2 minutes later he approached. I have a policy of not giving money to people with functioning senses and limbs, hence i inquired how he earns a loving.
Eloquent, he told us of his story. He is 58 years old. Philip Uzochikwa. Lives at Ikotun. Has a family of 5: the eldest,26, a teacher; the next,24, learning a trade and the next 3 still in school when they could attend one. He had been laid off after his contract with one of the firms handling Ajaokuta Steel construction had ended a year ago.
His fledgling transport business had collapsed following an accident that almost took his life. He had resorted to envelopes production (of all sizes) but according to him was not sustainable, as it was slow and he only makes N30 at most on a copy (he didn’t have the machines to use too). The most copies he produces every week is about 1000 (and by that, business is booming). Why did he approach us? He needed to get home. He also inquired if we could employ him to do anything to make a living. I was deflated, depressed, angry, devastated.
Mr Philip story Represents a typical Nigerian scenario elsewhere: broken, tattered, hopeless, helpless, hapless. My partner queried in series of outbursts so what is our worth as a Nigerian?” i asked too “What’s my worth?” What is the worth of my citizenship? What’s the essence of my “Nigerianness”? What benefit accrues to me as a Nigerian? What value do I attract? What is my worth for being born into this country! Why are there disparities, glaring inequalities? The same country where lawmakers are earning so much in startling contrast to the people of the nation!
The more i thought, the more it got scary. We are the endangered species! The same children, families of people ignored today will haunt with the same or worse measure to which they have been neglected. Why? Most of them end up becoming the violent, the thugs, the criminals, the angry, the terrorists. The abandoned despises the society that neglects it, hates the system that spits on it; bottled frustration and anger oft makes them vicious.
Is there hope? Is there a way out? Is Nigeria not doomed the way leaders consistently build a haven for the poor, the homeless and helpless? Our aged men would rather be security personnels at different degrading establishments abroad earning stipends to see them through each day or more than come back home and face uncertainty, abject poverty or be impoverished. What could make a 58 year old man approach two young Nigerians for help?
Even for those who serve the system, the pension scheme established for them here is being looted by criminals and idiots. Why should you not be angry? Why? This is why most of us went Out in January. We knew it would come to this, where peasants in the society would approach some like us (and most of us are not better off), covered up in nice clothes and perfumes.
We need freedom, from leadership that consistently impoverishes its people. We need freedom from kleptocracy, from leaders united only by their collective resolve to loot and rape our nation; from those irreverently committed to selfishly stealing from our commonwealth.
All freedoms come with a price. Ours would not be different. The Nigerian leadership must heed the voice of reason, find its callings and wake up to its responsibilities. We have no belief in a government, in leadership as ours that is reckless, shameless, and unrepentantly wicked. As it stands today, the common Nigerian as no worth.
Or what is your worth as a Nigerian?
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