How Nigerians Crippled Nigeria

“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” Hunter S. Thompson

While the British underdeveloped the Nigerian so that they can underdeveloped Nigeria, the Nigerian helped in crippling Nigeria. I wrote a blog post about why business dies in Nigeria and our economy stays the way it is. What Nigerians believe about themselves crippled their ability to move their nation, Nigeria, forward.

When people’s ability is crippled by what they believe, they, in turn, cripple their own nation. A crippled nation takes one step forward and 10 steps backward. Nigerians are crippled in their minds and because a nation is the sum of the thoughts of people, Nigeria is crippled from making progress because the mind of Nigerians is crippled.

To understand why a nation is a way it is just looking at how people use their mind. If the people are really using their mind for the betterment of others, that nation will definitely make progress. Nigeria is not making progress because of the British, but because of our, we think. We may blame others for what we believe, but we are responsible for how we use our mind.

All it takes is to change what we are thinking and Nigeria will begin to make progress.

1.My Tribe Better Than Yours

Every Nigerian you meet thinks that his or her tribe is far better than the other tribe. They will act on that belief by making sure that they bring in benefit for their tribe even if it is against the progress of the nation. The Yoruba person thinks that his tribe is better than the Igbos and the Hausa vice versa.

The truth is that we are all the same and we have to put aside our tribal differences and operate as humans if we want this nation to make progress. Hunger and poverty doesn’t discriminate against any tribe. Except we jettison our tribal proclivity and begin to connect as humans, we will never contribute to making the nation better rather we will see ourselves as there to take from the National Cake” for our nation.

2. Its All About Me

Aside tribe, most of us are selfish. We focus on what we can have from the nation personally. We cannot be selfish and contribute to the progress of our nation. Our selfishness has crippled the country. People who are elected into government or employed don’t see their role as being there for the general good but rather they think they are there to make progress in life.

Nigerians are selfish because we are insecure and lack self-love. People who do not love themselves consecrate on what they can acquire for themselves to use to oppress others. When you love yourself, you will love people and when you love them your actions will be aimed at making life better for them. But since we don’t love ourselves, we think that our life is measured by the abundance of what we possess or rather what possesses us. Our focus is always to make life better for ourselves at the expense of others. 

3. Connection Better Than Thinking

A Nigerian will tell you that the reason why he has not made it is simply because he has no one to help him or money to start a business. We think that who we know is far better than what we are thinking. You don’t create value through connections but by thinking. The proof that people are thinking is when they are reading. And we know that most Nigerians stop reading the moment they graduate from School and have their certificate.

There are many Nigerians who hardly think in a year but instead are looking out for people who will help them succeed. That is why they are following celebrities and rich people. We prefer to name drop than to think new thoughts to create new value. We demonstrate superiority by our associations than by the fruit of our thoughts. Good thinking will produce good products that will make the nation progress.

Nigerians look for connections to get a job, not knowing that it is thinking that creates jobs. Seeking connections over thinking is a sign of poverty and scarcity mentality. Thinking creates work and work creates jobs. Connections don’t help a nation make progress. It only helps to share what already exists and not create something new.

4. Prefer Entertainment to Education

We prefer to spend money on entertainment than on our education. Entertainment can only make the nation to progress when people who are educated manage it. Going to the University doesn’t mean you are educated. Our schools have been castrated of education and all that remains is the desire to get a certificate. We endure everything so that we can just get the certificate.

Education is what we get outside the four walls of the classroom, it is what remains in us after we have forgotten all that we have been taught in school. A Nigeria will prefer to spend time on the Internet being entertained than being educated. Most of the data used in Nigeria goes towards entertainment than education.

5. Knowledge Greater Than Wisdom

Nigeria is a place where everyone is an expert in everything. We know about everything, but we cannot apply what we know. When something happens in the nation everyone has a solution to it. We have an opinion on everything. After reading a book, we become an expert. To be an expert you need to master the field and that means studying more than 100 books and spending 7-10 years on it. We are microwave experts.

But give us the opportunity to put it to work and that is where you will get to understand that we celebrate knowledge but not wisdom. Wisdom is the correct application of knowledge. We only truly know something when we can apply it. Wisdom is the tool people use to build nations while knowledge is what is used to tear it down. Wisdom is the principal developmental tool, not knowledge. Even God used wisdom and not knowledge to develop heaven and the earth.

6. Oppress Rather Than Serve

We are really good at using people to get what we want and oppressing them with what we have. This is why politicians who are voted to serve the people end up using the commonwealth to oppress the people and employees rather than serve their employers use the job as a way to enrich themselves and oppress people.

Serving people selflessly is not in our vocabulary. We see service as a weakness and to oppress people as the strength. A nation is built through service and not oppression. We cut corners just to make a buck not bothering if people are hurt as long as we benefited and then use what we have to oppress people. We have crippled our nation because we are out to oppress and not serve. Even those who are oppressed are looking for an opportunity to also oppress others.

Even we can move beyond these factors, we will make progress as a nation. That is why we exist in 1st Millionaire Maker Nig Ltd. We want Nigerians to think progress so that the nation can make progress.

Dimeji is the President/CEO of 1st MIllionaire Maker Nig Ltd.