NIGERIA’S END BAD GOVERNANCE PROTEST: The Creeping Reality of Dysfunctional Hope (1)

 Prior to the communicated commencement of the protest that was tagged ’10 Days of Rage’ or ‘Hunger Protest’ in Nigeria, my fascination got heightened by the events and responses that unraveled all around me during the last 48 -24 hours to the actual date which seemed more of various detached engagements rather than the buildup of a revolutionary momentum that is expected to happen in such socially related plan to command the needed attention of our leaders to the excruciating plights of the citizenry who wake up every day with pent up anxiety about what new change would hit them with the various prices of commodity and charges, to the bleak ray of Hope and the silent whisper of prayer that this living horror would fade into oblivion as widely desired by a lot of Nigerians. The grounds and justification for the protest to have happened was endless yet one question that lurked at the back of my mind as I watched the random scampering, indifference and ignorant perspectives that greeted the news of the upcoming protest was ‘Does the average Nigerian still have an iota of consciousness of what the National Hope truly is OR are we only circling around a pre mediated cycle of fiasco, delirousity and even dysfunctionality?”  

   Forgive me if my thought path also mirrored the very same question I asked but with my limited scope of observation during the period particularly in the state where I currently reside – Akwa Ibom state, the activities seemed more like a preparation for another wave of a pandemic isolation of some sort. From the mammoth crowd storming the markets, supermarkets and other retail stores in the rave of Panic Buying to stock up food stuffs plus other essential items for the period (like it was going to exceed the stated 10 days),to the unbelievable queues at the filling stations – petro and gas, then the other side of the divide which had the members of the society who couldn’t afford being a part of the ‘Purchasing Chaos’ dwelling in uninformed criticism, abuses and anger yet wanting to have nothing to do with the Protest because to them it was another act in futility which would be the ‘Same Old Story’ with little or no change that emanate in its aftermath. Then in a very cynically funny way there were the Lovers who looked forward to the activity with excited anticipation, super occupied with planning the most conducive location for a ‘Duo Isolation’ during the period oblivious, completely uninterested to the cause and clamor that fueled the intention for the protest in the first place but only saw the period as another escape from reality of the society in order to consummate whatever amorous imaginations that had been built up. Then there’s the minimal cluster that questions the sincerity of the supposed ‘patriotic’ mobilization in the first place, honestly the scenarios became a living theatre of different plots, twists, role plays and I was submerged in it all trying to decipher the original interpretation of what all these could connote.  

  As the storm of the #EndBadGovernance protest has moved on with the wins, losses alongside the heavy clouds of uncertainty regarding the fate of the nation’s economy and how much longer can Nigerians bear the excruciating struggles for survival and sustenance, my position remains like a myriad of questions seeking substantial answers – Couldn’t it be said that the substance of the leaders we have are a blatant reflection of who we as a people and as a country? How do we continue to do the same old thing and expect different results? Does Nigeria have what it takes to have a Messiah come out from it ,who would to bring the deliverance we desperately yearn and saturate the altars of prayers with to come OR would we ignorantly misunderstand, misjudge and misconstrue his/her messages on the grounds of ethnic, religious, political and several other biases created from our very own fragile sense of ego then propel us to destroying that very messiah in the wave of such dysfunctional mindset before we even realize the gravity of what has been done?

 Well, this is my very first official blog article which was supposed to be an assignment for a revolutionary PGD program of Learn to Live Business School UK' - School of Communications & Media Studies which I am a pioneer student member by the innovative driven lecturer, Mr John Nkamiang where I was to engage in Local Activism by lending my support for or against the mentioned protest BUT my own form of Activism would be to provoke our thoughts to the needed awareness we need to have in the first place; starting from gaining our sanity on what our patriotic responsibilities should be in an effort to detoxify the contamination that has permeated the fibers of who we are as a people, a sovereign entity and then we could probably have the rationale to engage in actual Local Activism that would be a practical demand of action, a force of compliance that would compel our Leader to do what is expected based on the fact that for the first time in a very long time it would be said we, Nigerians have earned it!

 Local Activism is only worth it when we can stare at our reflections – bare and unfiltered then be vindicated to take a position on whatever side of the divide we choose to stand on. So . . . till that happens, this is the best of the support I can take while I pray it gets better. God be with Nigeria!