If there is anything that makes a Nigerian complete, the following must be put into consideration: (a) know how to defend your country; (b) when someone tells you the truth about your people, be number one to defend their reputation; (c) when your politician throws dirt at your face be the first to chastise them.
Being complex is a Nigerian characteristic.
Good or bad, you must be able to claim that you are a Nigerian at heart, forget the definitions. Those terms must align to the popular mentality—follow the crowd.
When Genuwine, the American rapper, threw a rock at a supposed Nigerian hacker, Nigerians took the defensive position. The criticising stones rushed in until the musician issued an immediate apology. But, let’s forget his naivety and focus on the facts: Nigeria made a whooping $12.7 billion from global scam minus the numerous local money making schemes.
The next Nigerian is looking for a way to steal from another innocent Nigerian. Frequently, one gets an email talking about a fund left by a deceased chief or from a Zenith bank accountant claiming that your account has been hacked or that a job is waiting for an unemployed at a particular location for a particular fee.
Then again, when the Agege bread woman (the demeaning label moniker is a regular term in the Nigerian parlance) morphed into a global model, many Nigerians questioned her personality and her invented luck. They couldn’t fathom how a street hawker would climb such a renowned status. Plus, the corporate companies cursed by capitalism swooped in like vultures to rip from the philanthropic largesse sparked by TY Bello. A particular Nigerian even went as far to say that TY Bello’s antics is a ploy to market her photographic skills.
The Nigerian mind is one ugly collage and the society complements this ugliness. Some days ago, a Nigerian pastor brought presented a delusional woman who claimed that many Nigerian artistes belong to the illuminati. The congregants nodded in agreement and, the said pastor went ahead to cast away the demons plaguing the girl. Though, the pastor was not able to ban shoki, gala-la and swò and the lyrics from the artistes’ lips
Another ugliness is the clamour for a new way of Nigerian existence. Everything must be changed. However, the change is tainted by an ugly past, a past steeped in orchestrated hate. For how can we explain when a snake presents to be a dove? Blinded by regional sentiments and biased thinking, Nigerians quickly related the dove to an angel who exterminates woes.
Understanding the Nigerian mind is like fitting a puzzle. It’s a hard chore. One day, maybe, Nigerians would change their mental attitudes but, for now, Nigerians are stuck in a reality tainted by dangerous characteristics.
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