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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. (1488 Views)
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I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by OruExpress: 8:56pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Sorry that this is long but I'm going to start with 3 examples. I make videos on youtube explaining concepts in Igbo cosmology. I was recently approached about my video explaining Ogbanje by a person that said I was being too positive about the concept. I tired to assure the person that Ogbanje is like a stone, neither good or bad, but something that just is. The person insisted and if you ask the average person, Ogbanje is purely evil and negative. My village have a beautiful river, lush palm forests, a historical (not just for us, but for Nigeria) community hospital, one of the only world class factories in the immediate area. If you Google my village, all you will see are dead bodies from a truck tipping over on the federal road a few years ago. Everything else I mentioned, till this day, remains un-photographed online. Not long ago I mentioned that Nigeria typically handles pandemics well (HIV, Ebola were my examples) compared to a lot of countries, especially where I live, the United States. The US has the highest quality when it comes to facilities and research but once it's time for people to have access to these things, you're in trouble. We also have a habit of making everything political to the point that nothing gets done. These factors make it hard for us to deploy our abundant resources towards helping ourselves and our country. Nigeria on the other hand with limited resources typically does a good job informing citizens, and making solutions accessible. If you want HIV medicine, you can have it. If you want medicine for malaria or typhoid, it's available. There is no debate on whether Corona is real or fake at the government level. Most importantly, everyone is 100% aware of what's happening. With the negatives we deploy to these situations, these positives still exist. I was then told that I was viewing Nigeria with rose colored glasses and that 'if corona reaches Nigeria, it will be the end'. Again, Corona has arrived in Nigeria, I live in the US, and I can confidently say that Nigerians have handled it better than Americans. The death toll should say enough. By if you ask Nigerians right now, they will say the same thing. That Nigeria can't handled it. I don't blame Nigerians in Nigeria because there's little to compare it with, but the ones in America have no excuse. Americans right now know that getting hydroxychloroquine in the US has turned into a political battle and when it arrives in this country, it won't be affordable to the average person. We saw the same thing happen with HIV. In fact when it was reported that a woman had Ebola, she left the quarantine and called her lawyer insisting that a quarantine violates her rights. Many with corona are opting to stay at home and suffer it out because the hospital cost in the US will be the end of their financial lives if they dared go. America is not handling it completely poorly. We have done a great job at shutting down while keeping the economy a float as much as possible, and there's at least a stimulus bill on the way that will give money to people in response to this so they can deal with the financial blow back. So with all countries and people, there are two sides of the story and here in the US, both are getting reported. Nigeria, of course isn't perfect, but I think Nigerians are very bright, obviously capable people. There are things we do well, and things we don't do as well. But bring any subject up with Nigerians that concerns Nigeria -especially with 'an intellectual- and you will have a hard time hearing anything good or remotely encouraging, even if that person knows the other side of the coin. In fact, openly saying the positive is a mark of naivety or ignorance in the eyes of many. I think it comes from our desire to get an emotional reaction from people all the time. Maybe because most of us have a hard time communicating emotions, we compensate by trying to trigger easy emotional reactions (dread, fear, anger). My whole life I have been hearing an non-stop flood of things that would make it hard for me to look at Nigerians and by default, myself as a human being. Nigerian girls are prostitutes The only way to get roles in nollywood is to sleep with directors everyone in Ngieria is trying to rob you everyone in the village is trying to kill you you enemies are praying against you this one did juju to that one all nigerian men beat their wives nigerians are stupid nigerians are ugly nigerians are liars nigerian musicians don't make money Nigerian men are rapists Nigerians are scammers Nigerians are drug dealers Nigerian doctors aren't real doctors Nigerian teachers aren't real teachers There are no good schools in Nigeria Nigerian graduates are illiterate Nigerians are armed robbers Nigerians will rob you at the airport Don't say when you're traveling Nigerians will kidnap you All from full blooded Nigerians that primarily choose to socialize with other Nigerians, trust other Nigerians and when they get time and money go to Nigeria to enjoy their life. For many in diaspora, this is all you will ever hear unless you're odd like me and do your own personal research (which you can't expect anyone to do if this is their daily intake). I can go entire decades here in the US without hearing good news about a single one of my family members. if it's not 'we're suffering' it's 'this one is dying'. Let someone graduate from school and you won't get a call lol. If nothing bad happened, there's nothing to talk about. A few years ago I saw the effects of this in real time. With the example of my village. I am working on