Being a Nigerian is the worst form of luck

Nigeria is a paradise for the rich and an hades for the poor. Being a Nigerian is the worst form of luck and should be the first tip on 1000 ways to die. Being a Nigerian is suicidal, that should never miss any news headline all over the world. We suffer beyond measures internally, and externally we are always targeted for scapegoatism.
To the rest of the world, we are perceived as incompetent, fraudsters and unworthy citizens of the universe.
How do I blame the world if our predecessors prided themselves in forgery, thuggery, fraudulent activities and the mockery of our sociocultural values in every foreign land they went.
I wish most of us weren’t already selected by the universe to be a part of this human race. We can’t even trust ourselves cause experience have taught us never to honour a word said by a Nigerian. Though, it is true to an extent, but no two persons are the same. I admit that the bad eggs have duly rid us of our true image, but we deserve better than we get some times.
The present state of Nigeria is such a dirge with poor rehearsals. The one time giant of Africa is currently a soldier ant of the black continent for working so hard yet has nothing to show for it.
It is such a shame that the world’s richest man had this to say after his visit to the polity. “Nigeria is one of the worst places in the world for any child to be born”. He didn’t even spend a fortnight to know this, all it took was just a visit.
What then happens to the rest of us who have lived here all our lives?
Why wouldn’t we have over 140 million Nigerians undergoing mental illnesses according to the National health statistics? Who wouldn’t lose his or her mind if he keeps losing his child? Talk about Nigeria, talk about a failed attempt at amalgamating people of different cultural heritage, languages, clothings, ethnicity and beliefs.
No, I am not even remotely interested in digging deep into the decays of our once beloved country.
Where do we run to if our federal capital territory sits next to the same regions held captive by terrorism? Who in the world haven’t heard of Boko Haram or their day-to-day slaughtering of our beloved citizens? Who in the world wasn’t held spellbound when recently the Boko Haram sect invaded our Army base and grossly murdered our soldiers like Adolf Hitler did to the Jews.
A repetition of an holocaust in a black continent in the 21st century didn’t headline an international news? A feat perpetuated by greed, incompetence, religiosity and a relapse of what our purpose is.
How many more lives will we lose to set things right? If it is not cultism unrelentlessly killing our youths, it is an untrained military personnel discharging a gun in a crowd of innocent people killing youths, mothers, fathers and children with no remorse. When will we keep seeing these absurd things as a norm?
We don’t speak up anymore. We are comfortable with the little we get. A nation where our minimum wage can’t even afford a house rent. A country where the market woman is heavily taxed for selling a basket of tomatoes in a smaller scale. A country where the completion of a tertiary education is exalted as the zenith of all accomplishments.
A country where we accept whatever is thrown at us. A country where we have a single school, zero industries and six hundred and sixty churches on each streets.
A nation where it is okay to be a mediocre just to have bread on a daily. A lukewarm and stagnant polity that frowns at growth and prosperity. A cemetery of loudness without a tangible result to show for it. A sphere of murder, victimization, rape and terrorism.
The all time debtors of the world bank is where I am from. A nation whose national football team has more fashion designers, runway models and rappers than footballers.
A nation where indulgence in Internet fraud is celebrated and euphemized with the term “yahoo boys”. A nation where a person who fails to get married at a certain age is a failure, a 6th citizen and a casualty of bad luck in life.
A third world country with more residents and untapped resources dwelling in self pity and penury .A nation where black out is everything that ushers you into each day.
Speaking of terrorism, how did I belittle the presence of the Fulani herdsmen killing villagers, residents and orchestrating violence wherever they went? A nation where a cow is treated and honoured as a senior citizen. A nation where the life of a single cow is more valuable than the lives of a thousand humans. A desolated place where we are looking up to a messiah that is not even there.
Every day we get poorer and poorer, and those in power gets richer and richer. How do they preach equality for all when our influence can’t even match their affluence?
Unfortunately, we are the poverty capital of the world and yearly over 355 black people that graduates in prominent foreign universities are Nigerians whose parents are holding political offices in the country. Isn’t it why the Federal universities are on a lock down with zero activities since the industrial action that took place a month ago?
Why is our education getting poorer and poorer at an exorbitant fee? We can’t even afford tuition fee for schools built by the sweats of tax payers. Why should they care about the half baked education filtered to us when their children are comfortably schooling abroad?
When anyone gets rich, the dream is to go abroad and never to return home till death do them part. When a person gets into the position of power, his dream is to enrich himself more, and not to see what they can do for the betterment of the country.
The rich seek asylum in developed countries of the world, yet when they die, they are brought home for funeral.
Nigeria is such a failed state with all honesty. All the indices available shows that hell will be more friendlier and comfortable than living in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a paradise of the rich and an hades of the poor.
Out here in this country, everyday is a survival of the fittest, and just maybe the paradigm will never shift. In six words; Nigeria is a cemetery for all.

©David Daniels

Article originally published at https://artandrebellion.com/being-a-nigerian-is-the-worst-form-of-luck/