Why is everyone tired of Nigeria? Rather, why shouldn’t they be tired of Nigeria?
It was about 8:30am and I needed to make a quick stop on my 4-hour
drive from Syracuse to the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
I pulled over at the closest gas station somewhere around Philadelphia
and went into the store to conduct quick business. Ten minutes later, I
emerged with my breakfast and set about resuming my trip, but wait, I
needed to grab an extra bottle of water. I went back into the store and
returned with a bottle but noticed someone tailing me as I exited. I
swung around and came face to face with a young man who was smiling
intently at me. Wait a minute, what’s this about?
“Hi, do you mind if I ask you a quick question?”
“Sure, go ahead”
“What country are you from?”
“Nigeria”
“Ah, I guessed right! I’m Nigerian too. I just noticed something about
you and I instantly knew that you were Nigerian. My name is Kingsley.
I’m glad to meet you. Do you live around here?”
“No. My name is Faith and I’m headed to New York City for a meeting at
the UN. Good to meet you. Maybe we should talk some time. It’ll be great
to get to know each other”.
“Okay then, let me give you my number”
“Oh, I’ll just give you my card and you can call me anytime”.
“Have a safe trip”
“Yeah, bye”
What just happened there? How did Kingsley know I was Nigerian?
Surely, there was nothing differentiating either of us from any other
African-American in the US, so what gave me away? I pondered on that
question all day on Friday 9th of March, but my thoughts soon shifted to
other things. On my return trip, I got a call from Kingsley and we
talked for a while. Apparently, his intuition was just perfect earlier
that day. Nothing gave me away. After we had talked for a while, I
realized why Kingsley never told anyone that his name was actually
Adewale. Almost nobody knew that he was Nigerian; he was ashamed of his
country. Before hanging up, he told me that he was proud of me for
sticking to my Nigerian roots. I assured him that I really didn’t have a
choice; for me, Nigeria has earned a bad name in the world because of
the relentless efforts of people like me who chose to maximize their
talents for everything evil and I know that it is up to people like me
to relentlessly seek to change the story. He wished me well and promised
to keep in touch. “What an encounter”, I told myself as I settled back
to my routine, “the road ahead will surely be tough”.
Kingsley is the face of the average Nigerian youth in the Diaspora,
doing everything possible to run away from their history. Do I blame
them? Definitely not! They are highly justified! They have every reason
to be ashamed of their country, because their country clearly does not
deserve them; their country has done everything it could to push them
away and encourage them to never return. Every time I engage in
discussions with Nigerians in the US, the same question pops up: “Do you
really intend to go back to Nigeria?” Quite curiously also, my folks at
home really don’t want me to come back either. Seeing me stay abroad is
a mark of hope for them – they are happy that at least someone from
their circle has managed to escape the horrors of Nigeria and is now in a
better place. They encourage me to seek employment where I am and live
the American dream; hopefully they’ll be able to join me someday and we
would live happily ever after.
Why is everyone tired of Nigeria? Rather, why shouldn’t they be tired
of Nigeria? At this point, I’m really sick of explaining to curious
Americans that the University where I spent almost 6 years earning a
4-year undergraduate degree is now closed down because of poor power
supply. I’m tired of explaining that a petty thief who shivered before a
British judge indeed strolled majestically in the corridors of power
for eight years and came very close to being our president. I’m
frustrated with having to explain that Boko Haram is neither a religious
fundamentalist group nor a bunch of desperately hungry morons; that
indeed they are a political contraption funded by the same elite that
has worked to disintegrate the nation for decades! Who ever thought that
the day will come when bombs will sound off on street corners like
Christmas knockouts? Who ever thought that the day will come when
suicide bombing will not be foreign to the Nigerian lingo? Who ever
thought that the day will come when terrorists will go on YouTube to
state their demands to a democratically-elected government?
Nigeria is a parody of a nation and a shame to the continent. Never
in our history has the failure of leadership been as glaring as it is;
every step we make in the direction of progress seems to be seconded by
five steps into retrogression. This is probably an opportune moment to
heed Prof Wole Soyinka’s suggestions of every state and region for
themselves; it is probably time to abandon the notion of nationhood and
seek survival by all means. Centralizing governance in Abuja has not
earned us anything but constant heartaches. This shameful nation of ours
is in desperate need of responsible leadership and no one seems to have
answers for us. To your tents, o Nigerians!
Follow Faith on twitter: @faithabiodun
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