No! Not our skin colour!
And definitely not our kinky hair!
I mean our willingness to fight slightly irrelevant symptoms,
either in our bid to escape the reality of dealing with the disease as the only sure way of curing it,
Or our very generous hope on these attacks on the 'slightly irrelevant' symptoms to cure the disease,
Or, so that at least we could tell ourselves that we tried.
I think it's called "hypocrisy".
I was on twitter minutes ago, and the trending hashtag was " #KeepGrowingTheNaira ",
Okay, there is nothing wrong with that hashtag really, but let's face it, I know we all think that we're at least doing something but are we?
My concern is the attitude people bring to these "fights" like I would call them, as if "GrowingTheNaira" will suddenly fix every economic problem we (Nigeria) have, this is the same attitude we have given to every other of such "fights", some of which we have won very well but are still in the problem.
Why did the naira fall? We like foreign products better and use their currencies more to purchase them. Who caused it? We did. So, there you go,
how exactly do we think the " #KeepGrowingTheNaira" " hashtag is helping us? Honestly,
How many nigerians have that hashtag made to buy more nigerian products? Apart from the normal "hypocrisy for the press",
How has the hashtag changed the nigerian products we have refused to buy?
Or made us produce the ones we don't before?
Sorry, will that hashtag create a better environment for our entrepreneurs to produce here (in nigeria) and favourably compete with the foreign products? No! and No!
I doubt this hashtag will see to an improvement in our power situation,
Or make funds available for the private sector?
These are few of the real economic problems we have, and they have been known to us since a thousand years before christ, so awareness has never been an issue.
Even the senators championing "this cause" took a delivery of foreign cars days ago worth billions, while we assemble vehicles here.
God willing, we win this fight and the naira goes back up to 180naira to 1dollar which I don't see happening soon because hashtags can only do as much,
what would we have achieved?
pure water selling for N10 instead of the hiked price of N20 caused by the fall of the naira?
Or, bread selling for their old prices instead of the additional N10 - N50 due to the fall of the naira?
Are these the great things we hope to achieve?
Is this the economic stability or growth we really need?
Is it really worth it?
So, we're not really doing anything other than convincing ourselves that we are doing something thereby not doing anything.
Few weeks backs, it was all about "The Budget", like a budget has ever meant anything in this country, it has always just been a formality, do you want me to mention the regular "APC and PDP" episodes, or the "Blame GEJ" series, or the so-called "Fight against Corruption" documentaries, or the "Change is Here" seasonal film, or the "BBOG" drama?
We have been so found of picking the wrong fights, and failing to win the battle even after the many times we have conquered, these people (politicians) will keep dragging us into these mess to make us feel like they're doing something, but nothing is been done if the core problems are not addressed.
You wanna grow the naira? Fix our industries and put forward policies that will make it considerably easier to produce world standard products here. Not by "#KeepGrowingTheNaira" hashtag.
You wanna fight terrorism, enlighten the vulnerable youths in the villages and keep them busy with jobs so they won't be used to cause violence. Not by "#StandWithOurArmy" hashtag.
You wanna support the government in these tasks, be a good citizen by at least not being part of the problem if you're not helping solve them. Not by "#Change" hashtag.
Lastly, I have always maintained, no country grows without a bunch of patriotic citizens, we need to start seeing Nigeria as truly our country, and start treating it like we would our country, and not like we would kids as nannies when their parents are around and watching.
Thanks, warm regards.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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