THE SYSTEM: CORRUPTION AND ITS CANKERWORMS

Nigeria’s corrupt system will seek to terminate and exterminate whoever attempts to challenge or reform it. You can be sacked unjustifiably and eventually get dethroned because you chose to be a reformer and you chose not to follow the crowd. That is exactly what happened to some reformers like the great economist and former-Emir Sanusi Lamido (former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, sacked by ex-president Jonathan after... (You know the rest of the story).

In Nigeria, abnormal things are being normalized, so, when you do the right thing people will react as if you have just done something wrong. I had just read "The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe" again, and what really touched my heart this time is the part where he describes the whole danger and anarchic dramatics that usually unfold on Nigeria roads, caused by disorderliness (inability to follow order and failure of Nigeria system of government and leadership).
Achebe compares Nigeria to other developed countries like the USA in terms of complacency with road safety precautions. He said that the USA orders commuters to maintain 80km per hour on highway roads and citizens have to comply. Failure to do so... and your car will be impounded and you will also be charged. There are highway safety officials who ensure that the law is strictly abided and this country doesn't even have big potholes that can swallow 5 cars like an anaconda swallows cows.
 In Nigeria my country, corruption is like the air that almost everyone has to breathe in and out, and those that chose not to breathe it get suffocated severely. It is really sad to say that it is becoming really weird to not be corrupt in this country because we are in a system that is utterly corrupt; a system whereby there are huge rewards for corruption, however, suffrage and distress is the penalty for those who chose not to wear the Balenciaga of Corruption.
We have big potholes on bad roads. We also have ‘black devils’ with protruded bellies who are agents of making things worse than better. Whenever they pull up a car and say "oga how far?" (which means Drop #50 and “carry-go”) even when the driver could be carrying a bomb parcel that will eventually blow up his whole family. All he has to do is to squeeze a note of #100 on the uniformed men’s hands, that is how much hundreds of lives cost. It is so disheartening how some people let greed and corruption push them into doing chaotic and inhumane things that jeopardize humanity.
We are in a system whereby some political figures, celebrities etc. ceremoniously and unwisely use the siren sound to announce their arrival and compel other patriotic citizens to clear the road for them so that they could pass through while everyone holds still. A corrupt system that allows uniformed men who are meant to protect and serve the people to jump down from noisy convoys to assault citizens who have done nothing but the sole aim to impress the potbellied man wearing agbada, sitting in a tinted Toyota highlander, returning from a self-given six-month vacation in the UK.
A lot of people think it is the party, PDP, APC, or ARSENAL FC (sorry that's a football club), but it's actually the system. The system in which elected representatives holding public offices contract project (road, hospitals, buildings, etc.) to their stalwart party colleagues who does not even know how to go about the project (What a shame!). So, he/she ends up giving the contract to another firm after devouring the huge commission of the project. To cut the story short, after 10 years (e. g Ilorin Geri Alimi bridge) we later get a road or building that will tear up after some months. I know I am speaking the truth here; you and I know it. But writing this, makes me abnormal too right.? You see… that is the problem.
I was driving one day and I wanted to do the right thing which in Nigeria could be seen as doing the wrong thing or being old-fashioned. So, I did not go beyond 60kmp, when one Old and angry-looking taxi driver who was using the horns (in a very horrible way) to tell me I'm too slow overtook me and shouted as he did that I should just go and park, if I cannot drive, I shook my head in pity. This same man had to drop one of his passengers and without using the trafficking signal light, he swerved suddenly to the pedestrian side almost causing an accident. I told him that he was the one that should go and park his car because he is the one who apparently does not know how to drive. He felt so offended. But I didn't apologize for what I said. I was just concerned about the lives that could have perished because of his greed.
 To cut the epistle short, I am not a Saint. In fact, I need to be caned too for having littered the roads with ‘pure water’ sachet which I took after shouting at the players who couldn't hear me while watching Real Madrid Fc punch Barcelona FC in the face, twice, the presence of Messi as a goat🐐. (that's not the goat I am referring to) I'm not a Saint. Part of me is corrupt too. I guess that is what makes us human; we are not infallible. but I'm trying to clean it up and I think we should all do. Let us do what is right even if it is 60%, we can start from there. People need to know that this corrupt Nigerian system is a cankerworm affecting the growth of humanity and humans should know that their actions also have implications for humanity. No one is born a monster or saint. We were all born innocent.

Written by Habeeb Kayode Yahaya.