Nigeria is a Sinking Ship; Hands are Competing to Grab the Mast -By Hussein Adegoke

There is a new radio station in Ibadan by the name, Agidigbo FM, pioneered by the popular radio presenter, Oriyomi Hamzat. So far since inception, the radio station has only been “testing its transmission”. Listeners are allowed to pull a call through so the radio’s range of frequency may be detected. Subsequently, last Friday, around 10am, a man came through from Dublin, the Capital of the Republic of Ireland.

He opined that he left Nigeria at the age of 29 and, as of last January, 2021, he was 44. His life had become transformed at his best estimate. He was lamenting on the critical woes confronting the Nigeria citizenry. He decried the money laundering habits of our “legislooters” and the pervasive corruption in the land. The man would specifically be riled by the low purchasing power in Nigeria, premised upon the insignificant minimum wages of the working class in the country.

“How many Nigerians earn ₦100,000 in a month by virtue of their labour — be it corporate or menial?” He queried. When the moderator begged of what this “Dublin man” earns in his new abidance, the latter noted that he does a hourly job and his wage rate per day, as within the Nigeria context, ₦55,000. The man clarified that he is only a security officer currently in Dublin, and if he had had the right education just like he is now planning to do, his earnii would have been more. It would sound utmostly ridiculous to anyone who would juxtapose this with the current, nay, every-time, situation in Nigeria.

It seems to me that it is only the people on the outside when there is a crisis that are opportune to examine such crisis exquisitely and become aware of every ongoing. Most Nigerians have resigned to fate and only few amongst us is even conscious of their suffering. It becomes difficult for you to estimate all the fantasies that come with being opulent while you still romance adversity. While poverty is boldly written on many people’s faces — the facade of a typical Danfo bus conductor whose frustration would drive passengers into a compulsory reticence; the countenance worn by a food vendor whose desires to bite a morsel out of her (own) cookeries is betrayed by her recall of unserviced debts and by the unwillingness to run bankrupt — they have remained unperturbed by it.

Recently, I got a client from Malaysia, a postgraduate student who would have me proofread his thesis final draft. As we entered into a price haggling, he made a statement that struck a chord in me; I was shocked to my ribs. His words had firstly felt like a personal attack until I brought his views under the lenses of thoughts being reshaped by a new experience. I reasoned he would only “feel” for those he left back home when hinted that he would pay thirty thousand naira for the chapter as he is aware of “what you guys are going through back home.” This threw me into a wonderment of sorts; the probe about my personal net worth and carriage.

I deem it so that Nigeria is a ‘sinking ship’ forcing everyone with a foresight to hold on to the mast. The highest point in any ship is the mast; “a tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, the sails on a ship, flags, floodlights, or communications equipment and supported by guy-wires.” Not that this part would not sink when the ship is in a state of peril but it would do so in a much more significant time than the rest of the ship’s parts. Everyone who is wise and present in a sinking ship must then fight hardly to put their hands hereon to remain safe. They would keep fighting and struggling to have a bite out of life as we do in real times.

Though, many accomplishments in life are only products of grace yet, everyone with less than what he deserves must not despise in the least as he walks towards acquiring success. We would do well to write off the country but we must not do that for ourselves. We must not also acquire what belongs to someone else in our quest for survival. Nature has a way of restoring itself every time it deems itself to be unbalanced. If you were pushed by desperation to cart away another man’s sweat, nemesis must always catch up with you; and you would lose out manifolds. Let life take its course as you fight for your own cause.