₦airaland Forum

Every day, Nigerians die abroad due to crimes they have committed or nefarious activities they have engaged in and we almost are becoming numb to news reporting such executions. Its commonplace to see people blaming the individual, the tribe he comes from or ill-luck in some cases. We are no longer content with committing crimes in our nation, we now export our penchant for making money illegally to other countries even to countries that carry the death penalty as punishment for the crimes they anticipate to commit.
The question is what would drive a man/woman to commit or engage in a crime that carries the death penalty in a country far far away from home?
The simple answer is the Nigerian system and mind you, we are the system. Sometimes I am left wondering how we got here, was it always this way? Would things ever change? How do we solve the problem when we are the problem?
Why is everything about money? Whatever happened to the pursuit of happiness, love and a generally ordered existence? Do we stop to think about the damage we are doing to ourselves and subsequent generations to come? What happened to being content?
The system that produces us is deeply flawed and no matter how hard we try to change, we will go back to that which we are used too, we are after all products of our environment. From the fundamental institution of family to the schools to religious institutions, we are products of a system that would nothing but bigger, richer and flashier.
The home is supposed to be a safe haven, a place where you are safe, a stronghold that protects you from the harsh elements of the world, that’s what it’s supposed to be but the reality is quite different. The home is instead a dream killer, a place where you live on the edge of your toes, where you fear any misstep would result in punishment, where adventure is frowned upon and you must become the perfect child of imperfect parents in an imperfect home.
Growing up in a Nigerian family means you have certain expectations to live up to, you must be first in class and everywhere for that matter even if the environment is not enabling, you are indoctrinated with the belief that your parents are never wrong and it is quite evil and disrespectful to question them, you must be a model child even if your parents are not exactly the poster parents for parenthood, you must defy every challenge and come out on top even if it means sacrificing that which you love, as you grow older the emphasis switches from academia to your bank account, it is not uncommon to see parents of fraudsters proud of their wards and the parent of a first class student telling the young man “no b your mate, when him dey make money, u busy dey read book”, so the academic success you have being raised up to believe in all your life becomes worthless at that instant and then you realize even your parents worship money and their definition of success is how much you can spend.
A relationship is supposed to be an avenue to express your feelings, be free, love and be loved not a boulevard to be extorted or a junction to be a intimacy gadget, as early as you teenage years, the idea of money is a very vital ingredient in any relationship and even as a young adolescent living with your parents, you realize to keep a woman means to spend outrageously on her even if she has living parents who cater for every need. As a lady you begin to realize every guy wants you just for sex and nothing more and they all pretend to hear but they never really listen and so the lifelong exchange of money and sex begins. Whatever happened to falling in love, chasing/wooing a lady, sweeping her of her feet, whatever happened to just liking that guy and falling heads and not caring if there is a single dime in her pocket. Would it kill us to love and just be so emotionally attached to someone?
The religious institutions used to be a sanctuary but no longer so, it has become a place where the richer and the flashier are celebrated, prosperity is what they preach, after all it seems as though heaven is no longer coming soon. There is a constant call for the rich to come showcase their wealth by donating huge sums to questionable causes and the average man feels as though God has left him. In the old testament, there were sacrifices of lambs, cows and other animals but it seems these days God is only interested in paper be it dollar or naira, he apparently hates the kobo. Whatever happened to the message of contentment? , whatever happened to actually preaching about love, peace and unity for all? Does God suddenly prefer the rich? I used to think he was the father of all, did he suddenly disown the poor? Why is there no altar call for all those who came with only 50 Naira.
We could keep complaining about the bad image Nigerians abroad are giving us but unless we clean up our image here at home, we would never project a good image, remember those who are abroad were once at home.
The fact is we are the problem and unless we begin to change our attitude to life, then we are faced with living in a society without a conscience
Dedicated to Daniel Enemuo and his family and very young man and woman hustling to survive ( to my yahoo boys, continue the good hustle, at least armed robbery don reduce for naija but save enough money to turn legit).

ALI G THE HERDSMAN

they might fail in their first year but go on to succeed in life, school is nothing but education is everything and you can be educated without entering the four walls of any institution, after all life is a school. Tertiary institutions are overrated, the entire system is bleeped up and it is churning out bleeped up graduates. I raise a glass to all those who failed in school but went on to become successful.
ALIGEE THE CATTLE HERDSMAN