building a computer-lab and library in my community. One thing that's great about Americans is when ever you bring up an opportunity to do something good it's easy to mobilize people towards that end. I know that once the cornerstone is laid, getting support from this side of the world will be easy. One of my co-workers saw me working on the project and asked me what it was about. I told her and she became excited to be a part, saying that 'she's always wanted to do something like this' and 'she feels it's her purpose to help people in other countries'. She even began talking about going to Nigeria, asking about the weather, talking about the time she went to Atigua (tropical like Nigeria) etc etc. I told her of all of the things I enjoy about my village. As is usually the case with Americans, the question of safety came up. I told her that it's a very safe stable place and the city we live in in the US even has a higher crime rate than there. I said great, and we began talking in depth. I came back from break and the look on her face was different. After some silence she asked me the name of my community again and I gave it to her. That was the day I learned decapitated heads, dead children, and sprawled corpses is the first thing someone sees when they google my community and since then, she stopped talking about the project lol. I tired to explain 'Nigerians just like posting dead bodies, it's not like that' but that makes no sense to anyone outside of Nigeria. Because at best, you're going to be working with people that relish in sharing dead bodies with other people. I can only imagine how many times this has happened. An investor, or volunteer, or someone that has good plans for Nigeria starts looking for information they can use to plan their deed only to come across a level of negativity that frankly doesn't exist anywhere on earth outside of Nigeria. I think we are collectively making each other miserable with the way we choose to talk about ourselves. If you have people in your life that are like this, try to create a distance between you and them for your own mental health. Hopefully they will get the hint and stop negatively impacting our collective social well being with their choice of words. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Citytrend: 8:59pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Interesting |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by rusher14: 8:59pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Nigerians have imbibed the spirit of negativity and they must carry the cross it brings with it. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by OruExpress: 9:09pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
rusher14: The choice to relish in the negative is really unusual and painful, especially for the person that makes the choice. I don't know why so many do it. There was a point online (which is my primary access to Nigeria) that 8-10 decent looking pictures from Nigeria were taken by a white person. Today it has changed by for every 1 picture of a reasonable good looking neighborhood or happy people, there are 30 of piles of trash. Why someone would drive around in a country as interesting and dynamic as Nigeria and take pictures of piles of trash is something else, but I can confidently say that piles of trash are one of the most well photographed aspects of life in Nigeria. This negativity even has favorite spots. Lagosians have generally stopped but there as a time that finding a picture of Lagos that looks like human beings live there was very difficult. Today many people, because of rampant negativity, think Aba is a toxic wasteland. I was there not too long ago and it was above average for a Nigerian city. But google Aba and you will see what people choose to speak of. Mud, and piles of trash at Ariaria market. No more trash and mud than any Nigerian market mind you lol. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by njelrapheal: 9:13pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Wow. Interesting band educative. Op I totally agree with you. 1 Like |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 9:14pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
You want us to sugarcoat the truth. There is hardly any good news to report. Every government is worse than the previous one and insecurity is at an all time high. We are the poverty capital of the world with a high unemployment rate, which is making people desperate and resort to ritual killings,armed robbery,yahoo yahoo, kidnapping and drug smuggling. Nigeria is the modern day Sodom and Gommorah. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by MarrisManah(m): 9:16pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
A nice piece. Worth the entire read. Our major problem in Nigeria is education... We need massive education of our people. We believe 'good' news about our locations are not newsworthy, well, except it's to show off against other 'ethnicities'. When you look at our annual budget on education and place it with the UN recommended standard... You'll just weep. 2 Likes |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by CAPSLOCKED: 9:23pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
rusher14: AND SO SHALL IT BE TILL THE END OF TIME, AS WE TRANSFER OUR WICKEDNESS AND EVIL FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT. 1 Like |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by rusher14: 9:27pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
RuudVanNisteroy: Government, government, government. When would the people be held accountable? 3 Likes 3 Shares |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 9:29pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
rusher14:Government plays a big role. Look at what Government of Botswana the least corrupt country in Africa achieved over 50 years.
