“Good morning in this bus”, the ragged looking man said, bringing me out of my deep thoughts and adding to the already distracting noises at the bus park. “Let us pray for a safe journey”, he continued, getting my complete attention.

I was used to prayers for safe journeys in buses before embarking on bus trips. With the deplorable state of roads in Nigeria (roads with craters that can swallow a jumbo jet without leaving a trace), the only way to arrive at your destination without adding to the already grim statistics is to say a heartfelt prayer because God knows that nothing else is going to go in your favour. With ogogoro drinking fuji blaring drivers, to gun-toting trigger happy police men (or should I say robbers), the only refuge of the oppressed is prayer.

Prayer is the only thing that brings Nigerians together, bagging us the title of the most religious nation on earth. If being religious is measured in the number of hours spent in church, the passion with which we shout resounding Amens to various proclamations from men of God (this is gist for another day), or the number of churches that dot the landscape, then yes, we truly are religious.

Anyway, back to my bus journey. I was curious as to what was going on. The usual bus-praying practice is for a passenger in the bus to lead other passengers in prayer just as the bus pulls out of the park This prayer warrior was definitely not a passenger, because for one, the bus was already full.

My first thought was that this man had been hired by the transport company to pray for their passengers. Being a business minded person, I couldn’t help but think how this could be to their advantage. It would be a unique selling point to customers who will then be guaranteed a safe journey or their money back and also the transportation company would be protecting their assets from potential profit-eroding accidents.

But as things unfolded, I realised that this man was infact self-employed. The prayer continued for a while ensuring that all enemies (foreign, domestic or in-human) would clear away from the path of our super-charged, fire blazing vehicle. At the end of the session we all shouted a very loud Amen.

I was impressed with this good Samaritan who selflessly prayed for us since half of us in the bus were sinners who didn’t know God and the other half hadn’t yet grasped the complex task of praying for themselves.

I was impressed, that is, until he dashed my hopes for a Nigeria where people helped others without expecting something back in return, because then came the catch! We were all expected to support the ministry of the bus safety consultant with cash donations (or offering as he called it).

Imagine my surprise when the offering basket started filling up. I love this country! Only in Nigeria will a person make a living from knowing how to pray, or shall I say having the sense to pray for lazy people who do not have the technical know-how to do this obviously brain-tasking activity themselves.

When will this brainwashing stop, I wondered. When will we stop capitalizing on the hopes of our fellow men? When will we start taking responsibility for our lives instead of outsourcing our future to people who do not think twice about selling such basic things as air, hope, dreams, or even prayer?

And the story continues

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The world has come this far because of Capitalism, so duck your ideas and let christianity thrive, there are fools aplenty and loads of money to make, why do you think God likes Capitalism, let the forces work and let the end be determined by demand and supply, such a democratic self-servicer if you'd ask me.