Aside Nationality Advocacies, the Nigerian socio-economic Condition is absolute not relative

Ipemndoh dan Iyan

Really? You live in Nigeria. You are Nigerians. You talk about Nigerians but you do not fully understand the Nigerian Plight. Please, get off your high Horses. Ipemndoh dan Iyan© 

Nigeria is not a Nation. It is a Country; a Territorial-State. I have said this many Times. Nigeria comprises many Nations. A Nation is 'Group Belongingness to common cultural History, and shared Genealogy'. However, ‘Nation’ is not my Subject of Discussion here. Oseni Rufai and his ARISE News Team are.

I believe Mr Oseni Rufai’s1 Indignation here in https://youtu.be/QbLa-v_yCq0 at the Attack on Aso Rock Premises is misguided. His Agitation over the Breach of sacrosanct2 Aso Rock is in stark Relief to the Insecurity of the ordinary Nigerian for Safety of the Person, and the Home. I would be more concerned for 'the People' rather than be preoccupied with the Safety and/or Well-being of Representatives – Officials and/or elected Members – of a Self-serving Government albeit installed by the Choice of 'the People' (in Disorientation). I must say though that his Exasperation over governmental mauling of the Nigerian Peoples (by marauding of Nigeria's Resources) is generally commendable. 

He says at some point that he “want[s] Justice", but what he really does need in Nigeria is ‘Fairness’. He and Others hunger for 'Justice' in Error. 'Justice' is a System invented to subvert ‘Fairness’ and maintain the unscrupulous in Power to control the Lives of the hapless. See, for example, https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1388624068845481985?s=19 on the Justice Criminal System (CJS). You might also take a Look at: https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1386507053292720131?s=19. Where One looks at it intelligently - not even intellectually - 'Justice' never works for the Victim unless the Perpetrator has been extremely stupid. 'Justice' demands, i.e., that a search Warrant be secured by Law Enforcement to search the Premises of a Suspect even when the Evidence is starkly in the Open staring everyone arrogantly in the Face. 

I need now to talk about the Rufai Team’s constant Theme of condemning what it sees as the Nigerian ‘Vandalism’ of Infrastructures vis-à-vis Western Societies.  This Castigation of the ordinary Nigerian Person is unfair and dismissive – irreverent actually – of the Nigerian peculiar Situation. In Western Societies, we get Government Assistance for our ‘daily bread’ and Shelter if we are unable to earn a Livelihood or generate adequate Living (where we keep to certain Rules although some fraudulently work around these Rules). Our Governments have our Backs in Times of Need. In Nigeria, what do ‘the People’ get while Government Representatives steal the Country senseless? In the West, our Governments do not flagrantly raid the Public Purse. Yeah, they steal too; through Abuse of Office for pecuniary Gratification in different Forms, for Instance. In other Words, Western Government Representatives steal by the Process of Abuse of Office for financial Gain and/or in extending extraordinary governmental financial Benefits to Friends, but they never forget the little People. We enjoy the Welfare System, or something akin, to fall back on. The Cynics or doubtful amongst us would say we only get given Crumbs off the Breakfast Table. Well, at least, we are given Crumbs. What do Nigerians receive? 

Thus, the Nigerian socio-economic Condition is not relative to the socio-economic Situations of other Countries, of the World, as the Rufai ARISE News Team has convinced itself. The Nigerian socio-economic Circumstance is absolute in itself. It is true that I agree with Kelly (1955)3 that how a Person relates to her/his Surroundings is founded entirely on that Person's Constructs. Seeing the World in this Way, it is attractive to hold to the limited Point of View that a Thief is a Thief because s/he wants to be a Thief. My agreeing with Kelly is substantial not entirely and it is Agreement that presumes voluntary personal Construct towards Criminality in Conditions of equal Life Chances. When Life Chances are obstructed for some, a Thief then is a Thief due to the prevailing Environment of stifled Opportunities. While such Recourse is consequent upon personal Construct also, it is in Juxtaposition to the (i) greater Evil perpetrated by Government (elected or self-imposed) and its Officials and Bandwagon in excluding 'the People' from the Benefits of their Country and converting Nigeria's Resources into their personal Wealth, and (ii) Support Mechanisms a Person could rely on, such as Friends and/or Family. That a Person with restricted or non-existent Opportunities for Self-Betterment succumbs to Criminality is not Choice, but Imposition by Determinism.