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Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by OruExpress: 9:30pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
MarrisManah: The educated among us are even worst lol. Unfortunately i think the issue is spiritual if you believe in such a thing. Maybe it's time to start doing that difficult internal work of finding balance, self-esteem and purpose that many of us neglect. We fill our minds with evil and thus see evil. If you wake up and think 'blue blue blue blue blue' over and over, blue things will begin to stand out to you through out the day. Often when a person gets a car or sees a car that's interesting to them, they begin to notice home many other people are driving that car on the road. If somewhere in your mind, something is repeating 'pain pain pain pain, filth filth filth filth, hate hate hate hate, death death death death, enemies enemies enemies enemies'. That is all you will see. The question then is, what causing your mind to hone in on those words and how can we help you help yourself. If you go to many evangelical churches (and increasingly catholic) you will hear it 'my enemies must die, my enemies must die, holy ghost fire, hold ghost fire, die, die, die, die, die, my enemies, my enemies, i am soaked in the blood, i am soaked in the blood'. Can you imagine the mind state of a person that listens to that 3 times a week (minimum)? Can you imagine how they will see the world and what parts of life will stand out to them? Or how that will shape their outlook as a person. 4 Likes 3 Shares |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by edoairways: 9:34pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Inasmuch you try to paint Nigeria good, please don't exaggerate things . You said "If you want HIV medicine, you have it, if you want medicine for typhoid it is available?". This is not totally correct. I have seen many Nigerians complain of getting drugs for those ailment whether free or otherwise. Many of the complainant reside in village. You said everyone is aware of the pandemic, that is not totally correct. There are still some persons that aren't aware. The government isn't sensitizing people enough hence you still see some Nigerians going about their normal activities. Social distancing isn't adhered to in many places. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by nagastat: 9:37pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
You are a human being! Good job. Keep at it! 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by rusher14: 9:38pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
RuudVanNisteroy: A country of 2.5 million people? C'mon now. As of the time Babangida was in power, I could see various made-in-Botswana items through catalogues my dad had and i'm talking of plastic products that we are yet to make as of today. By the way, the popular Bop TV (cable ) of the 90's was from Botswana. In any case, the apple doesn't fall from the tree. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 9:47pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
rusher14:When you have fantastically corrupt leaders,you will not experience development. Look at Rivers,Bayelsa,Akwa Ibom and Delta that receive the highest allocation in the country and they all look like war zones if you visit the nooks and crannies. They have no portable water,sanitation,hospital or good road network outside the major cities. And they have massive youth unemployment and that is why their youths resort to being militants and area boys. 1 Like |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by OruExpress: 9:50pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Do they really look like warzones? lol Honestly. You can say 'they could look better' or 'they don't look as good as they should' but the choice of WARZONE will link the word Warzone to the names of these three states in Google. And that will be your contribution to the country lol. Are boys still militants? Was resorting to being a militant not the only reason those states are getting the money they're getting? Did .0000001% of the boys in that region join a militant organization? 1 Like |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 9:57pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
OruExpress:You need to travel the world and see what development looks like. Even the over hyped Lagos looks like a warzone and is disorganized. The only place in Nigeria with a semblance of development and organization is Abuja and Eko Atlantic. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 9:59pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
OruExpress:You need to go to Niger Delta and see the massive youth unemployment there. They resort to being armed robbers,kidnappers or area boys who extort people. They already chased away most of the oil companies from the region like Shell,Halliburton,Schlumberger,Chevron, Halliburton etc. You don't know how troublesome they are. Their governors just loot and share money to their youth leaders,godfathers to keep them at bay. Have you ever heard any Niger Delta Governor talk about the number of jobs they created during their tenure? 1 Like |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by SouthNigerian: 10:08pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
