Our attitude is the problem: By Reuben Abati

[funmilayo]

Our attitude is the problem
By Reuben Abati


I found myself in the company of some of our compatriots recently.
They were engaged in a common Nigeria pastime: trying to figure out
why we are the way we are, why Nigeria appears not to be developing in
spite of its enormous human and material resources. This is a subject
that Nigerians love to discuss with great passion. Every Nigerian has
something to say about how the country can be transformed and made
more efficient for the benefit of the citizens.

"Our attitude is the problem", one of the discussants had declared,
setting the tone for the conversation.

"How?"

"How? You are asking me how? Just compare us to the white man and
you'd answer your own question. It is simple"

"But you can't compare us to the white man. We are not the same and
you should beware of racism."

"But you can't run away from such comparison in this age of
globalisation. You use the same technology as the white man, you are
setting up global banks, your country is trying to play big in the
international market, your people want to live by international
standards, your government wants Direct Foreign Investment, your
footballers are playing in Europe. We are either part of the world or
we are not. And my argument is that we do not have the right attitude,
we are not bringing the right attitude to the world of competition.
National growth is about attitude"

"I think I agree with that point", someone else said.

"Take for example the problem of gas supply to our new thermal
stations, the thermal stations have been built but there is no gas
because we are still flaring gas. And the gas that we are not wasting,
we have sold to the mulitnationals and collected money upfront.
President Yar'çdua himself said so. It means nobody ever thought that
the thermal stations built by the Obasanjo government would need gas
and that provision should be made for that. You get the impression
that our leaders do not think"

"Oh come on. They think. But in the wrong direction. It was probably
more profitable for the people in charge to sell off the gas and
collect commission. Just take stock of all the commissions, waivers
and kickbacks that were collected during the Obasanjo era"

"Even the white man collects commissions. That is not a Nigerian
thing."

"The difference is that the white man may collect bribe, but he will
not go out of his way to jeopardise the public good. And if he gets
caught violating the law, he knows he will go to jail. There will be
nobody to say that he is a saint and should be forgiven or that he is
too big to be subjected to the laws of the land."

"Here in Nigeria, all you need would be a former Head of State to
speak up on your behalf and you can run away with your loot and even
get a National Honour in due course."

"Meanwhile the entire country is in darkness, and money that has been
invested is wasted. The average Nigerian is greedy and wasteful."

"We have no respect for time. Some of our foreign partners in our
company have been complaining that they don't understand the concept
of Nigerian time. When you invite people to a function, you have to
tell them 7 p.m. for 8 p.m. But you'd be lucky to have a sizeable
audience by 9 p.m. Some people in fact insist that it is better to
arrive late because it shows you are important."

"I know at least two important people who are forever punctual. Those
are the examples we should be recommending."

"€nd who are these?"

"Mr Akintola Williams and Mr Gamaliel Onosode."

"You are referring to persons who went to school in the days of the
British. Their generation is different."

"National productivity and efficiency cannot be a matter of
generation."

"Mr Williams and Mr Onosode live in Victoria Island. If I have to keep
an appointment in Victoria Island, I have to set out from the mainland
about four hours earlier. And you can only access VI through only two
directions, With everybody going in that direction, there is no way
you can keep any appointment."

"You see, the Nigerian has an excuse for everything. This is our
problem. If you know you face such a difficulty, then set out early. I
know Nigerian companies that have lost businesses simply because they
could not keep appointments."

"The environment is challenging. The government is planning to shut
down the Third Mainland Bridge for six months in order to effect
repairs. How can anybody ever keep any appointment in the city of
Lagos without the Third Mainland Bridge and with only one mode of
transportation."

"You can go through Carter bridge, Iddo or Ikorodu road"

"Have you taken those routes lately? And why are they just planning to
maintain he Third Mainland Bridge now, after neglecting it for almost
twenty years. We don't plan ahead. A country that does not plan ahead
cannot be one of the best 20 economies in the world in the year 2020.
Simple."

"Look at Abuja. The only means of transportation in that city is the
road. And yet it is supposed to be a modern city. In big cities around
the world, there is an attempt to integrate the poor and the rich. But
in the planning of our cities, we separate the two classes, we make
the poor feel inferior and we sow the seeds of social envy and chaos.
And yet we have Nigerian graduates with degrees in urban planning from
some of the best universities in the world"

"Those best graduates will not be allowed to make any inputs. Big
contracts are usually won by nonenties or by well-connected persons or
those who are willing to offer bribe. The Nigerian system is not
interested in merit. Your religion, your ethnicity, these are more
importnat considerations."

"The thing annoys me. If Nigeria wants to be led by the best and the
brightest, it must end the culture of quota system."

"You can still have a quota system but a quota system that will throw
up the very best and not the relations of privileged persons who have
captured the state."

"Intelligent and gifted persons who want to make a difference find it
difficult to survive in Nigeria. You should know that. If you show too
much promise, there is a standby crowd of nonenties who will come
after you. Is he the only one? He is disturbing other people. Who does
he think he is? Let him go and sit down. The mediocres get praised
because they do not pose any threat to anybody's ego; and they are
given responsibilities that they cannot handle. And they cause havoc,
or they pull down everyone to their own level."

