A Country Where Nothing Works

Earlier today, I was on tiktok enjoying some little entertainment when I came across this video by a Nigerian tech creator. Somehow his office had caught on fire and he had lost all of the laptops and phones and gadget that were inside. What caught my attention though was when he said he called the Nigerian emergency number (112) and the receiver on the other end had first of all threatened to do something really bad to him if the call ended up being a prank call, and after he had sworn on his life and probably on that of his parents that it wasn't a prank call, it had taken the fire service almost an hour to get to the scene.

Of course, before they were able to put off the fire everything in the office was toast, the only useful thing they were able to do was avoid it from spreading into the other offices nearby.

The whole thing got me wondering on how anyone of us in this country could literally lose our lives to things that normally shouldn't kill us just because we were unfortunate to be here. And from the looks of things, we might not be getting a solution to some of this problems anytime soon because the politicians who should be the voice of the people probably has the number of the boss of the fire service on speed dial, so even if he perceives a smoke coming from somewhere in his home, he can just dial the number and the fire service will be there in minutes, so why should he bother about anyone else when himself and his family are safe.

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Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu

Back in the days, I've always wondered why I've never heard my dad or anyone in my extended family talk about going to the police to go report a case or whatever, until I grew up and became an adult myself. Some time ago (I think last year or last two years) I wrote about two guys coming to my hostel with locally made guns and had pointed it at me.

Though much wasn't stolen from me, they actually robbed my neighbors, took some of their stuff before leaving. Now if we were in a country where things actually work like they should, the right thing we all should have done was go to the police and maybe get a sketch artist so that we can describe the guys to the police and they go arrest them because this are young men walking around with guns they shouldn't have.

But none of us did any of that, we all just thanked God that none of us was shot and just carried on with life. Why, you may ask, but you see, even the thought of entering a police station to go make a report is scary to a lot of us. And this is because we might go in and not come out. But if we do get to come out, the police won't move an inch unless you pay them. They ask for money for fuel for their vehicle and all sort of things then they follow you home, ask a bunch of questions to the guys around and probably just arrest any of the guys that has dread on and looking kinda rascal.

If you tell them that that isn't the guy, they might agree with you but tell you that they're arresting him for another offense because they don't like the way he looks. And then they leave and probably never comes back. And to think you already paid them and yet they did nothing, while in some other countries, if you call the police and end the call before you could say anything, they send an officer down to your location to check up on you and see if you're alright.

You see how wide the difference is. To be honest with y'all, it's a miracle how a lot of us still go about our day to day life and come back home alive because everything about this country is designed to kill you. From the security, down the health centers. No one gives a f*** who you are unless you're someone important.



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The country is just so messed up, and the police is not our friend, they are only friends to the rich, politicians, fraudsters and the like, I've had numerous encounter with them to conclude on this, no body should tell me something else.

As long as you have the money, they can turn black to white, may God just help us, because seriously, we have no other choice to look up to. Sighs😥

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It's very sad. The best thing we can do is try to avoid them as much as we can.

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My dear, it's only the Almighty that is protecting us in this country. Once those on top are comfortable, the don't care about the poor masses

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Exactly... Every man for himself.

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