Nigeria is an exciting country and an interesting place to come from. It is a country full of saints, Popes and mother Theresas. I love the way we condemn and castigate indicted corrupt persons without restraint. Unfortunately my interactions with the same Nigerians across various spectrums and social stratification in my few years on earth have not thrown up much of saintly conducts amongst these same people. For example, I have seen schools' proprietors that aide their students to cheat in exams. I have seen money change hands to secure admission into unity schools and higher institutions. I have seen consumers owing huge electricity bills greasing the palms of officials to evade tariff payment.

Haven't it been discovered that the bulk of prepaid meters' beneficiaries have bypassed the meters installed in their facilities and are enjoying free electricity supply? I have seen bank executives made under the table negotiation of government funds with public officials leading to huge graft. I have seen people buying a whole bank without spending a kobo. Funds for the procurement of drugs have ended up in the pockets of the chief pharmacist and the chief medical director. Most of the products we buy off the shelves here are substandard and adulterated courtesy of our fellow compatriots. I am not oblivious of the stress of getting files processed in government parastatals and agencies until gratification is paid. The press men hardly joke with their brown envelopes, else the news will not be palatable. Nollywood is replete with sex for role activities undeniably.

The police, LASTMA, FRSC et al are very notorious at squeezing solicited funds out of people to evade justice. Lawyers and justices no longer share the same neighbourhood with us, not because their vocations are that prosperous but because they have abandoned decorum. The bus conductor will frustrate you from having access to your change with the intent to make you forget it. The artisan you gave your car to repair will fleece you so much that you wish you were never born here. The woman selling rice and fish will fraudulently adjust her scale to shortchange you. Your wife will collect food allowance from you and spend half of it on some frivolities. The church offering shrinks to half in between the point of collection and reconciliation.

The 2015 election bazaar favoured the Imam, the Pastor, the Diviner and the atheist in one way or the other. No one before now dares look into the accounts of our security institutions, so if you become a Director of Accounts and Administration you will live like a Sheikh for the rest of your life. The petrol dispensers at the filling stations have been compromised to give you lesser value for your money. You borrow money from the bank with the dubious intention of not paying back. I see and feel these absurdities on daily basis since I came of age in this country and I have no doubt that the perpetrators are Nigerians. I have also seen and heard these same Nigerians condemn corruption at every turn. This our contradiction does not surprise me, it only amuses me how peculiar we are as a people.

We hail the Avengers for blowing pipelines and blame government for not providing electricity. We blame politicians for corruption and help them to eliminate their opponents for a fee. We shield the scavengers of our commonwealth from prosecution and complain of biting poverty. We want a better Nigeria, yet promote activities that are likely to plunge it into war. We want Buhari to die because he is trying to eliminate corruption, yet we want a prosperous country devoid of its present hopelessness. I think we should ask ourselves 'what exactly do we want and who exactly are the thieves among us?' Am I one of the Nigerian saints? Hmmmnnn!!!

Source:
Culled from Facebook post

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