Nigerians Are On Their Own – By Arnold A. Alalibo

Posted by admin Arnold Alalibo, Articles, Columnists, NNP Columnists Wednesday, May 8th, 2019

By Arnold A. Alalibo | NNP | May 8, 2019 – Besides the fundamental issues of hunger and unemployment which have isolated many young Nigerians in squalor and beggarly existence, insecurity seems to be the order of the day. Killings, brutal killings and massacre hold sway. The life of the average Nigerian lacks valuation. In the midst of the thriving unfortunate situation, the federal government has only demonstrated a noticeably reticent and cavalier attitude. Silence is the latest way the government has opted to approach the manifold issues that blight the citizens of this great country.
Like orphans, fellow Nigerians are left to devise their own means of sustenance. Those who are unable to make it, take to criminality and unleash mayhem. The law-abiding are abandoned and unprotected while criminals are on the prowl, expanding their audacity. Where will this take us as a nation? The country has become too torrid, too unsafe for anyone to live in. Thus, Nigerians depart in droves for other climes in search of safety and greener pastures. Some parents relinquish their adult children while couples care little about themselves as they proceed in different directions to hunt better living conditions.
Professionals respond to the high demands for their services in different parts of the world. Brain drain is the in-thing, my people. Of course, who doesn’t like what is good and fitting? Who would spew honey from their mouths? Only recently a family friend of this essayist relocated to Canada because of the tremendous level of hardship and frustration in the country. They had to sell off their pricely possessions they laboured to acquire and peregrinated.
Why are Nigerians frustrated and relocating to other climes? Does it mean that those countries are not faced with similar challenges or that things are rosy over there? Not in the least. The real reason is the Nigerian government doesn’t support and care for its citizens. But this is what can readily be found in other countries.
Unfortunately, many migrating Nigerians take their kids along and raise them in their new-found countries where they integrate properly and regard as their fatherland. These children ultimately develop affection and personal loyalty to their new nations. Will they be blamed if they fail to accord imperious regard for Nigeria?
The disquieting factor in all these is neither the neglect of Nigerians nor their exodus from the country, but the future of our dear country. Nigerians will continue to emigrate and others who are yet to migrate will plan to do so. But why does the government derive gaiety from looking the other way?
The truth is the attitude of the authorities suggests that our condition is irredeemable. See the state of insecurity. Killings abound on a daily basis. If it isn’t cultists, bandits, terrorists, ritualists or armed robbers who slay Nigerians, it is law enforcement agents, particularly the police. A young man, Kolade Johnson, was shot by the police in Lagos while viewing a live football match at a viewing centre. Curiously, the incident was attributed to accidental discharge by the killer-officer. There have been many more killings around the country by trigger-happy policemen.
Kaduna, Benue and Zamfara States recently entertained attacks from herdsmen/bandits which ended many lives. The Boko Haram insurgency bites harder with venom in Borno, Yobe and parts of Adamawa.
In Rivers State, cult clashes have proliferated and claimed many lives leaving several injured persons. These incidents are additions to the routine horrors of armed robbery, murders, kidnappings, ritualism, etc. If Nigerians are not killed in malodorous circumstances, they are slain by the unworkability of the system. No good education, no respect for fundamental human rights, no health insurance scheme, general insecurity, poor infrastructure, and no social security. Name it.
A situation like this only breeds imperilment. A country that cannot provide quality education, jobs, security, welfare for the aged and basic amenities for its citizens attracts nothing but disloyalty. When people are unable to leave the country by whatever means available, they will take it out on the nation by perpetrating corruption and crime.
Then decent or law-abiding citizens will take solace in God to turn things around for them. Anyhow, Nigerians are in desolation. They have always been at the receiving end, finding a means to survive at all cost. It is every man for himself; God for us all.

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