The Nigeria that may never come...

When Lupita Nyongo won the Oscars, she made a comment in her acceptance speech that caught the attention of the world - that no matter where you are from, your dreams are valid but it gets harder to plug and play the realities of that speech in certain parts especially Nigeria.

From an ailing President to the whispers of a Cabal who wouldn't let the man 'rest in peace' to drama in government that has made positive stride in combating suicide, it is easy to speculate on the possible causes of Nigeria's diverse problems or guess at the reasons for our present predicaments while our minds play the easy trick of ignoring the threats to our future as a nation.

Our culture problem, compounded by a lack of institutions to guide economic activity, is known to many in both the government and private sectors but the inability of the duo to address the latter, being that it is a precursor to combating the former, is what bugs my mind - after all, Aristotle said that, man, when separated from law and justice, is the worst of all animals. Most of Africa is plagued with the leadership deficit that has hampered economic development and for as long as we fail to get government right, we will continue to run in the opposite direction as development.

Richard Quests' recent visit to Nigeria was widely covered by 'Nigerian Twitter' with many noticing, over the Jollof war, the tweet that hailed the Nigerian entrepreneur for succeeding inspite of the government. While such a tweet is mostly comforting to, especially, the Nigerian youth, for their recent achievements in new sectors with revolutionary solutions to everyday problems, it also hides the false realities we are living in as Africans if I am to quote Ory Okolloh.

Just incase you missed Okollohs memo and the many times I resent the circular, you are in luck because it can never be an over kill. According to Ory, we cannot entrepreneur our way around bad leadership and bad policies and those of us who have managed to circumvent the nuisance, are living in a false security in Africa.

But my problem with the leadership in Nigeria is not with the present, but with the future. There's been so much clamor for a transfer of power from the old to the young for obvious reasons as 'better ideas' and a 'different approach to governance' but the advocates, bulk of whom are 'passive-sideliners', almost always activate cruise control whenever they hear the phrase 'power is never given but taken'.

Before you get me wrong, I am not advocating for a coup or unrest - not like we have the mind for it anyway - but let us look at it this way; We have a President, a Vice President, a Senate President, a Deputy, Senators, Rep members, their list of Senior Advisers and consultants, Ministers, Governors, Perm Secs, Honorables, and (for the sake of nothing more to remember) Commissioners, all of whom have ATLEAST, for the sake of argument, one Personal Assistant but we (because I'm a youth) still say we need power transferred to us.

Here's a little refresher - A personal assistant is one who is tasked with structuring and organizing the work and life of a person who, well, is categorized as busy. In Nigeria, we don't make the definition look this simple, making me guess at the engagement letter of a typical Nigerian P.A (if at all); hard copy letter with clickable expand buttons/symbols and notice saying these fields are REadQUIRED to proceed. And true to the threat, some tiny check boxes at the end of what looks like our constitution demanding that terms and conditions must be accepted to proceed.

But regardless of being the engine room of our entire government, we still say we need power given to us. I have, as most of us, been to an agencies of government a few times and worked part time without pay - "oh sorry my dear son, I have been trying to download this attachment from my email but its not working for me. Can you help?" And at first glance, I notice there's no internet connection, another quick investigation reveals that madam mistakenly used her lunch bag to pull the network cable out the back of the PC when she clocked in that morning. I do a few 'tricks' and "ah, these children of nowadays, you people are something else..." while I'm there remembering the privately owned multinational I visited the week before where the senior manager, a 57 year old guy, beat me to my whizkiditude. Shaking my head.

There's one more incident I can't fail to talk about. I went to make a pitch to a 'prolific' investor and right there and then, I knew all about his portfolio, his bank statements and even up to his [should be private] lifestyle. I even got an offer to work with him especially because he thought I'd do better than his long standing PA who is mainly good at thugging and clubbing. Want to know if I accepted or declined the offer? That's not the focus of this piece.

My point is, if we are so involved in the lives of those in power, aren't we also there? Yes we are, but our lifestyles are now so similar that the trend is now gradually informing a cycle that may delay the arrival of the Nigeria that we seek. A P.A/S.A at a Ministry or the National Assembly is scared to introduce a friend with a good project to their boss simply because? Friend is not experienced and might mess up your reputation from YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT as a DIVINE being with supernatural 'see front' abi? Or they are too young? Or they are not in the same league as you or your boss? Or they don't own a Benz? Oh, pardon me, your boss deals only real estate and oil & gas - two investment options that make up our only investment choices in the country - and your friend, who has the 'books' and skills to back his fintech idea is unfortunate to deal I.T and because he has just you, who's shut that one door, feels he can never make it, packs up and seeks a 9-5, ending the shine of a star, that would have created jobs, generated revenue and motivated [even more with] radical innovations, before it even had an opportunity to shine. ***catches breath... that was a long one i know***

Dear P.A, forget the Nigeria we never had, you just contributed your blessed quota to the Nigeria that may never come.

And who has noticed the showmanship that now dwells with the youth population? Every young person now has an NGO or is an NGO, going about, feeding 'hungry' children. Let's cut the crap and call a spade a spade. We all know these things and I am not going to sound politically correct on this one, if I hurt your feelings, be patient, there's no shortage of drama in Nigeria that will help you forget I ever made this piece.

You all want to make impact? Y'all come together, do extensive research and develop practicable solutions to end poverty, which, I'll help you, is centered around two things; Education and Employment. These children are hungry but before you gave them that pack of 'indomie' they didn't die. Your pack of indomie and box of soda will probably be exhausted in what? Two weeks? While you are off to other locations with your camera and crew and may never return to the centres a second time? Then prepare a pitch to bigger foundations like the Rockefeller soliciting support, receive bigger funds, buy Land cruisers, appear on TV, sound educated and touched by the plight of the less privileged but you are lowkey planning your entry into your states Assembly or the House of Reps? My question is for how long dear Nigerian's, for how long?

Remember what the wise man [George] once said? "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Its 2017! Its 57 years after claiming we are big boys - big enough clean our asses after a poop.

That'll be all!!!

***I intend to make this a weekly series, highlighting various trends in the system that is affecting our growth as a nation, until I am out of 'the vision'.

I am on Facebook, I.G and Twitter as @mistagerald.***