Nigeria still remains the best place to live

Never mind that one of the best things that can happen to anyone now is to earn dollars or Pounds Sterling because our currency is on free fall. Or that Nigeria is said to be one of the worst places for a child to be born. Or that our roads and hospitals are in deplorable conditions. Well, as for our roads and hospitals, if you are lucky (for some of us who are religious- if you have God) you might never need to visit the hospital or have a road accident. I hope that doesn’t sound stupid to you. In this article, I will argue that Nigeria is the place to be.

I do not wish to bore you with things you already know. For example, Nigeria is one of the few countries you can use the office printer to print personal stuff like the voluminous minutes of your Old Boys’ Association Meetings without feeling any remorse. Or if you are given an official car in Nigeria because of your status, you might not only use it to drop your kids off at school, your wife might also drive it, especially if it is a flashy vehicle. In 2014, the Swiss ambassador to Nigeria told journalists of how his President’s wife caused a scandal in his country. What was her offence? She went shopping in the President’s official car! In my country that wouldn’t even make headlines in gossip magazines, I love my country. These things happen in the public and private sectors in Nigeria. Though in the private sector, you could lose your job if your official car crashes in Lagos and the company wasn’t expecting you to be in Lagos at the time of the crash. People who hold high offices enjoy these kind of privileges and I don’t think it is news to anybody. Did I hear you say in America people still print one or two personal stuff from the office printer? Or that even in Australia there are some contracts that allow you use official cars for minor personal stuff, especially if you are a sales representative. Okay, wait till you hear other privileges you can get as someone who has or has held a high office in Naija.

Do you think if Late General Abacha was a former British leader you will still see street names like Abacha Crescent or Abacha Drive in the UK? Especially with all these loots foreign countries are now returning. Well, as a Nigerian, I do not support what I think the British would have done, i.e. changing all the names of monuments that would have been named after Abacha. Why? I believe in fair hearing, Abacha should also be allowed to say his own part of the story. Since he is not around anymore, he should be left alone. Now, let me tell you a true story. There lived a man who was so loved in the UK because of his talents. He was a TV and radio presenter, a DJ and was involved in many good causes. He died in 2011, after been knighted by the queen and haven received numerous awards. In 2012, a year after his death, numerous allegations started flooding in on how he sexually abused minors and even adults. Committees and panels were set up and do you know what happened afterwards? Inscriptions of his name on monuments in the UK were removed; University of Bedfordshire stripped him of his honorary degree; and there was even a debate to strip him of his knighthood. All these happened after he had died. This man’s name is Sir Jimmy Savile. Can this happen in Nigeria? When you die your sins are forgiven in Nigeria! I love my country.

Do you think in America, if it has been established that elections were rigged in your favor with rumours of how you tried to bribe the judge and returning officer, you won’t have your day in court? Oh no! If elections were rigged in my favor, I can still work freely and even still be a kingmaker. After all, it is INEC that conducts election not me? So, the worst you can do is to kick me out of office after I must have spent some months in office. This kind of logic can only happen in Nigeria! Remember, even INEC is not punished by the court for rigging elections in Nigeria assuming the politician’s hands are clean. LOL. Can’t you see how you can get away with murder in Nigeria? Especially when the murder is committed with good intentions. LOL. Though, I know some politicians who have been kicked out of office with some technicalities in court. For such people, I sympathize with you.

Now, this is the most fascinating. A public officer attends a church service, and the pastor suddenly remembers that there is a lunching that Sunday because he saw the big man. The public officer goes on to donate 10 million Naira and the whole church goes agog. Though, some church members would grumble about how stingy the man is. Only 10 million Naira? Nobody cares to ask how much the officer earns. You can argue that this example is not a good one. After all, a person working in government might also be rich. He might have made his money before entering government or might have inherited a lot of money from his parents. Your income might be different from your salary. Some extra income might come from that house your mum left for you.  What about the next example.

Have you ever been to the UK or America? For some of us who haven’t been there we have got our TVs, isn’t it. Did you see how police officers looked in these countries? They look very cute and smart. Can you imagine any of those officers carrying your bags because he has been attached to you as an orderly? You can get such privileges in Nigeria if you are a big man. They might even drop your children off at school or shine your shoes. A few weeks ago, a senior police officer was so worried that there were some dust on a Federal Minister’s shoes and decided to shine the shoes in public. The Minister was still wearing the shoes when this fully commissioned officer was cleaning the shoes. I hope you didn’t miss that news, it went viral. This has bothered the present IG of police, Barrister Solomon Arase, so much that he had to speak out and warn his men. I hope his men would listen.

If this article is about convincing you to relocate to Nigeria, you will probably make up your mind when you hear the next one about our Government. Our Government will not bother you with things like excessive personal income taxes (some might not agree, expect they have lived in Europe) or cameras everywhere in the street to disturb your privacy as it is in Europe. God bless Nigeria. I love my country.

There are so many privileges you get in Nigeria that you will not get elsewhere – even if you are rich. I have never seen a Nigerian who lives outside Nigeria that doesn’t long to come back. What discourages them is the insecurity and the state of our infrastructure. But, the smart ones have come back and are enjoying the country. There is nowhere like home. Nigeria is even home to some smart Lebanese, Indians and even some Westerners.

Seriously speaking, if we don’t change our mentality and attitude, no matter how much we try, we will never develop as Nation. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) reiterated these attitudinal changes in a speech he gave some days ago in an event organized by PENCOM. That reminds me, I will like to see how Fashola is going to convince Nigerian workers that his government wants to invest their Pension Funds on infrastructural development in Nigeria. I hope the days of inflated government contracts are over! 

Dr Nwankwo lives in Benin City