10 ways in which the Nigerian masses are complicit in their own oppression

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Receiving inducements to vote incompetent people into office

[2] Buying foreign designer goods which they know our economy cannot sustain

[3] Refusing to ostracise those inducted with corruption. Today, even the likes of James Ibori and Orji Uzor Kalu who were jailed for corruption still wield political clout

[4] We take a stance on matters depending on the ethnicity of the person in power

[5] We elevate religion to a height way above its importance. Even those who brought us these Abrahamic faiths are not that fanatical about them. Religion must always be subordinate to reason, logic, science and the national interest

[6] We adhere to this me, me, me outlook in life. You cannot build a functioning society if your population is made up of serial individualists

[7] We are too vain for our own good. We have to eschew vanity in exchange for investing any surplus finance in cooperative societies that can advance society

[8] We chose to patronise foreign goods and services even when there are Nigerian alternatives available

[9] We love subverting due process by using our influence to take short cut. What this does is it prevents the system from working

[10] We have made how much wealth a person has the primary yardstick by which we evaluate them. For us, the content of a man or woman’s character is secondary