Nigeria Concerns You!!!

I just watched something that made me cry. Tears of anger and pain and tears of deep sadness. As a media student, you are taught to be almost skeptical of the industry and to analyse every information you receive via the media so my mind subconsciously approached the video with guarded caution.

However, half way through it I caught myself, let my guard down and just watched it. Not with my head or media brain but with my heart and then it made me cry. I know the video had a motive but at this point, I couldn't care less about that because it said the truth. The truths every Nigerian has lived through, or seen or heard. I've written it over and over again on this blog and I will keep writing it till it is no longer true. Nigeria is a mess! A huge mess and even more than the government, the people that think it doesn't really corncern them (the middle class and upper middle class), are the biggest contributors to this mess!

It concerns you! Everything about Nigeria concerns you! The politics of the country corncerns you! Yes, you reading this! IT CONCERNS YOU! It concerns you if you are Nigerian (regardless of if you live in the country or not), it corncerns you if you have Nigerian children, it concerns you if you live and work in the country. It concerns you!

I am sick and tired of middle to upper middle class Nigerians constantly behaving like the affairs of the country don't corncern them till it starts affecting their very personal pockets! Those classes are the most selfish if you ask me! The upper classes could easily pretend it doesn't concern them too but many of them are even the most corncerned. 

I've said it before on this blog and I'll repeat it again now! All is NOT well with Nigeria! Don't be deceived! If you think that you are okay because you have a nice little house in Lekki or Banana Island now and your children go to a better school than you did, I pity you! You better be worried! Yes! Maybe if we were all worried about the country, maybe something would have changed. I write about Nigeria because I'm constantly worried about the country. I wasn't born in America, so how can I not be worried?! I literally don't have another country. (Another discussion entirely).

I've seen that the moment I leave my house and family, everybody else in the city seems to be fine with the unfineness (permit my use of this word) of the country! Stop suffering and smiling! I grew up listening to Fela and I am tired of seeing all his 'prophesies' about Nigeria come to pass! Stop pretending like our sick, sick country is well! Drop the fascade, start actively behaving like everything concerns you and maybe, just maybe, our sick country will slowly start getting better. 

Now, watch the video; http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/how-a-cancer-of-corruption-steals-nigerian-oil-weapons-and-lives/ 

With all my love, 

Dara Rhodes 

I weep for the 'elites' in my country

   Photo: www.globalreportersvienna.com

I write with a very heavy heart today. 

I have a theory that has been proven. 97 percent of Nigeria is made up of the masses and the 'elites' make up just 3 percent. Hear me out. If you are reading this or have access to the internet, you are in the three per cent. I have been very generous with defining who falls into the 'elite' category. Please locate yourself in the next two paragraphs.

If you can read and write very well, you are in the three per cent. If you went to school and finished your education, you are in the three per cent. If you went to university in England or anywhere else outside Nigeria, you are in the three percent. If you have lived in any developed country for more than three months, you are in the three per cent. I don't care if you lived in a ghetto in that country, you were exposed to how a normal country runs so you are in the three percent. If you are in the lower-middle class, middle-middle class or upper-middle class, congrats, you are in the three percent. If you found yourself in this paragraph, congratulations. You are in the 2.7percent of the three percent and I weep for you.

Now, the 0.3 percent of the three per cent. If your parents went to school in England or America or Switzerland, you are in the 0.3 per cent. If you went to boarding school in England, you are in the 0.3 per cent. If your grandparents were highly educated and/or professionals, you are in the 0.3 xper cent. That's all. If you found yourself in this paragraph, congrats. I weep for you especially. 

The 97 percent did not go to school or were forced to dropped out at some point. The 97 percent are unemployed, young and angry. The 97 percent can't/won't see this on the internet. The 97 percent don't eat three square meals a day. The 97 percent are grassroot politicians. The 97 per cent are Boko Haram recruitable. 

Now, here's why I weep for the three percent. The Nigerian elite. You think all is well. I'm saying 'you' because if you are reading this, you are in the three percent. You wake up in the morning, dress up and drive to work. Your children go to school right? Or, you get on the flight back to school in England after every holiday in Lagos, right? As long as you are moving forward, all is well right? Wrong. 

In England, their boarding schools are full of two major nationalities. Chinese and Nigerians. I went to a girls boarding school in England at the tender age of 12 and my boarding house was full of Chinese girls. My younger sisters and I were the youngest of all the Nigerian boarders. There was only one British girl in the boarding house. Forgive me for what I want to say now but the Nigerian elite are foolish. To them, the education and exposure is about showing off. The Chinese elite are wise. To them, it's about building China. The Chinese elite parents make sure their children get the British education and then throw them into the Chinese political system. There, they use the exposure they got to further whatever agendas they want. Those children go and add value to China. 

In my own beloved country, those children return and behave like they never left. They return and look down on the political system. They insult it and develop the 'as long as my family and I are okay, all is well' mentality. They return and do not add value to Nigeria. 

Here's why I weep for all of us. A Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos state is made up of 10 to 12 wards. One ward in Animosho ( an LGA looked down upon in Lagos) has 182 polling booths. The same amount of polling booths as the entire Eti-Osa LGA ( A high brow area) The 97 per cent are actively more involved in the politics of our country than all of us 'elite' 

Here's the saddest part, GRA, Ikeja, Vi and Ikoyi (some highbrow areas) are surrounded by ghettos. If the 97 percent were to revolt, all they have to do is cross over. They are a lot more than us in their numbers that all our security men can't stop them. In America, England and all the other developed countries, the elite are in power. In my wonderful country, you get into power and then become 'elite'. Since the real elites with the best education and exposure look down on them and are too cool for politics, the people in power do as they wish. I weep oh. I weep for us. We are literally sitting and waiting for the 97 per cent to get angrier. 

Here's a story for you. A white taxi driver in London once told my friend's father that he has been driving Nigerian children to school from the airport and back for thirty years. He said that one of the children he used to drive invited him to Lagos and he nearly collapsed at what he saw. Where were all the children that he drove to all those schools from the airport and back? He thought. What did they do with the expensive education they got from England? He told my friend's father that he was so disappointed with what he saw in Lagos and Nigeria. When my friend's dad reached his destination, he gave the taxi driver a tip but the man returned it and said, please use that money to transform your country.

I weep for us because we really don't understand how critical Nigeria's situation is. I weep for the Nigerian 'elite' because they are meant to be the bright ones but they are so stupid. 

With all my love,

Dara Rhodes