SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI
Have you seen a trending video on the Internet, of a young Nigerian lad who is very angry with the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, for saying that 7 out of every 10 Nigerian youth are criminals? I suggest that you search for this compelling video and watch it.
The young man apparently is so angry that he does not care about the enormous powers that Olukoyede has, to make his life miserable. He clearly is not afraid of being arrested. He does not care if Olukoyede will order that he be locked up in one of his many EFCC cells. The young man is tired. He has had enough of Nigeria’s leadership, its thievery and duplicity.
I do not know Ola Olukoyede. I have never met him. I hope that he has a matured mind and will not be tempted by his foot soldiers to flex his muscles and “teach the young man a lesson”, just like our usual ‘big men’ in temporary positions of power. I hope that he will carefully examine the facts that have led this extremely frustrated young Nigerian to openly lament as he did. Rather than immediately conclude that the guy is a political hack deployed by the enemies of the government to destroy the present administration, he should reflect on the cries of this young Nigerian.
In the thought-provoking video, the young man whose name I do not know but whose face is very clear, declares angrily: “99 out of every 100 Nigerian politicians are criminals! 99 out of every 100 EFCC officials are criminals! Yes now! The present EFCC Boss come outside come talk say 7 out of every 10 Nigerian youth na criminals…The former EFCC Boss, dem probe am, dem collect over N580 million from him account. He spent whether 67 days in DSS custody, for questioning. The one before him; Magu, na still criminal. E still steal. You come out there dey call Nigerian youths criminals. Who made them criminals? Who made the Nigerian youth criminals, if not the evil politicians wey we get? Nigerian politicians have subjected every Nigerian youth to almost doing illegal. Yes! You go go school finish, come back, graduate, no work! And you dey expect me to survive. How? When you dey steal?
“Show me anything wey Tinubu currently don do. Show me that platform, show me that thing wey una don set aside keep say yes, go benefit every Nigerian youth. Nothing! No scheme! Even the one wey una carry come N-Power, Scam! Pack una people, children, una children, una family members, put ghost people there dey collect money. You come outside to insult the Nigerian youth. Shame no catch you, fear no catch you to talk this thing? You should cover yourself in shame to say this kind of thing. Your children no dey suffer. Do you know what we go through as Nigerian youth?”
The very informed young man said a lot more, even calling the Chairman of the EFCC a criminal. And the anger in his voice? Palpable! I am persuaded that what this kid is saying is what many Nigerians would want to say. They just don’t have the liver!
I have written before that these days; I keep getting phone calls asking for how to get visa appointments. I do not run a travel agency neither do I work for an embassy, but the calls never stop coming. Most of the callers are not tourists or people looking for somewhere to vacation. They are people fleeing our country.
You do not need to be told that the belief of a lot of Nigerians in the future of our country has evaporated. People are selling everything they own, their cars, their electronics, even their father’s land, to pay for a visa and buy a ticket to flee to countries they know little about. They have become scared of being roasted in the pressure cooker that Nigeria has become. Time was when some people doubted the ability of the government in power to steer the ship of Nigeria. These days, many Nigerians doubt the ability of any government to steer the ship of the Nigerian state.
Last week, I wrote in this column that I am afraid to answer my telephone calls these days. Almost every call I receive is from someone with a tale of woes. “The transport fare to work is more than the salary”; “the family cannot eat because the price of basic food items have gone through the roof”; “school fees cannot be paid”; “rent is due and Landlord has increased the rent”; “my child is sick and I cannot afford the medication he needs to get well”; “My mother is very sick in the village and I need money urgently to go and see her”; “I have to get out of this crazy country but I need to pay for my visa and air fares which are out of reach”; “I was forced to borrow money from loan sharks and they are now harassing me and sending embarrassing messages to all my phone contacts”… It is endless and everybody appears to need help urgently.
The problem is that the guy that they are seeking help from needs help himself.
I have said that the government needs a lot of fire extinguishers. With millions of young men like the one I just quoted, Nigeria is heading for a period when there will be so many fires to put out. As hopelessness bestrides the land, don’t be surprised if before the end of one agitation, there is another agitation and another… Some of them may become violent and uncontrollable. We are not unaware of the saying: a hungry man is an angry man. There are too many hungry men in Nigeria now and we should be prepared for the great anger that may follow.
Just imagine that the Federal government ordered the arrest of Ibrahim Magu for fraud allegations. The Federal government also arrested Abdulrasheed Bawa for fraud. These were the men appointed to fight fraud to a standstill in our country. In the circumstance, can anyone blame the young man’s frustration? Please search for the video on the Net and see for yourself what the kid is saying.
See you next week.
