No ‘big’ shoulders to cry

By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.

A typical villager I know, even his appearance gives him away, finished in one of the premier universities in the country with a very good result. He finished with a first class in mathematics and education, but the institution did not retain him to teach there. This may be on the account of his ‘village’ looks, and the fact that he was from a very poor family.

His fate was to teach mathematics in a very remote village, where he eventually became a principal, before his retirement from the government service. He served for 35 years in the school before his retirement.

But the ‘brilliance’ in him runs in the blood, and one of his male children finished in the same institution with (also) a first class in medicine, collecting all the nine ‘prices’ on offer along the way.

Unlike the father, the child was luckier, as a foreign school came calling and he was whisked away for further studies in medicine, after which, (your guess is as good as mine), he would end up as a well qualified doctor anywhere in the world but Nigeria, his country of birth.

Because he was a ‘nobody’ and the son of a ‘nobody’, himself the son of a ‘nobody’ from a village, nobody on these shores would care whether he came back to Nigeria or not, despite the fact that he was coming back as a highly qualified young doctor.

He may come back to his country of origin without a guarantee for a job, but other countries may hanker for him, even as a consultant.

The fate of his father befell on him (the father) because he had no ‘big’ shoulders in the society to lean and cry on. This is Nigeria, where who you know is more important than what you can do.

Your capacity to be the best in your field, in most cases, amounts to nothing if you do not have a so called big person to make a case for you, whatever job you may be looking for.

This is a country where most of the ‘big’ people, who began as ‘nobodies’ but became ‘somebodies’ on account of politics would not help others to also grow. Politics in Nigeria is NOT about service to the people, but rather it is about self aggrandisement.

Many of the politicians today were at one time ‘nobodies’, but for one reason or another, they became ‘somebody’ on account of the few ‘helpful’ politicians who were on hand for them. Yet, many of them do not want to return the favour by assisting others.

Unlike in other climes, where people are practically forced to take up public offices, it is a different story in Nigeria, where some people would give the proverbial ‘arm and leg’ to be appointed into a government office, because they would instantly become obscenely rich with public funds.

The word ‘accountability’ appears not to be in the country’s dictionary, hence the ‘do or die’ struggle to get a big public office. This would make the person so wealthy instantly.

Some countries less endowed than Nigeria, give FREE medical care and education for their citizens. But these and other services are out of reach of many Nigerians, unless those with very deep pockets, despite the abundant material resources that the country is blessed with.

For many, if not most Nigerians, what is taken for granted elsewhere, is money intensive here, because the leadership to ensure the near equitable distribution of the God given resources is just not there.

All things being as they should, Nigeria ought to have passed the stage of where its politicians only promise to build this or that road or to construct this school or that for the people. They do not talk about advancing the interest of their country on the world stage.

During, and a short while after, the First Republic, there were high hopes that it would not take long before Nigeria became a great nation as the leaders then had started the country on the path of greatness. At that time the country had all the indices in place, including the selfless leadership, for greatness.

But somewhere along the line, the country lost it, togather with some of the things that would make it a great success, at least by the standard of the third world then.

In actual fact, it is the poor Nigerian, with no ‘big’ shoulders to cry on, who lost out, because the only interest many of the Nigerian politicians are capable of advancing is their own, not the country’s.

Malam Labaran wrote from Abuja.