The subsisting\u00a0tragic\u00a0experience is that\u00a0those in criminal entrepreneurship are increasingly forcing their way to power!\u00a0We welcome\u00a0those who disagree with us\u00a0to give\u00a0clear\u00a0indices demonstrating\u00a0that this country, through\u00a0the activities of these\u00a0stationary\u00a0bandits\u00a0(and their\u00a0followers), has made sincere efforts\u00a0towards moving\u00a0forward\u00a0in\u00a0the last 20years; this is\u00a0to simply\u00a0limit their\u00a0analyses to that\u00a0brief\u00a0period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0All we are\u00a0hearing\u00a0of,\u00a0and seeing,\u00a0are\u00a0shameful\u00a0ludicrousness\u00a0giving\u00a0good reasons to\u00a0people in other\u00a0countries\u00a0to scoff at Nigeria that\u00a0hastolerated,\u00a0and\u00a0is now\u00a0used to,\u00a0mediocrity and\u00a0inferior materials!\u00a0Many Nigerians appear to not know,\u00a0and\/or\u00a0unable\u00a0to discern,\u00a0what high quality\u00a0humans and products look\u00a0like.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have they ever known\u00a0any? Inferior people have\u00a0taken over their living and\u00a0running of their lives!\u00a0There has been so much cascading,\u00a0intense\u00a0deliberate (collective)normalisation,\u00a0and rewarding,\u00a0of inferior and mediocre performances!\u00a0Nigerians should,\u00a0by now, have\u00a0freed\u00a0themselves\u00a0from\u00a0the once-valid but now-expired lamentation that their\u00a0beloved\u00a0country\u00a0was\u00a0always\u00a0taking a step forward and two backwards;\u00a0today,\u00a0Nigeria has\u00a0successfully\u00a0\u2018upgraded\u2019 to\u00a0taking almost ALL its steps backwards!\u00a0Ithas been\u00a0hijacked\u00a0by,\u00a0and\u00a0for, a few!\u00a0Listening\u00a0to\u00a0the abundant low quality\u00a0Nigerian\u00a0political\u00a0office holders\u00a0will madden\u00a0a\u00a0sane person; Nigerians have been\u00a0so much taken for granted\u00a0that they\u00a0are\u00a0talked\u00a0down\u00a0to,\u00a0as slaves, anytime!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, a Nigerian senator in the current 10th<\/sup> National Assembly \u2013 as typical of many of his colleagues \u2013 in a self-centred manner, on a national television station, tried to glibly justify the attempted, and\/or actual, purchase of sports utility vehicles at 160million Naira each for the 469 members of the assembly. This kind of scandalous appropriation is not new concerning the executive and legislative arms of Nigerian governments, at least, since 29th<\/sup> May, 1999. Here, we are not talking about their tear-inducing \u201clegitimate\u201dentitlements\/privileges! Additional annoyance to sanity is theshameless recklessness with which these unbothered public office holders explain these broad daylight robberies away in the midst of festering gnawing poverty in the land! Did any of the assembly members belonging to the \u201cdifferent\u201d political parties reject the vehicle? No! Why? As we have been saying, they are the same people! These insensitive people want us to believe that the economy is distressed but for them, it is all about grabbing everything from the public coffers. The simple meaning of their shamelessness is: while they are relaxing their belts, poor Nigerians should tighten theirs! As this piece is being written, Leadership newspaper of 7th<\/sup> November, 2023 reports that the Federal Government has begun to automatically deduct 40% from federal universities\u2019 internally generated funds when these institutions\u2019 academic departments are finding it difficult to buyordinary printing papers! Is Nigeria not unique? It is where most lecturers\/researchers in public universities improve on their cognitive wherewithal, conduct researches and publish their outcomes, using their poor salaries! Soon, (if it is not already happening), professors will have to bring chairs\/tables, from wherever, to their decrepitoffices in a manner similar to certain occurrences during academic programmes\u2019 accreditation exercises when humans and equipments are \u201cborrowed\u201d for display!