Also published in DAILY TRUST
One
of the funny ironies in Nigeria is how even the rich hardly if at all enjoy
comfortable lifestyles worth their accumulated fortunes. This perhaps
represents one of the implications of bad governance perpetrated over the
decades by the ruling elite in collaboration with their cronies, most of who
are rich or even super rich for that matter. Incidentally, while indulging in
their inconsiderate looting spree, they never seemed to have realized that they
were simply creating an unfriendly social environment for themselves where they
could not enjoy their loot.
It
is obvious that, the steady socio-economic degeneration in Nigeria has reduced
the country into a harsh struggling ground for survival. Much has been said
about the poor’s suffering out of the grinding poverty, life-claiming diseases,
destitution, illiteracy etc, which overshadow the predicament of the rich.
Whereas in reality, though the poor wallow in a seemingly endless misery due to
chronic poverty, the rich aren’t that comfortable either, as it seems to the
public. Granted, they are comparatively better, yet they are far from the real
sense of comfort anyway.
For
instance apart from the highest government functionaries and a few others among
the super rich, hardly if at all any Nigerian wealthy enjoys a comfortable
night sleep due to security concern all over the land. Interestingly, the common
proverb describing sleeping in such a situation used be “sleeping with one eye
open” until recently when a former FCT minister pointed out that it is actually
“sleeping with both eyes open” nowadays. Perhaps those who are still lucky
enough to sleep with only one eye open are those few who enjoy maximum security
by virtue of their current positions. Anyway, I wonder the level of the former
minister’s role in creating and/or exacerbating this situation.
In
any case, a typical Nigerian wealthy also barricades himself and his immediate
family in a fortress-like structure (which he calls home), designed to
primarily keep away armed robbers and other intruders. Interestingly enough,
architects in Nigeria have effectively created unique architectural styles to
meet the demands of their constantly scared clients, who have to sacrifice
safety and comfort standards to give way for security related modifications.
There have been many instances in such homes when fire outbreaks swallowed up
some of the occupants and valuables, because rescuers could not get through due
to the prison-like strong doors and iron bars fixed on the entrances, windows
and other accesses.
And
though they provide themselves with some amenities like borehole water
infrastructure, power generating sets and (though largely ineffective) security
guards, they nevertheless can't enjoy societal peace and harmony, sufficient
environmental cleanliness in their neighborhoods and even fresh air for that
matter.
As
a matter of fact, apart from those super rich and those whose power generating
costs are paid by the government, hardly if at all any one of them enjoys mere
electricity all the time. They mostly put on their power generating sets only
in the nights or when they are personally at home.
In
short, they live in a persistent state of fear for their security and safety,
endure long hours of frustration due to frequent power cuts, risk contracting
water and airborne diseases due to unhygienic tap (if any)/borehole water and
filthy surrounding environments respectively.
Moreover,
while they cautiously move around on Nigeria's dilapidated roads, their
expensive and sometimes bullet-proof automobiles rarely help matters when
preventable traffic accidents occur or armed robbers strike. The situation has
got worse with the emergence of other life-threatening crimes, which have
become the order of the day e.g. rapid escalation of Boko Haram menace,
kidnapping, armed robbery and other dangerous crimes all over the country. And
though, the crimes are sometimes indiscriminate in nature, the rich remain
particularly targeted for obvious reasons.
Furthermore,
even the less serious inconveniences which a typical Nigerian wealthy has to go
through endlessly are stressful enough to deprive him of a comfortable
life. For instance when he manages to wake up in the morning having had
to spend the night virtually awake, he realizes that he is most likely to have
visitors at the gate, each wishing to see him one on one with requests for
mostly financial favors. To dodge that "inconvenience" he would have
to have his vehicle ready to zoom off immediately once he comes out and jumps
in with a cellular phone on his ear pretending to be making calls, so as to
make the impression that he is busy making calls hence does not notice his
waiting visitors. He repeats the same show upon reaching his office where he is
most likely to be expected by another set of such visitors. Similar scenario
also plays out while leaving the office and upon reaching his home.
Nevertheless in some few instances he would have to succumb to his visitors’
insistence and part with some amounts of money reluctantly.
Furthermore,
Nigerian rich hardly enjoy decent and safe recreation places for camping or
picnic for instance, just as there are hardly any indecency-free (for those who
care) joints or clubs to unwind or suitable holiday facilities, which
essentially compel them to live between walls and on the move in vehicles. And
on their occasional outings for sundry purposes e.g. some social events, where
they encounter common people, they hardly look composed as they are eager to
vanish at the slightest chance, particularly nowadays when they play cat and
mouse game with Boko Haram elements and kidnappers.
In
reality, life is only relatively easy and comfortable for Nigerian rich if
compared to the plight of the masses, who effectively struggle to survive in
misery. In Nigeria, just as the poor wallow in poverty amidst plenty, the rich
live with depression despite prosperity. Worst still is how the poor's
resentment against the rich worsens steadily, which warns of a possible class
struggle across the country. After all a Hausa proverb sums it up when it says
“duk dan da yahana uwarsa bacci, shi ma kuwa ba zaiyiba” which means “a
stubborn child who deprives his mother of her sleep, would not enjoy it either”
Postscript:
Wikileaks gossip leakage
Though
the Wikileaks disclosures regarding Nigeria are scandalous enough to warrant
the resignation of a whole government and even prompt high profile legal
prosecutions in a civilized country, I am not surprised by the official apathy
that greets it in Nigeria, because the conscience (if any) of most of the
Nigerian ruling elite is simply deactivated, to say the least.
Having
already known how fraudulent most Nigerian officials are, I don’t regard the
leakages that stunning at all, instead I was shocked by the level of the ruling
elite’s naivety which the US ambassador apparently took advantage of, to
manipulate and lure them into disclosing such damaging details against each
other. During their respective private sessions with the ambassador, each one
of them had apparently assumed that he was exclusively “privileged” to indulge
in mere small talks and harmless gossips with the ambassador, not realizing
that it would straightaway go all the way to Washington DC, let alone think for
once that it might backfire one day.
