11/06/2024
To a large extent, poverty is a choice. And you only have to look at the issue of the IDP camp in Benue. Just yesterday, it was revealed that two hundred babies were born in just one month in a single camp. I doubt that up to twenty babies are born in a month in the whole of Banana Island, Lagos, which is the richest place per square mile in Africa. But here, you have jobless, homeless people rapidly reproducing. Then they had the guts to complain that the Government is not doing enough for them! They are so busy doing each other that they cannot do much for themselves.
And that is the tragedy of Nigeria and much of sub-Saharan Africa. Our superhuman ability to blame others for problems of our own making.
Look at this present complaint of the scarcity of pepper and tomato in Nigeria. I can understand it if we complain about rice being in short supply. But what is it about tomatoes and peppers that we cannot plant in our backyards or kitchens? Plants that only take 90 days to go from seed to harvested fruit? But we will not plant it. Yet, let the rain fall today, and broke Nigerian men will start sending urgent 2k transport money to broker girls for weather for two.
And that is how many of our girls travel to see men they do not know and are never heard from again!
How many times have you driven in Southern Nigeria after rainfall and you see people farming? It does not happen! We as a people just love cruise too much. Then, after cruising all day, we will gather on social media to be led by Arise TV on a tirade against the government. And we are surprised that tomatoes and peppers are scarce.
In Nigeria, we misunderstand the function of government. Please fact-check me. The government is meant to guarantee you the right to pursue your own happiness. But it is not the duty of the government to guarantee your personal happiness. You have to do it yourself.
You can't, for example, give birth to more children than you can afford to care for and then begin to blame the government for your predicament. Take some responsibility, and your life will take a better shape.