By George Uriesi
Nigeria is afflicted by a severe lack of patriotism by something like 99.999% of its citizens. But we can talk the talk. Check out all the brouhaha on social media, in newspapers and magazines, etc. All you get is severe criticism of the country, it's government and virtually everything about it. I also confess that I was one of the crowd screaming at the top of my voice on the internet and in newspaper articles about how bad Nigeria is!
Alas, the opportunity came for me to put my money where my mouth is and I took it. And gosh, have I been disappointed by what I've seen. Sooo many so called critics, especially diaspora returnees who found their ways into various influential sectors of government just come in and become worse than those who never left the country! To the vast majority of us Nigerians, our government exists for us to steal from. Forget all the noise people make. I've seen over and over again how the noisemakers come in and before you can say 'hey', join the fray.
The media is the worst culprit. I have never seen a mass media as illiterate, ignorant, unprofessional and hungry as that of Nigeria and I've lived and worked in 3 countries in my adult life. Take it as a fact, virtually everything you read in the Nigerian mass media is paid for, either for self promotion or for "Pull Him/Her Down" purposes. The journalists don't care about destroying anyone's hard earned professional reputation. All they care for is to be paid for what to write. They won't research, they won't cross-check, they won't learn. It's all about money money money!
As a result, you have journalists who have purportedly reported in an area of business for several years and yet remain essentially ignorant about their subject because everything they write is paid for. They won't even read about it to understand it so they can report competently on it. No! What do they care? That's why you have to feel very sorry for the mere handful of real professionals still left in their ranks...
But what is worse? People with whom you have been discussing and dissecting Nigeria all your adult life, who you expect will give you support in doing the right thing and showing a different example when you are in a position of influence, all join in the unholy expectations that people in top government positions are constantly and intensely pressured under. It's always, "ol boy, how far? You wan chop everything alone"? If you dare say "chop what"? They say "abeg coolu. Lef that matter. Forget all those beer parlour and armchair gist, make we yarn better. This job go soon go oh. Make hay while the sun shines" etc etc...
And yet we abuse the president, the Ministers, the Governors et al, despite the immense pressure we place them under to do wrong for our personal benefit. I always wonder how these guys even manage to get through their days in office. And that's why we must give utmost respect to the very few people like Governor Fashola, like Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and a handful of others who try very hard to think and act differently, swimming against a tsunami of wrong and parochial thinking all around them!
Everything seems reduced to a joke. It is all so surreal. The entire society does not want progress. Everybody has an automatic default setting- that you are in your position to 'chop' and you are chopping and therefore owe those around you some of the chop- QED! They make incredible demands of you- friends, family, acquaintances, everyone you come across! They warn you that if you don't 'make hay', you will regret shortly afterward when the job is gone as if you asked them to feed you before the job. (My friends, please forgive me oh, I'm not referring to all of you)!
When you don't meet the society's misplaced expectations, everyone gradually becomes very mean and say the most horrible things about you behind your back. You become a perennial subject of blackmail, slander, subterfuge and backstabbing. To be focused on doing the job for which you have been appointed is anathema! That shouldn't be your concern. Your concern should be how to distribute largesse! If not, then get out of the way! That's the constant, repetitive message...
I've always taken delight in observing everything going on around me dispassionately. My coaching practice will be hugely enriched after this assignment. There really is nothing like viewing the world from an entirely different perspective. Suffice to say though that I have learnt to have scant regard for Nigerian critics of Nigeria. Especially my generation, those of us in our 40s, my few remaining fiercely critical friends in particular!
If now in our 40s, all we do is yak yak yak about Nigeria and keep abusing everyone who leads it, when will we make an attempt to correct it? When we are 70 or 80? We yak yak yak everyday, yet when we have the opportunity to show a different way, we are just the same or even worse than the very people we have been insulting for years!
So the question then is, who will come and right Nigeria for us? Jesus Christ? And talking about Jesus Christ, it is most interesting to watch Nigerians use religion. The society has made religion a 'lightning rod' for all its inadequacies. Before and after every meeting in every office in the country, a Christian and Muslim prayer is said. You should listen to the fervor with which these prayers are said. Quietly witnessing all this, I always wonder how God really feels about us. I have my thoughts on this, but you don't wanna know them...
Finally, I know a lot of people will be shocked and even offended by all of this and frankly, that's their problem. I'm reflecting. And my summary take is that we are a bunch of not serious people. Not the government. THE PEOPLE!!! You really need to think deep to appreciate this statement...
The beautiful ones are not yet born oh... Or at least, only a handful of them are! We need more urgently... So help us God!
George Uriesi is the managing
director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