OruExpress: This says it all, the fundamental beliefs of Nigerians is the root of the Nigerian problems. Majority Nigerians believes their enemies lives on the outside, majority lacks the knowledge & consequences of living positive. Just like you said, what our attention is called to we attract into our lives. Just like our thoughts influences our actions. This is the Truth, majority Nigerians have mistaken Religiosity for Spirituality. Nigerians needs someone who understands this fundamental problems to the deep, someone willing to give his/her lifetime to serve the course of Enlightening the Nigerian people & the rest of Africa. Nigeria is the reason why Africa still remain a dwarf continent. Forget about the Nigerian condition, we still remain the greatest influencers in Africa. Other African Nations & other African Citizens takes cue from Nigeria & Nigerians. When Nigerians find Purpose, the Nation Nigeria shall be built on greatness again by purposeful great Nigerians. The rest of Africa shall believe in greatness again and the Nigerian Influence shall spread across the continent & the world. If we can work on the Nigerian Spirituality, Nigeria shall override China in Greatness & productivities. As known to me, Nigerians are the smartest & most intelligent set of humans living on the face of the earth. Time shall come when Nigeria & Nigerians shall rule the world. MODIFIED 3 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by MarrisManah(m): 11:07pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
OruExpress:Lol... Despite all your points I still believe education is the solution. It's not going to be in the short-term though. The difference between us and 'them' is education! You can imagine people that were intelligent enough to start colonization when we were still living in the dark. What will a learned and fairly comfortable man be doing in a group shouting fire, thunder, kill, die etc... With quality education comes liberation of mind and body, innovation that leads to better living standards. Sadly, even if we start now to make appropriate investments in education, it'll still take several decades to see a meaningful improvement. We, however, need to get started. I like your emphasis! ![]() 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Xisnin(m): 11:17pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Colonial domination along with the missionaries dealt a massive psychological blow on the average Nigerian. Everything local was labeled as evil. That is where the terms "village people" and "ancestral spirits" come from all in a bid to psychologically damage the people. The funny thing is that the victims have taken up the mantle of self-hatred beyond the originators. The effect is still a strong generation over generations. The solution is not traditional education as some people claim after all the Corona have shown that the "educated" are not anyway better than the illiterates in reasoning abilities. We need a massive reorientation campaign with severe consequences for negativity sources. Even those that are part of the problem also speak negatively about the country, some even make up fake news to satisfy their lust for disasters. Unfortunately, the current system is too weak and the government too blind to see the problem and solution. You can do your part by shaming people who spread lies about the country. Don't just ignore them, shame them. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 11:46pm On Apr 11, 2020 |
Xisnin:What is true and what is a lie in the alternate reality you live in?This country is in a big mess and further sliding into the abyss. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by OruExpress: 6:20am On Apr 12, 2020 |
MarrisManah: we weren't living in the dark lol. What does that even mean? Do you see what I'm referring to? Someone will use their own mouth and declare that they were living in the dark until someone came to sell their siblings as slaves and tax them. And why is it dark? Because the person selling you to you it was dark? What type of Mungo Park discovered my grandfather is this? lol. Again, 'education' won't do it. With or without education a person has to divorce themselves with self hate and perpetual negativity. If you're educated and don't do this, you'll just learn new english words to use when being negative beyond reality. 2 Likes 1 Share |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 7:33am On Apr 12, 2020 |
rusher14: The people are a product of the Governemnt. 1 Like |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by rusher14: 7:34am On Apr 12, 2020 |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nwaelohim: 7:40am On Apr 12, 2020 |
