Why I hate Nigeria

The word ‘hate’ is a strong word with negative connotations. I rarely ever use words like these except I have a genuine reason to do so. Now this is one of those times I get to use it.

I live in lagos, Nigeria. If you have been following the news or familiar with the economic situation of this country then you can actually relate.

Lagos is the commercial hub of Nigeria, if not Africa as a whole. Still, basic stuffs are lacking. Things that are suppose to make the common man happy and live free. But here, we live as though we are slaves in our own country.

Electricity

This is my major problem with this country. In fact, it’s what inspired me to share my experience about hating this country.

So on this fateful Sunday morning. I had absolutely nothing to eat. I had food stuffs, but no gas or kerosene. Eventually, we had power restored after more than 48 hours of living in darkness. The area I live is called, ‘Whitesand, Isheri Oshun’ in Alimosho Local government area.

Since I had no gas at home and no money. It was raining outside and I had no hope of getting any food. I was starving and needed to cook something.

I was excited to see light. At least now, I can use electricity to cook what I had at home. Usually, even if I don’t have any food to eat, I always ensure I pay my electricity bills so I don’t get cut off. I was happy to see the power back and so I proceeded to the kitchen to use electricity and boil rice so I could eat with sauce. The moment I put water and washed the rice, the power was out again. It didn’t even last up to five minutes. I was so frustrated and angry.

How do you pay your bills and still not be able to enjoy the benefits of what you have paid for? I had already poured water in the the pot to boil the rice and so there was no going back. I had to use another option which was go over to neighbors house and borrow their gas cooker (something I would not do on a normal day). I came up with an excuse that my gas went out and it’s raining, it’s a Sunday and I can’t get gas. The excuse was valid and they let me use theirs.

Now you know the reason I ‘hate’ this country called ‘Nigeria’.

Bad leadership

Now this is not even news because everyone knows that Nigeria has the worst leaders in the history of the world. The best President we ever had was former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. After Buhari succeeded him and came to power, everything went from worse to worst. In my opinion, President Buhari is a total disgrace to humanity and our country, Nigeria. Another total embarrassment is one who refers to himself as ‘Jagaban’ and so be bent on becoming Nigeria’s next President at the age of only God knows. I am referring to Ahmed Bola Tinubu. This man ruled lagos for eight years and amassed all the properties in Lagos making him the richest landlord in Africa. How did he get there if not from stolen funds? Still Lagos state looks like a war zone with hunger and corruption eating up every inch of the state. This was the same man who was responsible for the ‘Lekki tollgate’ shoot out when the youths decided to ‘peacefully protest’ against bad governance. How can a man who shits himself want to be President?

Bad Roads

I have lived in Lagos since 2016. I also drove Uber and Bolt between 2019 and 2021. I can boldly tell you that the state of Lagos road is worse than what the Middle Ages looked like. Everything about Lagos roads are terrible especially here at Whitesand, Isheri Oshun. I also hated driving here in Lagos because of the poor state of the roads. My car kept breaking down, I constantly had to change my shocks and tires because of the roads. The Igbo people who are building houses here are the ones making their own roads and the government takes credit for that and still won’t let them rule the country.

The next election is 2023. If you are Nigerian and you are reading this. Well, I hope for all our sakes you make the right choice. For me, I am voting Peter Obi. We need someone who knows what he is doing to change the course of Nigeria other wise we will not only ‘hate’ Nigeria, we will need to discover a word worse than ‘hate’ to express our disgust.

Let me check my rice please…