Strange despicable things happen daily in Nigeria. And everyone seems to be accustomed to them to the extent that no one is ever shocked any longer whenever an abominable or sacrilegious event takes place anywhere. We are used to horrific and terrific incidents that we are now a people with morality or decency deficit. Apart from politics which brings out the beast in us the get-rich-quick syndrome has become a worrisome feature in our collective miserable lives. About everything is wrong morally with Nigeria!
Up north blood flows, like in an abattoir, every now and then, depending on the mood of Boko Haram and other professional terrorists. Down south non-Islamic terrorism holds sway with bandits, kidnappers and unknown gunmen wreaking havoc. Criminality thrives from the seat of power in Abuja down to the cities and towns across the federation.
When national leadership effortlessly transforms itself into a criminal political enterprise then chaos and anarchy would consequently follow rendering the ‘mere geographical expression’ a comatose state.
Whereas churches and mosques multiply the so-called men of God have failed to make any positive impact on the society. While the Pastors and Imams smile to the bank (with some boasting of private jets and huge deposits) their followers wallow in abject poverty. They preach prosperity as if manna still falls from heaven. Prosperity without hard work amounts to a pipe dream.
As our leaders live criminally in obscene opulence the diabolical maddening race for filthy lucre has lately assumed an apocalyptic proportion. We have criminal role models and genuine heroes are in short supply!
Glamourising money in Nigeria is a serious national problem with grave consequences. Lately, reports online had emerged detailing how ritual killings had spiked in recent times. Nigeria remains perhaps the only country in the world where flaunting obscene wealth is seen as a class thing. Life of luxury without commensurate work is now in vogue.
Going forward, it must be acknowledged here that many Nigerians are engaged in legitimate ventures or businesses which yield good profits or wages. But there are many out there satanically desperate to hit it big by cutting corners. More disturbing is the devilish extent some misguided folks could go to make money for themselves.
Money is good; it is powerful! It answereth all things, positive or negative, as the Bible declares. With it in your pocket or possession life is good and merry. But without money life could be hellish and miserable. Money makes things happen and possible. And makes life worth living.
Nigerians ‘worship’ money! We love good things money can buy: sophisticated phones, cars; magnificient homes, beautiful wives. While we pretend to ‘love’ and fear God or Allah we hold money in highest esteem. That is why the root of all evil Nigerian is traceable to money.
In Nigeria if you are rich then you are above the law! You can use money to buy freedom from murder for example. You can use money to extricate yourself from judicial web upon being accused or apprehended for looting the treasury. You can use money to ‘buy’ yourself another man’s wife! Money can cause war or divorce or manslaughter and other mortal sins.
Without the quest for cheap money ‘yahoo-yahoo’ phenomenon would not have existed. Without the inordinate quest for money drug barons and traffickers cannot risk their lives and/or imprisonment by dealing on trans-border narcotics. Without same as recompense human traffickers (especially those sending our young girls abroad for prostitution) would be put out of business.
Without the quest for riches ritual killings would not be seen as a way of life in our country. Without money one can die from psychological worries or insomnia. With money, on the other hand, life is rosy, plentiful and a great experience. With money lifespan can be extended.
If not for state funds in abundant possession of President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu then the grim reaper could have since visited, taking them six feet below! Poor people die daily from preventable or treatable diseases like malaria. Rich men live long because there is always a doctor to check out the other thing upon any manifestation of fatigue or even ear infection.
Pray, how do we live safely in a society with warped social orientation; in a society where sexual predators, terrorists and serial ritual killers are on the prowl? How do we live decently in a society that has since lost its innocence? How do we say to our children that the future is not compromised when they could be hacked to death on the street by ritual killers?
How do we assure them, our beloved children, of their safety in a morally-corrupt society where they could be gang-raped or fall victim to terror on the street? How can any society survive the onslaught of organized rapists, kidnappers and terrorists? How do we reduce the widening gap between the few rich and majority poor population in a supposedly rich nation blessed by Providence or cursed by Lucifer?
Making good money is good. And making same legitimately is even better! Now, while everyone of us cannot be Aliko Dangote, Obi Cubana or Mike Adenuga there is this perceived blind ‘competition’ for fame and riches. And a whole lot of fetish inclinations and supernatural predilections are involved in seeking out solution.
In a Buharian nation, divided more than ever before, where hope is now a scarce commodity we must all strive to get rich or die trying! Yet restoring moral sanity to the broken system must be considered by all and sundry as a task worth undertaking.
Our humanity must be rediscovered, please!
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
