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zonerator's Blog
zonerator's Blog
Conscience, Crime-Fighting & the Nation's Cup
Related to country: Nigeria

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There is something curiously masochistic about Nigerians that is a puzzle to observe. When the Super Eagles lost to Cote d’Ivoire’s Elephants courtesy a virtuoso strike by what’s-his-name, it seemed like the beginning of the end for Nigeria’s Nations Cup dreams. The very next day, every local channel I flipped to had a replay of the Eagles’ show of shame on air. The same obtained this morning, after yesterday’s lacklustre draw with the Eagles of Mali. Watching the tactless attack of our forwards bounce off an indomitable wall of Malian defence renewed the sour taste of disappointment that killed my appetite last night, and for a moment I wanted dearly to wring the neck of the program schedulers responsible for this interminable torture. But as the 90 minutes played out, I realised a slight step-down in my vitriol level, and before I knew it, I was laughing at some off-the-wall technical gaffes our players committed with no trace of previous bitterness.

Then it struck me. Repeated exposure to the unpleasant experience had dulled my acerbic reaction to it and made it bearable, even laughable. Something else I discovered: this mood-reversal therapy is actually a mainstay of Nigerian society. It’s how we deal with the desperate squalor that assails and surrounds us. It’s how we pull the rug over the regular police brutality and impropriety meted out daily to unsuspecting citizens. It’s how we pat down with pride our wilted fabric of social morality, sewn through with the rotting thread of corruption. And for the present context, it’s how we’ve glossed over the recent spate of institutional upheavals that could in the long run threaten the oft-touted rule of law this administration seeks to espouse.

I speak of the compulsory dispatch of the EFCC boss for a one-year professional course by the IG of Police. This peremptory course of action, effected while EFCC boss Ribadu was in the middle of prosecuting an unscrupulous motley of very slippery and very influential former administrators, was instigated under circumspect circumstances and prompted a momentary public uproar of dissent. Still, that’s all it was, a momentary, flash-in-the-pan uproar. After media pundits steamed and stewed the subject for a week, it slipped off the front burner of critical commentary and became instant fodder for cartoonists and comedians. Then even the jokes grew stale, the guffaws lessened and gradually, it assimilated into society’s dregs of yesterday’s news, without any constructive remediation proffered or seen through. One big “poof!” and it was gone, just like that.

The EFCC boss has since been replaced, blockades installed to prevent his reinstatement, and while all appearances to the effect of continued prosecution are kept up, the wheels of crime-fighting seem to have stopped turning. Tomorrow, we’ll be saying “Ribadu, who?” You can never underestimate the convenience of a comatose public conscience…

I guess that’s why a global survey declared us the Happiest People on Earth.

January 26, 2008 | 10:26 AM Comments  2 comments

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sandygaspay Sandy Mae
May 18, 2008 | 12:30 PM

Manny! I missed your sarcasm. :P

Very well written. I should say the same thing about my country. Then again, I believe the apathy and emotional resilience is both a mixture of poverty and hopelessness. Or maybe people have gotten used to it that they no longer complain.
zonerator Manny Maurice
June 6, 2008 | 3:08 PM
Always a pleasure, Sandy dear :)
You summed it up nicely, Sandy. But herein also lies a recipe for disaster if someone doesn't stir the people from their comatose state. I'm talking nationwide collapse of Zimbabwean proportions. Yeah, that might sound quixotic, but the present condition of the power sector bears up this Doomsday scenario. Right now the entire nation's economy hobbles on a meagre 800 MW crutch, when megacities alone consume that much...Watch this space
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