"Peter's Principle"

"A Nigerian principle and an obstacle to national progress"

"What bothers me is that there are Nigerians abroad who also behave
exactly that way. I know Nigerians who live in England but who are no
better than Nigerians in Lagos. They watch Nigerian movies. They work
in Nigerian shops. They attend Nigerian parties. They don't listen to
news, if they have to, they prefer AIT, NTA, LTV, Channels - local
Nigerian channels that are now available on satellite TV. They attend
Nigerian churches in London. They live in the South East. When you
listen to them, you would think they have just arrived from Shaki. I
guess the only time such people have contact with the white man is
when they use the underground."

"I don't see how keeping one's identity in a foreign land should be a
problem. In fact, I don't like Nigerians who try to behave like white
men."

"You are not getting my point."

"You are not making any point. The thing about us is that everybody
thinks that he is better than others. The average Nigerian is too
judgemental. That is why we are bad team players. We can't maintain
relationships."

"We can't maintain infrastructure. We can't maintain personal
belongings. When a Nigerian buys a car, he would rather drive it until
it packs up. That is why there are so many funny cars on our roads. If
you see some people's wardrobe, you would think you are looking at a
junkyard. We men can't even maintain our wives."

"Who is talking about wives here? This is the problem with you people.
You can't have a disciplined conversation"

"How about workers then?"

"The average Nigerian worker is lazy. He despises his colleagues who
work hard. But he would like to enjoy privileges and earn promotions.
The energy that should go into the work is directed towards sycophancy
and eye service."

"You know our new partners had to call a general meeting to tell the
staff that there is no such thing as company loyalty. They made it
clear that promotion and remuneration will be based on performance and
that people can be asked to leave at any time. They claim they have
observed that Nigerians like to stay permanently in one company and
the longer they stay, the less productive they become. They don't want
a company that is full of big men telling old wives' tales about the
past; they want a real time productive work force."

"They will soon discover that Nigerians are forever adjusting their
dates of birth in order to remain in employment."

"The many lies Nigerians tell in order to survive."

"If you tell the truth in this country. If you are too honest, you may
never get anything. My father was a Permanent Secretary in his days.
He was too busy being honest. Now, what has he done for his children?
I am having to struggle to find my way. Many of his colleagues
acquired so much wealth, their children and grandchildren can boast of
great inheritance ."

"You should be proud of your Dad."

"Yes, for making me poor."

"But the problem with Nigeria is that everybody is trying to acquire
wealth for their children and great grandchildren. And this involves
criminal conduct. Too much greed and lack of consideration for
others."

"ìf you are the one with the wealth, you won't complain. Why do you
think people are going to church, mosques and spiritual homes.They are
looking for Divine favour"

"Many of the churches mislead people. One educated woman gave
testimony in our church, a doctor had told her there was a lump in her
breast. She said the lump disappeared after she used the Pastor's
anointing oil. The Devil is a liar. Breast cancer will not be my
portion in Jesus name, she screamed. The whole church chorused A-m-en.
I just pitied all of them."

"We have serious problems in this country, but the bigger problem is
that I do not know where we are going to start from."

"By talking about it"

"ìs anybody listening? People are too busy trying to say their own
bit, they don't even bother to listen to you. But ì think I have a
simple solution"

"Which is?"

"Teach Nigerians how to eat buffet"

"What kind of silly idea is that? My friend, what has buffet got to do
with national progress."

"May be our friend is hungry."

"I am serious about this"

"Okay?"

"I observe that at many Nigerian parties these days, guests are
treated to buffet or what you call serve-yourself. You watch how
Nigerian eat buffet and you'd see a picture of our national crisis"

"I don't see the picture"

"Me neither"

"Can't see nothing"

"First, there is class discrimination. The high table gets the best
part of the buffet: A reserved serving point with more than enough, or
the right to go to the serving point first. That is class
discrimination. Others are made to feel like second class citizens.
Just the same way there is inequality in the society."

"ì have no problems with the idea of a high table, and VIPs getting
the best part of the meal"

"I do. There is too much oppression in Nigeria. Why invite me to a
party if your plan is to humiliate me?"

"But have you not also noticed that even when other tables are called,
those who get to the serving points first, are so greedy they scoop
everything. People mix all kinds of things, salad with eba, goat
peppersoup with salad, porridge with tuna. When you look at some
plates, you wonder whether some people have drums for stomachs."

"You are abosultely right there. In fact, once I hear buffet, I try to
jump tables because if you wait for your turn, you may not get
anything to eat."

"You know some people will carry three plates at once. Appetiser, main
course and dessert. At a buffet, you are supposed to take a little at
a time and eat according to the size of your stomach. But some women
will collect food and collect for their husbands who are sitting down
and waiting to be served."

"I don't do buffet. I recruit hostesses who ask you what you want to
eat and serve you. That way, the food will go round"

"But the funny part of buffet is that the people who have stolen all
the food end up wasting it. At the end of the party, there will be
angry guests who have had nothing to eat, and abandoned plates with
mounds of food literring some of the tables. "

"So what you are saying is that if Nigerians can only learn how to
share and manage food, most of of our problems will be solved."

"You think about it. I am not supposed to spell it all out. Use your
brain my friend."


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