OruExpress: You deserve a Nobel prize for this, those of us that decided to stay positive are seen as weak people or we don't know what is going on in Nigeria. A friend of my in France told me Nigeria is not safe because they are killing people everywhere and anytime, I struggled to explain to him for almost a month he keeps showing me video of people being killed some never happened in Nigeria some was in crisses period more than 40 years ago. Social media is destroying Nigeria in the hands of enemies of Nigeria especially The youths that doesn't know the impact of posting fake news about Nigeria because someone paid them due to politics. More people are killed in the streets of USA than anywhere in the world yet Americans love America. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by MarrisManah(m): 7:45am On Apr 12, 2020 |
OruExpress:Living in the dark is not derogatory my brother. Even the super sophisticated today had their dark times and they're not ashamed to admit them. They however, use it positively to show their current strength and status. Quality education will produce quality leaders that will make appropriate legislations to advance the course of the country. Now by no means will all these happen in a click. It's a process, a reorientation which may even become fully appreciated after a generation. An uneducated person is easily swerved by baseless propaganda and lack the ability to be independent in their thoughts. You can imagine a group telling you covid 19 is a scam...! Education touches all facets of our daily lives. And when you see a carpenter, auto mechanic, vulcanizer, even trader that is educated, the difference is always there. Look at the criteria for elective offices in Nigeria and compare it with 'them'- do you think we would be at this current state if we had consistently elected quality leaders across board? I still maintain that to divorce ourselves of self hate and negativity, to a large extent, we need to understand the effects of such actions on us as a people, that can only be possible through quality education over a period of time. Maybe I'm particular about education because I've seen first-hand, how people with less education process/assimilate information. It's scary! Moreso, when there's cheap internet to spread such thoughts. It's a full story on it's own. As for Mungo Park story, at least you were educated enough to understand the politics, what of 'we' that are not? We just follow/accept the story. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 7:47am On Apr 12, 2020 |
rusher14: You just dont understand the statement... why then would Nigerians opportune to leave the country live better lives, the struggle is same, the system is not same.. I hope you understand better. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by rusher14: 7:51am On Apr 12, 2020 |
Esseite: You want us to talk about the sheer number of Nigerians with advanced degrees yet get involved in all manner of crime such as fraud, racketeering etc? The people need to appreciate their own role in society. This is quite simple but it appears the average Nigerian continues to stick to the same pattern of behaviour over and over again yet expecting a different result. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 8:17am On Apr 12, 2020 |
rusher14: - Why do you think developed worlds give out student loans, mortgages, food banks, shelter homes etc... it is to make illegal means of livelihood less attractive.. why steal money for a Lexus when I can get same Lexus and pay off in "God knows when".. What really do you expect from a population of 200m, 25m working population unemployed, and over 50m underemployed while 90m living under 1 dollar/day? - What is the peoples role in the society that they have not overdone?.. Building roads? Providing electricity? Providing water? Security? Paying tax? What really? - The pattern of behaviour you see is not of their making, situations and condition put them there, no one schools for 25years just wanting to become a fraudster. |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Xisnin(m): 10:57am On Apr 12, 2020 |
RuudVanNisteroy: You live in a negative reality where everything is bad here and everything is good in your adopted paradise. This wouldn't have been a problem except that it is other people's fault while you and your goons bear no responsibility and are innocent. If there is a faint rumor that something bad just happens, you guys will quickly post and share it to gain attention. But if the reverse is the case, you will doubt, prevaricate and twist the story just to satisfy your biases. What have you achieved with the negativity? |
Re: I Saw The Effects Of Our Negativity On Our Country And Ourselves. by Nobody: 11:26am On Apr 12, 2020 |
Xisnin:You live in a false reality. I lived in Nigeria for 16 years, so I know what is going on ground. Nigeria has no government and every man is left to fend for themselves. You provide your own water, electricity,security,when the transformer stops working,everyone in the neighbourhood has to contribute money to fix it, even the road on my street we had to contribute money to fix it,and pay for your own education. Nigeria is a failed state and only benefits the politicians, even the rich are feeling the heat because they know they are not safe either. |
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