In the West, we have equal Life Chances irrespective of Birth although the Professionalism of Poverty will disagree with me. I know for certain that equal Life Chances exist in getting an Education however interfered with by Racism. How else could I have arrived from Africa in my 20s with no Education4 but obtained a Master of Philosophy (MPhil/PhM) Degree - above a Master's but below a PhD - circa 20 Years ago? This is in addition to previous post-graduate Qualifications. I did not fund my first Degree. Neither did my Parents. No Relation of mine assisted (not that any should). I was not on any Scholarship. Instead, British Taxpayers paid for my Bachelor's Degree. If I had that Opportunity for my first Degree funded from the UK Public Purse, so did Persons born in situ. I admit that equal Life Chances in the West are diminished in Employment by Racism - against Africans and other Ethnic Minorities - and Sexism. However, Nigeria does not offer such equal Life Chances. If Nigeria were to provide these, Nationalisms5 would ensure uniform Distribution or near-uniform Distribution except for the deep-seated Problem of Sexism.  

We vandalise in the West and it is true Vandalism. Some might excuse our Western Vandalism as an outburst of Protest, but what are we protesting about and who is protesting by Way of Vandalism? In most Cases, those who protest by Vandalism are whom we call ‘low-lives’. They have no Justification to vandalise in Protest. The Nigerian does not vandalise. What Rufai and his Team sees as Vandalism is the Nigerian's Attempt to seek a Living from the real Vandalism of successive Governments which have severally,6 collectively and cumulatively bilked the Country dry in denying Hope, Self-Respect and Dignity to 'the People' in their Millions. The unemployed are forgotten and low-wage Earners – who we call ‘the working-Class’7 in the West – are abandoned to fend for themselves ‘any which way’. 

So, when the ARISE News Team of Reuben Abati (PhD), Tundun Abiola, Ojy Okpe and Oseni Rufai dishes out its daily Spiels of Wisdom, it should temper these with Care and Understanding of the Nigerian Situation of which it is not a Core-Part, but only a peripheral-Part. Face it or not, no Member of that Team is unemployed – obviously – or of the working Class – very clearly – so, these Members should please get off their ‘high Horses'. No Need their telling me they have poor Relatives. They ain't them and ain't where those are. Wasted Remonstration insisting they came from Grass. They ain't there now. So, they should 'beat it'. Know the Saying: 's/he who feels it, knows it'? Members of this Team are 'Participant Observers' in the Nigerian Experience, I concede, but they are detached from the common psychological Traumas besetting 'the [ordinary] People'. Yes, I am only an Observer - not Participant Observer - of the Nigerian Enterprise, but I am this with huge Regard for the Complexities of the Nigerian Predicaments. Unlike many, including those with the only higher academic Qualification to mine; the PhD, I am well conversant with the normative that different Segments of any Society do not necessarily go through the same Experience[s] in identical Ways. It is normative because it is an inevitable 'State of Play'.

Endnote

1I am not sure which is his first Name, Oseni or Rufai. Ms Ojy Okpe addresses him as ‘Rufai’ but he introduces himself on social Media with Rufai as last Name. In the West, the last Name is the Surname (or like mine composited, the last Names).

2I am being sarcastic, in case you do not realize that. 

3Kelly, G. A. (1955). The Psychology of Personal Constructs: Vol 1 and 2. New York: WW Norton. (A theory of Personality: Vol. 1 & Clinical Diagnosis and Psychotherapy: Vol. 2).

4Well, I had the West African School Certificate (WASC) equivalent to O'Levels and a Diploma in Journalism through a Year's Corresponde Study. 

5You could substitute this with 'Ethnocentrism' to aid your Understanding. 

6'Severally' is used here correctly to mean 'individually' not the Destruction of the English Language by Nigerians in deploring it to indicate multiple Times. 

7Again, Nigerians with their 'too know' Mentality insist 'working class' is a Description for and of all the Employed. What a Pity. The literate-uneducated. 

Ipemndoh dan Iyan PhM©

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13 May