HAVE YOU COMPLAINED TODAY?

I’m tired; tired of waking up every morning to the voices of my ‘Ogogoro’ drinking neighbors arguing over who is a better politician between Wike and Amechi. Tired of Lai Mohammed’s lies. Tired of Niger Delta Avengers fighting environmental degradation by blowing up oil pipelines that further degrades the environment. Tired of paying thrice what I paid hitherto on transportation. Tired of Fulani Herdsmen raiding villages – (because, you know, the cows won’t feed themselves). Tired of buying “four seeds” of tomatoes for N800 (tomatoes are so scare now, they don’t even serve stew in the dream anymore, just white rice & yam) to cook a meal for my girlfriend who will eventually leave me. Tired of APC/PDP “e-footsoldiers” fighting every time and flooding my social media feeds. Tired of banks laying off more staff than they employ. Tired of hearing crappy music over the radio (every Jambite that fails the second attempt runs to the closest studio, smokes “weed” and makes noise over some beats, shoves it down our throats and calls it music); aren’t we all tired? We are. So then what do we do? Let’s all complain, whenever and wherever we can. I’m complaining right now, you should too.
The title of this piece may have misled you to think that this piece would be motivational or inspirational. It won’t. It’s not about statistics, verifiable or otherwise, nor is it about critical social commentary. I’m here to point fingers at you and blame you, for what? It’s all your fault!
In an era where content is the new crude; entrepreneurs and small/medium sized businesses are driving economies to development; youths are pioneering innovations and technologies in different global industries; green energy is rapidly gaining prominence; selfless leaders are creatively scheming to position their nations at the forefront of the global economy and power play; what stride could be more critical and contributory to the global economy for us than to complain and point fingers at the government. We should get creative about it. Let us hashtag it. Call-in to radio and TV shows. Gather at local newspaper stands and exchange words about the headlines. We must excel at this. We have to. The world must hear our complaints and they will.
Let everyman point fingers and blame the next man and everyone else but himself for his woes. Let us collectively points fingers and blame the government for our troubles, because, you know, the government is a completely different institution and authority from the people and is responsible for all our problems as a people. This has proven historically to be a very effective means of effecting positive change in the society. Let’s hold town hall meetings and forums to complain about how bad the government is, and how it’s responsible for all our problems; the more we complain, the closer we will be to our much needed positive results.
While we’re complaining about the government, let the government itself in turn complain about its predecessor; Let the self-vindictive government use all public relations tools at its disposal and propaganda to achieve this, after all, that is what it was voted-in to do. While the government complains about the problems created by its predecessor, let the caricature of an opposition (Hello Fayose) complain about the government complaining about them.
Don’t we all love mantras and slogans, because, you know, their use somehow translate into reality whatever concept of governance they’re meant to drive. Haven’t you heard that a child’s name affects his destiny? Industrialization! Diversification! Deregulation! Devaluation! Vision 20/20/20 (you can add more 20s)! Transformation Agenda! Change! I bet the next administration is somewhere cooking up a catchy mantra, one which we would eventually welcome with open arms, because, well, it’s a proven fact that the fire is better than the “frying-pan”.
Let us not as a people and individually make efforts and take conscious and practical steps to contribute positively to the wellbeing of the society. Let the youths not develop their minds to think creatively and infiltrate industries with their ingenuity, let them not learn lucrative skills and apply their efforts to innovation; let them instead complain about unemployment and whatever macroeconomic problem they can google and blame the government. Let us spend time and other valuable resources at our disposal to complain. After all, complaint is the new patriotism – and many wonder why the president is undergoing treatment for an ear infection.
Have we complained today about the epileptic power supply we’re experiencing and blamed Fashola for it? Have we complained today about the high cost and scarcity of petroleum products today and blamed Kachikwu for it? Have we complained about the surge in forex prices and blamed Emefiele for it? I have. If you have not, you’re not being patriotic, and that is not Nigerian. By all means, log into your social media accounts and complain about the system, blame somebody today. Why shouldn’t you? You can do a better job than anyone already there; you’re presently a better husband, a better wife, a better administrator, a better professional, a better student, a better businessman, a better politician, than your peers. Touche, you’re even more religious than your Imam and Pastor. You’re less hypocritical than your neighbor, who therefore is more qualified to criticize him and the government than your very humble righteous self.


Okezie Richmond