Please don't be like them. Let's be serious
It's becoming popular knowledge that the average Nigerian lacks proper comprehension skills and alongside that they lack the right knowledge and wisdom to become what they desire. Read carefully.
Hey there,
On most days, I will consider myself an average Nigerian but on other days that becomes debatable.
It’s becoming increasing easy to detect why the country is the way it is if you pay attention but it’s also quite unfortunate that most people do not pay attention neither do they even know what to look out for as they live their everyday life.
I’m here to tell you that if you look around well enough, the problems we have and things we do wrong are in plain sight and most people are unaware or do not care and that’s the information I want to commit to you today.
Welcome to today’s FSHL rant and before I dive deep into it, I will like to state what the intended output from this piece should be.
At the end of this newsletter, I want you to take some minutes to evaluate the kind of person you are, the attributes and character you have and weigh it against the requirements for attaining the things you want out of life. So for example, if you want to become an excellent parent, partner, business person or overall better human being someday, weigh who you are now, alongside all the characteristics you posess and do an honest evaluation of where you at.
While you do that, recognise that you are doing this for yourself and if you deceive yourself, you will only have yourself to blame in the future.
On that note, I will like to ask, how are you doing and hope you’ve been doing great? I truly hope you are doing fine.
As is our custom here, in order to drive my point across, I will be illustrating a few scenarios. My hope is that as you read them, you would put yourself in those scenarios and into the character that most suits your personality and evaluate if you:
are the average Nigerian in these scenarios
are aware of these things in yourself and working hard to grow
have evolved past these things.
This is not the end of the newsletter but if you have ever been motivated, directed, or helped by a single sentence or paragraph I have written today or in the past, Subscribe for more.
Scenario 1 - The average Nigeria as a contributor to tht environment.
Sometime this week, I booked a ride for an outing I had and the driver and I were talking about the heap of dirths all over the state. It is worth mentioning that I had stepped out to buy a few things earlier that same day and had experience similar cases of poor waste management.
About 2 weeks ago, I saw a video on Tiktok about a place in Ogun State being heavily flooded despite the drainage systems. It was so flooded that a jeep got stuck there, almost 50% submerged and eventually had to be towed to be brought to safety. That video stuck with me a bit but I didn’t feel as bad about it until I had to go to that location much later after seeing the video.
Within 5 minutes of walking through the route that was once flooded, I saw a heap of dirt in the drainage system and as I walked by in disgust, and without even counting I consistently saw grown men stop across the road to pee into this heap of stagnant dirt.
The first instinct upon seeing the flood a couple of weeks earlier would be to blame the government and those in charge for the poor maintenace culture.
Upon seeing the heap dirt and stagnant drainage system, you will start to realise that more than the broken governmental systems that fail to provide adequate mechanisms to keep that environment clean, the people are even a bigger problems.
Now, for a second there, you might be thinking this behaviour is as a result of illiteracy but it should not surprise you to hear that in the past couple of weeks, certain areas of Lagos Island has been famously flooded and upon seeing it firsthand, I can confidently say that the same behavioural issue, lack of ownership and absence of responsibility from individial that make the environment suffer is replicated on the Island but in different forms.
Poor water supply for supposed expensive apartments.
Flooding
Poor waste management (but in relatively lower quatities compared to the mainland)
As much as we can say these problems are governmental, I can’t shake the obvious fact that we have terrible cultures that put our cities in terrible conditions. If you don’t believe me, I will list out a few thing that you might be doing right now that even though you have not given much thought to are major contributors to this mess.
Do you throw snack wrappers on the floor after you are done with them, do you take them to the nearest bin or do you take them home if you can’t throw them away?
Do you see peeing by the road side as a normal thing or are you disgusted by it?
Does your street and all the residents still observe the Saturday environmental day, do you have a paid cleaning service for your street/estate or do you leave it to the gods?
Do you clean up after yourself in a group gathering or do you leave it and hope someone esle will?
Do you find paying tax weird or know nothing about it?
These are subtle makers that the average person is part of the problem. Even if you do not do these things, how have you contributed to educating others to do the right thing. These are the things that make up the characteristics of the average Nigerian and these are the reasons we are where we are.
Scenario 2 - Listening & Comprehension Skills
At least once in your lifetime you have watched a video that said one thing and once you scroll down to the comment section, you will find someone either arguing in the opposite direction or boldly spilling nonsense.
If you have ever seen this comment “Watch the video again, then come back and comment“ then you will understand exactly what I am talking about.
It seems to me that one of the major drivers of the messed up state of the country is the incredibly large population or poorly educated people. Tell me how these people are supposed to compete in the global market when they cannot listen to a 3 minutes video and understand what was being communicated.
I choose to pause here.
Scenario 3 - Low regard and hunger for education
The average Nigerian is simply not hungry enough. And for your sake, I hope you are not one of them. As a quick litmus test to tell whether you are hungry enough and ready to get what you want out of life in this country, this is what you should ask yourself.
What are the things that are stopping me from getting the things I want out of life now?
Here are some possible answers:
Money
Electricity
Where I live (environment)
I don’t know where to start (Education)
I don’t have a laptop (resources)
Data
My poor background
and so on.
If your answer for not tirelessly chasing after what you want out of life today (right now) is that one of the things listed above, then congratulations. On the authority of being a Nigerian myself, I can confidently tell you that you are your own problem.
YOU. YES. YOU.
True hunger does not bow to blockers, it bursts its way through it and until you are ready, those blockers will keep you where you are.
Everything you want can be gotten by:
Acquiring high volume of knowledege: such that you transition from being dull and mediocre to outstanding.
Executing high volume of work: Such that you transition from unskilled to excellent or at least above average.
A overwhelming level of consistency: Such that the blocker has no choice than to bow or you find a way around it.
No matter the challenge you have, you can outread it, outwork it or outlive it.
So my charge to you is, do not be one of them. DO NOT BE AVERAGE.
On the matter of contributing to the environment, be excellent.
On the matter of wisdom, knowledege and understanding, be hungry.
On the matter of growth and advancement; read, learn, work and be incredibly consistent.
Live in this society from a standpoint of excellence and make sure you drive that excellence.
Run the race of life knowing that if you don’t do it with all your might, YOU WILL LOSE.
You don’t get to pick and choose your desired route to breaking out. There’s a requirement. PAY IT.
I don’t like reading.
The video is too long
I don’t like talking to people
I don’t do this I don’t do that…
Oh so you think we all like it. Okay now.
Cheers.
In summary
Please, by all means, exceed your own expectations and make sure you stand out. The average Nigerian culture is a poor set up for success.
If you ever feel comfortable with where you are as a Nigerian in this country, recognise you are slacking, there is so much to do, open your eyes.
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