By Tabia Princewill
It’s wedding season again, the media, the elite, dazzle the common man with glittering images both online and offline of parties, nuptials and celebrations bringing together the would-be “crème de la crème” of the Nigerian society.

It is worrisome that our entire social construct is based on appearances, “looking rich” and “trending” thus reinforcing and enabling the Nigerian (and African) propensity to deal with surface issues which further shore up both inequality, economic desperation and corruption.

It is paradoxical that the North, the region which so often dazzles the Nigerian mind-set with its sumptuous weddings and events lasting weeks, mobilising civil servants, governments and the private sector, remains the most underdeveloped. Countless Northern politicians’ sons and daughters have been married this year, each ceremony more lavish than the last, and one must wonder what kind of society accepts (and refuses to question) the origin of the funds spent on these nuptials, particularly when they involve the children of serving governors, senators etc. What sort of people are we?

A few years ago, during the height of the Boko Haram terrorist attacks, a wedding convoy was attacked in Maiduguri. All participants were slain. They weren’t members of the elite; no governor or minister was in attendance. It was a wedding uniting those the political class in Nigeria secretly think of as “the plebe”, the poor and downtrodden.

Ironically, barely a few days before, an influential family from Borno successfully held a number of ceremonies in Maiduguri where soldiers and policemen were deployed, armed to the teeth to protect those whose lives clearly matter more. Governments change but the Nigerian psyche clearly doesn’t. In the words of Bossuet, a 17th century French philosopher, “God laughs at men who complain of the consequences while cherishing the causes”. We all complain about corruption in the judiciary, where harsh punishments befall only the poor man accused of stealing a GSM phone etc. but ignore men and women accused of stealing billions in foreign currency, shielding their accomplices from prosecution.

We claim to detest inequality yet everything we do as a society enshrines it, prescribing lavishness and ostentation as the norm, all based on stolen funds which should have empowered and developed the masses. The extreme difference in conditions between businessmen with connections to power and the staff whom they inexplicably owe several months’ salaries, doesn’t bother us much. Beyond pontificating in the media, few of those with the power to make a difference ever take action. We regard differences in social status, access to opportunity or life outcomes as “the will of God”—the sultan of Sokoto recently qualified the recession as God’s doing and enjoined the faithful to seek penance, which is further proof of the elite trap Nigeria has fallen into.

It is not the will of God that some people should die in childbirth due to the unavailability of adequately funded clinics or that Nigerians die of treatable diseases because hospital boards, local governments and supervising ministries divert the medication and necessary funds for their private use. It is not the will of God that millions are out of school because they can’t pay fees, or that school children sit on the floor, without textbooks because the funds to equip classrooms are being hoarded by greedy selfish politicians. It is not the will of God that year in, year out Nigeria stagnates, no matter who is in power, simply because the elite who belong to all the major political parties do not want to see the majority progress and contest their hold on power, their grip on jobs and opportunities. How can injustice and unfairness be the will of God? It is simply the will and doing of Men.

We excuse poverty in Nigeria by claiming it is the result of individual choices (e.g. “why do poor people have so many children”) or by touting other blatantly stereotypical, offensive, ethno-religious pronouncements which totally obscure the truth: the man on the street, no matter where he is from, if given the kind of education and opportunities many reading this take for granted, would be a radically different person. It is our uncommon selfishness as a country which has obscured the common good, our overall development and progress. Basics such as food, education, health care and decent housing, are luxuries in Nigeria, this isn’t news, politicians prefer to hoard the aforementioned for themselves. Governors and ministers build and own luxury estates, private schools and hospitals (all with state funds) which elite men and women attend unthinkingly.

Then when their staff disappoint them, or rob them, or they complain about the quality of Nigerian graduates, they don’t make the connection between this and the total collapse of the public health care or education system which they supported and enabled. Had we a functioning public school system for example, our schools and universities would be churning out individuals with the right kind of creativity and mind-set to increase businesses’ profitability. Nigeria is a land of missed opportunities.

Merit means nothing in Nigeria where the talentless, idealess thrive and blatantly steal from the public purse, all to be applauded by the churches and the media who should be custodians of our moral compass. We haven’t yet realised what refusing to rid ourselves of corruption will cost us.

The recession isn’t biting us all hard enough it seems: some of us still find it within us to defend people who’ve obviously done wrong. Or perhaps we still kid ourselves that the worsening security situation (also linked to corruption) won’t affect us all in the end. Nigeria needs systemic, well-orchestrated change, not sporadic, miscommunicated, mismanaged action. We need to tackle the ideas which culturally support and enable poverty, such as claiming that some are “born to be poor”.

There are still too few pronouncements on plans to end injustice in this country and to restructure our economy into one where all players are welcome, rather than just the well-connected. Statistics say there are around 185 million Nigerians, 70% of which are under 30. What will happen when the majority of this population, more than half of which are unemployed and without any formal training or education, begin to forcefully resist poverty and the elite system which is truly rigged against them? Nothing the world has seen in Somalia, Liberia or Sudan will be comparable to what might happen if this group decides to turn to violence. Where are the plans to make sure that day doesn’t come?

Supreme court

Investigations have allegedly revealed that a number of Justices received huge payments from individuals, particularly during election tribunals. There have also been allegations of the Justices receiving payments which are well beyond what is budgeted for them by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC. This is often the trend.  States can’t pay minimum wage but yet money is somehow found to grant huge allowances to some officials. What Nigeria needs now is less talk and more action. Let’s begin to right wrongs and show the common man that government can stand on the side of truth and justice. After all, if we can’t afford to pay salaries, why can we afford to buy luxury cars for Reps for example? No successful democracy operates in this manner.

Former Presidents’ salaries

It is more than disturbing that of all the issues facing Nigeria today, it is the salaries of former presidents and military heads of state who seized power through force and subverted the course of Nigerian history and development, which should move the Senate. Who protests when workers and pensioners are owed their stipends?

Plus, many former heads of state have allegations and accusations of corruption levelled against them, many of which were never resolved or fully investigated. Mobs kill innocent children accused of stealing mere garri, out of frustration. Why is the Senate, which is meant to represent the people, crying over the fate of people who don’t need their attention?