<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the last statement sounds unbelievable, hear this preposterousness: we know of public universities where lecturers have to either pay for, or personally do, the cleaning of their offices that are really not offices! The foregoing should be expected from a captured state! Surely, we are not unaware of some self-inflicted funding challenges in these institutions leading to gradually normalised anomalies. It still seems that Nigerians \u2013 especially in Nigeria \u2013 do not appreciate theproblem they are in with the kind of leadership cadre they have knowingly or unknowingly allowed to hold them to ransom all these years! The followers may be part of the problem but, as we always say, leadership is the problem! This crisis is confronted with plausiblesolutions when a society is able to get it right recruiting quality leadership. The unfortunate reality is that the strategies for enslaving many Nigerians have not changed. The propaganda has also not significantly changed \u2013 year in, year out. In collaboration with some myopic silly head followers who blindly and slavishly defend the indefensible, Nigerians are scammed by these misleaders. They insult the collective intelligence of the discerning with ridiculous visuals and narratives. Honestly, we do not, and will not, hate those dunderheads because they are in bondage! They need help! We will not be tired ofreferring to senselessness, in the past, with the hope that this will help in waking Nigerians up, going forward. For instance, we were insulted by Harlequin characters with annoying theatrics such as the Central Bank of Nigeria\/Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria paddy pyramids,in Abuja, in January, 2022! There are others! This is just an example! Yes, a country should make serious efforts toward being self-sufficient in locally-produced food for its inhabitants and possibly for export.This is a way to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonetheless, what is being questioned here is the rationale behind the showmanship of erecting a pyramid of rice paddy that was not intended for bringing down the price of the final commodity in the market! Or how much is a 50kg bag of \u201clocal\u201d rice in the market today? So, for 8years, Nigerians were just being fooled around by unserious people in government! We must quickly add, here, that this \u2018skill\u2019 of such theatrical presentations is not unique to the immediate past central administration! It has always been with their predecessors\u2013 at all levels! It was inherited and must be bequeathed to their successors! This might be \u2013 in politicians\u2019 understanding \u2013 that these theatrical presentations are what members of the public like seeing! Nigerians that are not inflicted by collective amnesia will, definitely, not wait for long to hear same repackaged old stories! We have asked severally: when will ordinary Nigerians stop being taken for a ride by these misleading crooks? Can we safely say that: unfortunately, for these politicians, the public is increasingly and smartly being aware of these tricks? We may not be able to give straight answers to the last two questions, for now! By the way, did Nigerians keep a close watch on the blindingly obvious barefaced display of brigandage and criminalities in the recent off-season 2023 gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states? These collaborating criminals have earlier tested the waters in February, 2023. Consequently, their \u201csuccess\u201d emboldened them to do more; outmanoeuvring themselves through violence and rigging. It is clear that 2027 general elections may be worse and Nigerians will be the losers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrew A. Erakhrumen currently teaches at the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It will be a hasty generalisation to\u00a0conclude\u00a0that Nigeria does not havepeople\u00a0(among politicians)\u00a0with genuine positive intentions for the country\u00a0but\u00a0they are\u00a0in the\u00a0minority,\u00a0powerless\u00a0and suppressed. The subsisting\u00a0tragic\u00a0experience is that\u00a0those in criminal entrepreneurship are increasingly forcing their way to power!\u00a0We welcome\u00a0those who disagree with us\u00a0to give\u00a0clear\u00a0indices demonstrating\u00a0that this country, through\u00a0the activities of these\u00a0stationary\u00a0bandits\u00a0(and their\u00a0followers), has made sincere efforts\u00a0towards moving\u00a0forward\u00a0in\u00a0the last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[4156,4375,4146,4163,4225],"class_list":["post-12612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-current-news-in-nigeria","tag-economy","tag-news-analysis","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian-newspapers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/modusoperandum.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/TinubuOK.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12613,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12612\/revisions\/12613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}