In Nigeria, there exists this terrible anomaly which has continued to linger with no hope or sign of abating in the nearest future. I strongly believe it is also responsible for most of the country’s problems and her inability in realizing her full potential. Many people refer to it as the Nigerian mentality. Me, I call it the warped thinking pattern of many Nigerians.

This Nigerian mentality is badly affecting us so much but unfortunately, many Nigerians are too busy hustling very hard to get their daily bread to recognize this while some others have quietly decided to keep silent on such disturbing issues, thus seriously jeopardizing our chances of making it to the Promised Land come 2020 when it is projected that Nigeria will become one of the world’s leading economies!

Permit me to point out the areas in which I think we need incisive and immediate changes to be made with regards to many of our deplorable thinking pattern.

Let us see those warped thinking patterns.

Everything depends of God

In fact, God is a Nigerian. With God, all things are possible. If you don’t know this or believe it, that is your own cup of tea.

With those simple lines, the ordinary Nigerian John Doe hides his head in the sand like the ostrich (but with bended knees just like a slave) in complete self denial. He is no longer concerned with the things of this world – of course; they are all vanity upon vanity. S/he is no longer concerned with what their representatives in government are doing after all God is in control. He is no longer bothered about the present state of affairs and the fate of the future generation because s/he knows that ‘what will be will be.”

The Nigerian is so religious and he doesn’t hide it but believe me when I tell you that sometimes, this religion could actually become a problem especially when it starts preventing one from acknowledging his/her responsibilities in the state of affairs and also in playing his own part for the betterment of other Nigerians at least, for the sake of posterity.



Once it’s foreign, automatically it’s better…

It is a well known secret that in Nigeria, anything foreign is considered original and is believed to be worth more than the local version.

Thus we have foreign rice, foreign clothes, foreign bags, foreign shoes and many more of such foreign things that are also produced locally in the country.

Granted, some of the locally produced counterparts of those goods and services that I mentioned might be considered a lot less of any significant value or substandard under a closer scrutiny but where the problem lies is in the generalization, great belief and trust in the notion that anything foreign is better…

The problem here is that even though our economy is often said to be in a bad shape, one of the sure ways of setting and getting things right now is by buying local products.

That way, the local producers will be encouraged to work harder towards providing only things that actually provide and guarantee customer satisfaction rather than surrendering all ingenuity, creativity, human effort and initiative to the imperialistic manipulative tendencies of some of these foreign (mostly Chinese) products which may not even last as long as supposed.

Hmm! Somewhat true

Money is everything

In the eyes of a typical Nigerian, money is everything. S/he knows that you are dead without money and because of that let us kill ourselves with the mad scrambling for the papers.

But is money supposed to be everything? Money cannot even buy you everlasting joy and happiness. It only appears to be everything when you have none…

Sadly though, as a result of the alarming poverty in the land, many Nigerians don’t have it. And so it becomes everything to us making us to believe in it and its powers so much.

Why?

If you ask me, I’d say it is mainly because of the things that money can easily buy for you in this country. I think it is because in Nigeria, money and I mean big money translates to power, respect, pleasure, joy and avoidance of pain, freedom, fantasy, wealth and many other vanities that you can think of that money can buy.

If you have the money, you can easily become above-the-law, if that is what you want. As long as you are not that type of stingy person with “superglue” hands, you can buy as many friends, well wishers and praise singers as you want although you might also buy yourself so many sycophants in the process but that is not your problem…

This our obsession with money comes with a price tag though.

First people are no longer interested in knowing how that very money is made. Just make the big money and we will worry about every other thing later thus setting the stage for all sorts of dirty, fraudulent, corrupt and underhand practices such as advance fee fraud or 419, forgeries, internet scams a.k.a yahoo-yahoo, ritual murder, kidnapping, armed banditry and bank robbery etc.

Get rich quick is the anthem and order of the day and the quicker the better thus the high and alarming rate of crime in our society!

And the massive poverty in the land is not helping matters here as more and more people are ready, either by hook or by crook, to do whatever it takes just to have a taste of the good things this life can offer, hence the overly intense desire for money.

Sit-tight politics is also as a result of this inordinate quest for money as our leaders don’t so much fancy the idea of relinquishing power when the right time for that comes. Our politicians are ready to go to all that extent of political sharp and underhand practices just to get into that prestigious public office so as to ‘serve’ us properly.

And what a service it does become, as you can see?

Paper qualifications first

Oh yes, paper qualification first. The great emphasis which is laid on paper qualification and degrees is causing a lot of trouble in Nigeria as the wanton and maddening rush for paper qualification continues.

The saddening and disturbing effect of this thought pattern is that caution is thrown to the wind and it becomes clearer and clearer as the days go by that many people are no longer seriously interested in the quality of education possessed by those possessing those qualification papers again.

And our education continues to plummet with no hope in sight. Examination malpractice continues to rise and thrive and is backed with that deceiving belief of “let me get the papers first”.

The end result of such mindless pursuit of paper qualification is the undue pressure on the nation’s university system as more and more students try to gain admission into the tertiary institutions so as to get those necessary papers in the end. That way, they are sure they stand a “better” chance of getting employed at the end of the day because if you don’t have your paper qualifications, nobody is going to look at you!

Funny enough, that very disposition has contributed immensely to the terrible problem of unemployment in Nigeria today as there are now more than enough ‘qualified’ graduates chasing the few available jobs more than ever!

Talk of the vicious circle…

How I wish it is possible for all the stakeholders – parents, the students, NGOs and the government, involved in the nation’s education to join hands together and see to it that the acquisition of skills is ranked first and foremost above the papers which can even be bought?

How I wish our people will come to realize the truth that in our world today, qualification papers without qualifying skills is nothing but just absolute trash and waste of priceless resources of money and time. How I wish our universities will become centers of skill acquisition and learning to enable our students create jobs for themselves rather than just “degree” awarding institutions…

But then, wishes are not horses so…

Who’s next? Where are your papers? And what’s your qualification?

That’s Nigeria for you.

OK we know. ....
What is the way forward