I once received
one of those funny pictures that circulated during the height of BBM instant
messaging. The picture was that of an old newspaper dated 1985, the caption
reading “No more Black Out!!-NEPA”. Without giving much thought to it, I
laughed hard and true. The funniest thing was that, the picture had been sent
while the lights were out. I then
proceeded to forward it to my other contacts. That was it…that was my reaction
to the further realization that my government had failed. There was no outrage,
no reflective thought, just a reduction of a grave issue into trivia. I mean,
NEPA (Now PHCN) has always been this way. I was never born into a Nigeria which
was free from power outages, one which was flowing with regular water supply or
one where my parents didn’t bolt the doors and gates to protect us through the
night. I inherited a dark, dry and unsafe Nigeria. Although, it would be a
great exaggeration to claim that I was at the brunt end of Nigeria’s
inefficiencies. When the lights were out, there was a generator to back it up.
The only source of water I came to recognize was that of a borehole. There was
always the mai guardi, who made us
“feel” safe. Yes, you could say I’m one of the "lucky" ones; the ones
only grazed by Nigeria’s inefficiencies. The “ones” that are comfortable. That
wouldn’t have been so bad, if everyone else was just as lucky as I was.
Recently I was
at the library and about to perform my everyday browsing ritual. First, I open
my email, followed by Linda Ikeji’s blog, then Daily Mail (Football), and other
tabs of interest and assignments. On Linda’s blog, I scrolled down, digesting
the day’s gossip and gist. Then my eyes fell atop a familiar bit of news. This news
had been repeated over and over again, different varieties but same message. The
news read “Boko Haram attacks Federal Govt College Yobe, kills 29 students”. I
stopped scrolling, staring at the headline, with a picture of masked militia
men carrying arms. My heart beat was normal, my breathing was normal,
everything in and around me was going on as normal. I said to myself when would this stop? Instantly, I was
triggered to the headline of another piece of news only a few weeks ago: “Photos:
Officer killed by Boko Haram to be buried this Thursday”. This was the exact
same thing I said, the exact same reaction I had. I then went ahead to open
older posts and on the same day as the last similar bit of news was another
headline: “Boko haram men attack 2 villages in Borno + Govt seals border with
Cameroon”. This particular bit of news was sitting just above the headline; “Super-hot
Toyin Lawani stylishly rocks her baby bump for Exquisite”. This became
extremely unsettling as I realized to myself, that this, to me seemed normal. The
massacre of people sat comfortably with celebrity gossip. I discussed it with a
couple of friends and one of them said “it is like old, repeated news…its
tiring”. The death of scores of Nigerian citizen is tiring? Are we that
comfortable? Are our lives going that fantastically well? Are we that
disconnected as a nation?
The killings in
itself, is barbaric, gruesome and just plain wicked. However, I believe we have
committed a far greater sin; the sin of Apathy. Comfort has made the lot of us
apathetic and disconnected. We seem to have sort of tricked ourselves, that
what is happening in the North is something far, far, far away. The countless
people that are killed there every week are only given a fleeting moments of
our thought. There have been an estimated 12,000 deaths due to Boko Haram
insurgence between 2012 and 2013 alone. These are staggering and shocking
statistics, for a country that is meant to free of war. Even sadder, is the fact
that the people being killed have absolutely no influence on any political or
economic decisions, yet they pay the price for the consequences of government
decisions, or lack thereof. In 2012, the Human Rights Watch released an article
titled “Nigeria: Boko Haram Attacks Likely Crimes against Humanity”. Two years
on, this is still the same issue we are battling with. It has now become a part
of the everyday; a new topic of discussion on BBM or to be more recent,
Whatsapp. It is easily becoming one of the inefficiencies of the country. It is
easily being accepted as the reality. Soon enough kids won’t understand what it
means to live in a Nigeria without Boko haram. Soon enough this will become our
reality.
Are we really
that comfortable? Are the country’s affairs going as planned? In the same
sovereign state, where 70% of the people are below poverty line, is the same
nation where $20, 000,000,000 cannot be accounted for. This is a country where
universities are plagued with dilapidating infrastructure and rebellious
striking lecturers. Our senate approves child marriage but criminalizes gay
rights. Our President, in his comfortable distance, comes out to condemn the “killings”,
while offering the aggrieved his sympathy. When has this sympathy which he so
willingly offers, helped protected anyone from the cruelty of Boko Haram. I
laugh when, I hear people attacking him (The President), for not handling the
issues of the nation well. I think our dear President is suffering from the
exact same thing we are all suffering; comfort. Our comfort has disconnected us
so much from the happenings around us. I do not seek to compare to evils or
trying situations, but it is fair to say that the Ukrainians did not put up
with half the things Nigerians put up with every single day. Yet, the country
(Ukraine) is in turmoil and crises because the people know their power and
rights, while we remain here dormant. It should be noted that I do not seek to
incite or encourage violent protests and anarchy like we have seen in different
parts of the world, but I am saying it is high time we woke up.
It is time for
us to move beyond having to read a blog post about the deaths of innocent
people and seeing comments like “first to comment”. It is time we moved beyond
commercialized soft pornography for music videos. It is time to realize that although
distance might save you from the brutality of boko haram, it shall not protect
you from the terrible policies, unemployment, power failure or inadequate water
supply. It is time we moved beyond party politics and realize that APC and PDP
are cut from the same cloth. It is time we stop attacking each other with
unnecessary sentiments, and start attacking issues with proper planning and
discourse. It is time our attitude, thoughts and actions reflect that of our
current surroundings. When we open eyes to these truths and so much more we
will realize a simple, obvious yet shocking reality; we are not as comfortable
as we think we are. Only when our cruel apathy is replaced by genuine empathy
shall we move forward.
My father always
had a sentence, he would say to us anytime I or my siblings have misbehaved
badly. It translated to: Do not let joy, or in other words comfort spoil it.
Please, we have to fight hard to ensure we are not blinded by comfort. It is
not much, in fact it is grossly inadequate, but I dedicate this to all the “unlucky”
ones; the ones feeling the brunt of the harsh realities of Nigeria’s
inefficiencies. You are not forgotten, neither are you neglected. I (and
hopefully) others shall keep fighting to bring comfort back into your lives.
*Statistic were gotten from U.N reports and index mundi.
