because regular teachers sent to teach in such schools engineer their posting away from such schools,leaving the schools berefit of good teachers.Perhaps,we need to improve our rural locales.

PAPIG  # 3 | 24.10.2009 09:42

The evidence suggests a big YES AND YES! I suspect the young generation only subscribe to programs like the NYSC because they get a pittance from so participating (the alternative is to be immediately unemployed and kobo-less ad infinitum) and the ruling cabal cannot scrap it because it is a profitable cash cow to be milked for their pockets. I do not mean to be patronising here but i am very much impressed by your clear grasp of the Nigerian narrative when otherwise respected opinion moulders spend their time conjuring up heroes or messiahs in the persons of known miscreants and thieves who have fallen out with their bossom pals in the ruling cabal in Abuja. I sincerely hope you find a way out of that conundrum called Nigeria lest young brilliant independent minds like yourself get sucked into that cesspool called the PDP OR THE YOU CHOP I CHOP MENTALITY. You clearly deserve better and hope you suceed in your future endeavours to ensure you can contribute to the emergence of a fair and prosperous Nigeria ruled by men and women with integrity, selflessness and honour. Yes, the battle ahead is ENORMOUS but VICTORY for the NIGERIAN MASSES NOW is a NON-NEGOTIABLE ISSUE. WE MUST DEFEAT OUR OWN FOOLISHNESS AND DOCILITY TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK. CHANGING ONE SETS OF THIEVES FOR ANOTHER MUST NEVER BE CONTEMPLATED!