What "They" dont know about everyday Nigerians.

There are a myriad of  popular truths  about everyday Nigerians and one of the most popular is their ability to aptly describe the longitude  of Nigeria's different malaise and the witty solutions to these problems. I speak of everyday Nigerians. The Yoruba man that owns a furniture shop down your street, the Igbo woman that owns a provision shop near your office, the Hausa bereau de change agent, the ijaw man who works in the civil service, the Bini journalist, the locals at a bar, the sagacious youths on social media. Those everyday Nigerians. A simple conversation with anyone of them and you will understand that almost every one of them seems to have ready solutions to multifarious  problems that confront the country.

Sadly though, almost fifty six years later it seems no single ‘’everyday’’ Nigerian has made it to the corridors of power to effect those changes we preach even if we have been peddled with stories about most of them having no shoes, clothes or the likes. It invariably seems public offices have been devoid of these everyday Nigerians for as long as we can remember. No regular Nigerian has held a public office, we must presume. It seems that public office holders or more customarily  our ‘’leaders’’ do not have a grasp on the checkered realities on ground, it seems we live in the same country but in different dimensions from every one of them.


It readily seems that only everyday Nigerians read and have been reading our vast picks of national dailies and newspapers where our vast number of columnists and public analysts criticize and proffer axiomatic solutions to the profuse malaise the country drowns in. It seems only everyday Nigerians watch our television programmes where pundits upon pundits dish out probable solutions to our multitudinous problems. Many of them even sweat on these shows while they argue with each other, but sorry, only ordinary Nigerians watch Nigerian television and listen to their ideas. The thousands of public officers simply don’t. Strangely too it seems only everyday Nigerians  are on social media where they exchange all manner of ideas, insults and tirades on each other all for the sake of Nigeria, but their "Nigerianess" don’t matter because the public officers do not notice , they are seemingly not everyday Nigerians. They live in another altitude different from the ones we live in. They are on a slower "change" tract compared to the faster one everyday Nigerians seem to be on.


Surprisingly, very surprisingly, many of these Nigerians believe that constant power supply is a pivotal pre-requisite if we are to industrialize or more recently, to diversify our economy. And yes, many of these Nigerians don’t really see the point in government telling them it is 4000 megawatts or 30,000 megawatts. They simply do not care. All they want to know is, if after 56 years of our national life and the evident achievement of the country’s neighbours in standardizing their regular power supply, that it is still possible in Nigeria. They also are not too enthusiastic or particular whether the country privatizes ‘’light’’ or not. They want to know if unflinching power supply can be possible in the self-acclaimed giant of Africa. Everyday Nigerians have even opined that in addition to the budgeted amount for power, they would not mind  if the returned loots and whatnots are directed to the power sector under supervision. Heck!  Some of them even recommended a ten percent deduction from other from all other ministries to power, if it would eradicate the epilepsy from the sector. Everyday Nigerians seem to think that they are hardworking and that if government can provide constant power supply, these persistent preaching by government about diversifying the economy and industrialising the nation would certainly not be needed. Producing toothpick would be the least of their capabilities, they boast.  It is almost disheartening that only everyday Nigerians realise this. The information gap between them and the government is inordinately vast.


In addition to this, what the government doesn’t realize is that every day Nigerians are smart  and very observant. The government constantly avers that the country’s healthcare system which these everyday Nigerians trust their life with is improving greatly, but everyday Nigerians are not blind. They see these officials abandon the country's healthcare system and trust their lives with those of foreign countries. They do not wonder why anymore. They know the truth. They mostly reaffirm their lack of trust in government at this point of the conversation, while others feel that as everyday Nigerians , their lives are now more expendable than the people representing them or largely put, government officials. Such sadness I feel for this lot. They only wonder why government officials are bent on always stating the un-obvious, telling them they are there to serve the people.


Everyday Nigerians no longer try to define the type of government that runs in Nigeria. They have since figured it out. Where two of four post-1999 civilian presidents, have been ex-military presidents of the country, a slight shade of oligarchy perhaps, or maybe we should wittingly call it oligarch-democracy.  Some states practice monarch-democracy, where a family all but dictates the governorship of the state. Some have militant-democracy, some pseudo-democracy, but that is a matter for another day. Little wonder everyday Nigerians refer to government as ‘’they’’. ‘’They’’ have finally repaired this bad road.’’ They’’ have removed oil subsidy. ‘’They’’ have increased minimum wage. It is the evidence of a people that see the leadership of the various levels of government in the country as a distal part of their nexus.


 Everyday Nigerians know that this article like many of the millions written before it by pundits, columnists and analysts alike would not be taken seriously by these government officials. Everyday Nigerians knows this is just another voice among the obvious millions, but fervently, we, everyday Nigerians continue to pray for God’s intervention. They believe God to listen to their prayers. They have prayed for and voted for change and many of them are enthusiastic about the change that they were preached to, but I fear they would be at dire crossroads if this "change" fails.