Why the detriment of Nigeria is expanding -By Olaseni Kehinde Precious

Nigeria is being haunted by several ghastly skullduggeries such as; insecurity, tribalism, poverty, corruption etc. As a result of this, most Nigerians are ashamed of associating themselves with the so-called biased and corrupt country. Nigerians complain, revolt and often protest against bad governance and evil occurrences in the country in order to help prevent or ameliorate the bad acts ongoing in the affairs of the state.

The country is known to have corrupt leaders filled with selfish interests, duplicitous deceits and avaricious cupidities. Though they make promises and blandishments, they exploit, oppress and manipulate citizens and fail to uphold their sense of integrity in the long run. Having good roads, electricity, employment opportunities, and other significant social amenities in a state ought to be obligations of the elected representatives or leaders like other developed and advanced countries such as USA, UK, France, Russia, China, UAE and Germany etc. As citizens, we read economic news, we watch movies and listen to the current events in other civilized nations and become jealous of their all-round development. Although Nigeria is categorized as a developing nation and not a developed one but as citizens, we fail to admit this validity, thereby leading to awful actions and decisions.

It is very rampant among us to compare our economy with United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, France, China, and other developed countries whereas, as we keep on with the process, it inflicts more harm to the resuscitating economy.

Although the advanced nations might have attained independence for a long time, we cannot neglect the good governance in those countries. When we look at the fast-developing countries like UAE, Qatar, Malaysia, Cyprus and Singapore which almost all of them got independence in 1979, it makes it blatantly clear that it is not about age but about selflessness, patriotism, determination and seriousness. This is because these above countries are achieving amazing greatness that goes beyond a joke. Moreover, to be candid with ourselves, bad governance isnt the only problem. In fact, the current problem is induced by the entire natives of the country.

In Nigeria, the majority of the citizens are involved in either fraudulent activities, unlawful actions or barbaric acts yet, we seem to be sightless to our own ailment. We rather only concentrate on the incorrigible corrupt practices of our leaders. As of 2019, Nigeria became the country with the highest rate of cybercrime which undermined and vitiated the image of the country and the reputation of innocent citizens.

It is unarguably acknowledged that in Nigeria, it is very difficult to become prosperous, thereby, only those who are smart live a fulfilled life. As a result of this, ritual killing, drug trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking etc. become a usual activity for the citizens to engage in. Oddly and funnily enough, most of the cyber scammers hold on tight to their manners and assertively assert that there is absolutely no wrong with their means of generating income because they see it as a counterattack and comeuppance for the slavery of our forefathers. But to hit the nail on the head, even the souls of our ancestors had forgiven them a long time ago. Then why are we worrying ourselves by making bogus claim and gratuitous avenge? Nigeria citizens are imprisoned fervently for drug trafficking meanwhile, victims claim to only make ends meet as a result of the state of destitution in the country and many more.

However, within Nigeria, there seems to be a high rate of abduction and ritual killing and these actions are justified with avenging the corrupt practices of the leaders and trying to make both ends meet. We abduct one another and dehumanize ourselves in order to reveal our level of cupidity. Yet, it is a common presumption that these evil acts are being spurred as a result of our nasty governance.

As a result of these, the image of the nation has been obliterated and the citizens of the country are being stereotyped as fraudsters and murderers disregarding the existence of innocent and hardworking Nigerians.

Some certain payment systems and notable platforms such as; Paypal, Amazon etc. do not give room for Nigerians because of the terrible impression some of us have created through the sort of activities they engage in both home and abroad. In fact, the fraud rate of the country became intense last year in the US which leads to the restriction of western union and strict enforcements in NDLEA.

Nowadays, it becomes incessant and problematic for Nigerians who are birth citizens to associate themselves with the country and even those who partake in the nonreputable image of Nigeria yearn for becoming a citizen of another man’s land when they travel overseas. These actions affect numerous citizens who are authors, traders, freelancers to mention a few to feature on notable platforms or be trusted by foreigners in terms of contracts and other business activities.

In addition, the portrayal of the evil in Nigeria on diverse social websites, international magazines among others which is widespread among we Nigerians causes more damage than growth. It keeps strengthening fear in foreigners, limiting trust and tarnishing our image as individuals and country as a whole. Other countries also bristle with socio-economic deficiencies but unpatriotic actions won’t yield any good. If prisoners in countries like America could bless the country that incarcerated them, then why should we neglect our patriotic duties as citizens? Most of the foreigners are also aware of some horrible activities in their country but what contrasts us is that they do not publicize vicious practices in their country as we do in Nigeria. They only make us see what they want us to see and we react negatively to it.

To cap it all, the hardship with the advancement of Nigeria could be traced to the individual contribution to society. In order to have good leadership, we should serve as a good example in society, become a responsible individual and we should be patriotic citizenry. Although, we have bad leaders that doesn’t warrant social irresponsibility. Let us be aware that, individuals are the ones that make up nations, not just the territories.