Nigerian problems and village people; Below or too cooked, by Prince Charles Dickson – Thage

Prince Charles Dickson Ph.D.

In Nigeria, when life begins to collapse, when companies fail, weddings collapse or the promotions evaporate on the verge of confirmation, there is always a guilty ready: People of the village. They are the invisible hands of ancestral compounds, remote sabotage experts, presumably seated under the fan -distant mango trees, drinking palm wine and tracing the fall.

Have you lost a job interview? It was not your lack of preparation; era People of the village. Did the car engine knock on? Not poor maintenance; People of the village. Even when you forget to add Maggi to the stew, someone whispers: “Ah, the people of your village are looking for you”. The myth comforts us because it transfers the fault. Instead of asking Because I have not planned better, save more or consider the government responsible, Create a scapegoat in the shadows of tradition.

Ironically, while the Nigerians sing People of the villageThe real sabotitioners of our collective destiny wear Italian agbadas and clothes, signing future with pens immersed with foreign ink.

Consider Nigeria’s recent appetite for loans. Each government comes into office, promising prudence, tax discipline and a war against corruption, only to emerge as dependent borrowers on the international phase. External debts, internal debts, discovered by the central bank; Each hole is dug deeper with the loan leg.

And what happens to the Nigerian normal? Naira slips faster than the Gombo soup that escapes a spoon. Inflation eats through salaries such as the termites that devour the beams. Yet the titles declare: “Nigeria ensures a loan of $ 7 billion to increase the economy.” Does the economy increase? Which economy? The one in which merchants label “tears pure” sachet bags? Or the one in which young people now invest in “Japa” more than on earth?

Bitter irony: loans are granted in the name of the people but have never spent people. When the reimbursement season arrives, citizens pay with higher fuel prices, strangling taxes and food costs. In the meantime, those who have signed the loans have long changed their plates and car addresses.

When the loan treadmill becomes unsustainable, the government recalls the guaranteed ATM one; Citizens. And so, taxes flourish like mushrooms after rainfall. Suddenly, there is talk of taxing the wells, fiscal phone calls more than three minutes, taxing bread, taxing the use of the road, even taxing your thoughts if they could be monetized.

The new unit is simple: The tax Nigerians outside their means of subsistence.

The poor are already drowning, but the government insists on adding drier water. A man who cannot afford Garri is asked to contribute to the tax on digital services. A woman whose shop is raided by Tout masks as revenue collectors has yet to renew a license for survival.

In Dogs Climes, taxation is linked to visible services; Roads, hospitals, schools, electricity. In Nigeria, taxation is linked to promises, never delivery. The Lagos-Ibadan highway has met more taxes than a regular passage has provided. The electricity rates increase like balloons, but the light disappears faster than a politician after an election.

Still, we are told: The government is trying. And really, they are. They list economic policies with big English names; “Economic recovery plan and growth”, “National development strategy”, “Agenda 2050”. Powerpoints are created, broadcast by jingle, hashtag. But the Nigerian normal looks around and does not align between the slogans and reality.

It is like serving the burned jollof rice and call it Smoky delicacy. Or how to present the porridge of watery beans and insist that it is gourmet cuisine. The truth remains: we are not very cooked where it is necessary and too cooked where suffering is felt.

We start the import of rice without protecting local production. The Naira floats without a lifeboat for citizens. We insist on the removal of subsidies without building a safety network. Each politics looks like a half -cooked experiment; simultaneously raw and burned.

What do the Nigerians really want? This question is both simple and complex. On the surface, the Nigerians want the foundations: food at affordable prices, reliable electricity, good roads, decent health care, quality and safety education. The foundation of a dignified life. But scratching more deeply and see contradictions.

We want low cost fuel, but we also want the government to stop borrowing. We want jobs, but we resist the discipline required in taxation when it is right and transparent. We want change, but many still collect wraps, rice and ₦ 5,000 during the elections. We dent corruption but “we” arrange “traffic guardians or cut the corners to work happily.

So what do the Nigerians want? Maybe clarity. Maybe honesty. Maybe the leaders who say, “We can’t give you everything, but that’s what we can do and here’s how you will see it.” Not the constant choir of “dividends of democracy” that never reach the masses.

And so, the myth of People of the village It remains useful because it protects us from confronting uncomfortable truths. It is easier to believe that your problems derive from invisible witches in the bush than from visible policies signed in Abuja. The Irony Bites: Our true people from the village may not be in the village at all. They sit in air -conditioned offices, traveling abroad for medical checks, while citizens die in subfinited hospitals where doctors use the telephone torch during surgery.

In the meantime, citizens are conditioned to laugh at their pain. The tendency of comedies scenes on social media, deriding suffering as if laughs alone could fill the empty vases. It is the tragicomedy of Nigeria: cry while laughing, cooking the soup without meat but calling it “vegetarian lifestyle”.

Nigeria today is a poorly managed meal.

Our democracy is not very cooked; Raw institutions, weak responsibilities, elections flavored with fraud. Our suffering is too cooked; burned beyond the taste, seasoned with frustration and despair. Our potential is not very cooked; The raw talent, the energy of youth and creativity have left inactive. Our apologies are too cooked; Burn -burned narratives, addiction to oil and “God will do it”.

We are a nation that is proud of resilience; the ability to survive anything. Yet resilience has become another word for normalized difficulties. The Nigerians do not survive; survival improvise. When electricity goes, they sing: “Up Nepa!” When he returns. When fuel prices jump, they queue with the jokes. When salaries vanish in inflation, they sing: “And it’s better”. But When Will it be really better?

I will end up with this story.

In a university, a professor asked his students: “If there are four birds on a tree and three of them have decided to fly away, how many remained on the tree?”

Everyone replied, “A.”

They were surprised when a student disagreed and said: “Four birds remain.”

This attracted everyone’s attention.

The professor asked him: “How come?”

He replied: “You said they decided to fly, but you didn’t say they actually flew. Making a decision does not mean acting.”

And in fact, that was the correct answer.

This story reflects the situation of Nigeria. For decades, leaders have decided Reform, industrialize, diversify and eradicate corruption. Citizens have decided Request better governance, vote wisely, make leaders responsible. But the decision is not an action.

We have slogans, captivating and infinite manifestos words that shine during international countryside and conferences. But in reality, our national life does not reflect those words.

Nigerian problems do not always concern the people of the village; Concern the gap between decision and action. And until birds not only decide But in reality flyNigeria will remain a tree full of promises, but empty of flight, Nigeria can win.

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