Some of my new friends may be surprised that I actually take the message of the leader of the UK’s Conservative Party Ms. Kemi Kemi Badenoch in good faith. Well, that is quite uncomplicated. There is not a thing she has said that I or any adult Nigerian will not directly or indirectly find to be true — or at least relatable. Why an average Nigerian who is incenced — impotently so — at the British politician’s statements is because they cannot separate an offensive remark from an unflattering one. They cannot separate a Kemi who is now a European from themselves – a Nigerian who, as a matter patriotism, must work hard to restore the glory of their country.
You see, Nigerians are angered because we have a less than petty appreciation of not only her rights to her opinion and the narration of her own experience on one hand, and the urgency of fixing our own country. And talking about fixing our country, one is reminded of the fact that Nigeria has a tax debate in which all the merits of the proposal hold no water in the face of some basic and primordial sentiments that have been afflicting us. Nigeria has a homegrown auto industry with at least four manufacturers, yet, no known auto benefit is in place for the country’s working class. Worse still, elected and appointed leaders somehow believe they are too important to drive them. This denigration is far more inimical to the image and economy of the country — something I am sure a Ms Badenoch would not do to her present country — the United Kingdom.
But come to think of this. Are we really are angry with a woman who, like us, must have seen a thorough shege while she was here? Is Nigeria angrier with her narrations than the fact that despite having massive deposits of limestone, iron ore, stones and fine sand, civil servants in the 36 states are not accorded the decency of home ownerships?
Are the leaders angrier with a Badenoch than they are with the massive deforestation in our middlebelt and other places — Nigerians are tearing down her vegetations in search of firewood and charcoal despite having abundant gas deposit beneath its soil. This is a poisonous hypocrisy fueled by venomous indolence.
National glories are neither built by petty exchanges nor peurile denials. They are built by courage, hard work and justice. They are built on accountability. They are built by prioritizing helpful policies over others. They are built by visionary leadership in concert with committed citizenry.
There was a time when a former president of one of the developed countries reportedly referred to some developing countries, ours inclusive, as a shithole (this was later found to be a lie). Although I was pained, yet I refused to be offended. I refused to be offended because he was right. If we have a dirty environment and an outsider points it out to us, it is my view that rather dwell on the pains or embarrassment of their unflattering assessment, we should get into fixing it.
As in other climes on the earth, our problems are plenty. But what has compounded our woes is our bad sense of shame. Where we should get to solving our problems with equinanimity, we prefer to whine. We don’t like fixing nothing! We just want to be excited, in many cases, by bad news. We want to be flattered. And we are highly indisciplined. This is why many graduates make comments on policy documents that they have no pleasure of reading a single page of.
This is why it is easy for citizens to be sold dummies by unscrupulous and shortsighted politicians. Visionaries are not particularly patronizing people. Kemi Badenoch is one. Current president of Nigeria is proving himself to be one too. We should not hate visionaries. But we hate them because we want everything now. Process be damned. Adjustments be damned too. It is also why we are recklessly ungrateful. In some cases lazy.
We demonstrate our laziness by refusing to unpack our assessments of ourselves and our governments. For example, if you hate whoever is president, then nothing he does is good. You love a governor, everything he does is right.
Thankfully, there is hope. But the first sign that we will get things right is to task ourselves to a new patriotic commitment. A commitment in deed and in truth. Then we will see that, even though Badenoch has been right and we have been wrong, our commitment to forging a way out for our beloved federation would help ensure that our story changes. And it begins with looking inwards civically. Looking patriotically at what direction our nation is going. Seeking how we can be part of the process as catalyst and not a clog.
The country under present administration has taken on very audacious policies that every objective analyst admits should have been done decades back. Yet the fifth columnists still found a way to recruit, knowingly or unknowingly, some Nigerians to make attempts at sabotaging the process. If we all do not support these processes to succeed, madam Kemi will continue to spank us publicly where it hurts. And whining won’t win us nothing.
Let me urge the president to call his cabinet to order. Enough of all official indolence of getting petty and personal with the leader of the Conservative
party. Let everyone face their jobs and work really hard and smart.
We are at a crucial stage of the transformation that we seek. The government must communicate with the citizenry in the language that makes sense to them. Policy issues must be discussed with as much relatable language as are available.
Citizens should be appeased where necessary but their vanities and shortsightedness must not be over-indulged. It is a one in a lifetime opportunity. Let us make it count. Let us get serious.
– Oshaloto J. Tade anipr, smciism is a policy communication consultant.
