Opinion
By Dr. Chiogo Constance Ikokwu (Ugonechora)
I have been reflecting about something uncomfortable: perhaps Nigeria is not really ready for change.
We constantly describe ourselves as resilient. But sometimes I wonder whether “resilience” has simply become a euphemism for adjusting to suffering. Fela called it suffering and smiling, and perhaps that is precisely what we have perfected. Our ability to adapt may itself be helping an unhealthy system survive.
Something terrible happens. We shout. We rage on social media. For a few days or weeks, the country is consumed by outrage. Then we adjust. We find a way around the problem. We move on, and the system learns from us.
It learns that there is almost no limit to what can be done to Nigerians before we eventually adapt. Look at what has just happened in Niger State. Thirty-seven people suspected of illegal mining died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Questions remain about the circumstances and cause of death, and an investigation is now underway.
It is horrifying. But my question is bigger than this particular tragedy: What happens after the outrage dies down?
Will we demand answers until we get them? Will we insist on accountability? Will we remember the names of the dead? Will we demand changes that make sure something like this cannot simply happen again? Or will this become another terrible Nigerian story that dominates the news for a few days before we return to business as usual?
We call ourselves fighters. Are we? Do we really believe in ourselves enough to fight for the country we inhabit?
Nigeria is extraordinarily blessed. Africa is extraordinarily blessed. It seems that abundance has also made us complacent. We have land, people, natural resources, culture, talent and extraordinary human ingenuity. Yet, when things become unbearable, our solution is often escape. We escape to places where their people have fought for their own countries to make it what it is.
Japa. Get a second passport. Send the children abroad. Buy property elsewhere. Build an alternative life somewhere else. There is nothing wrong with seeking a better life. But what happens when an entire society begins to see exit as the only solution to failure?
Who then stays to fight for the land? Who fixes the broken institutions? Who demands better schools, hospitals, roads, courts, policing and government? Who confronts corruption and impunity? Who insists that public officials actually serve the public?
We have become remarkably good at surviving Nigeria. But perhaps survival is not enough anymore. A country cannot be permanently sustained by people who merely learn how to endure whatever is thrown at them. At some point, resilience must become resistance to what is destroying us.
At some point, outrage must become organisation; and complaint must become sustained civic action. We must stop asking only, “How do I survive this?” and start asking, “How do we change this?” It’s not one person’s job. It is everybody’s job.
If every generation simply adjusts to a little more suffering, a little more dysfunction, a little more injustice and a little more impunity, where exactly does it end? I am not convinced anything fundamentally changes until Nigerians begin to believe that we ourselves have the power to change it.
And no, God is not going to descend from heaven to fix Nigeria for us. We need to stop disturbing God every Friday and Sunday with our shouts for divine intervention and start doing the work He has already given us the capacity to do.
Wake up. This country is ours, and if we do not fight for it, intelligently, peacefully, persistently and collectively, then who exactly do we expect to save it?
Maybe the real question is not whether Nigeria is ready for change. Maybe the question is whether Nigerians are ready to stop merely surviving Nigeria and start changing it.
Dr. Ikokwu aspires to serve Idemili North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State in the House of Representatives.
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