The Nigerian shadow I have always known

Reuters photo

By

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Along the streets, suburbs, pedestrian walkways and terminal junction in the metropolitan city of Lagos, we have read the tragic stories and observed the dotted analysis of each narrative along with an imaginary caption of the devastating events and occurrences within our society, disseminated by the medium of communication, in addition to publishing materials sold by vendors across the street.

I have encountered gruesome accidents along our pathways, bridges and expressways without an urgency for empathetic intervention, despite the languish of victims over the injuries sustained. The victims bid the world goodbye, move into an unseen realm for a live wasted as a result of bad roads.

Our country is comfortable in the dark with little or no effort to boost our thermal equipment for an adequate supply of electricity while they depend on the fumes of our generators for electricity within our environment.

Ade is a civil servant who has not been paid yet his superiors in the civil service commission are illegal millionaires overnight without struggle. Tolu toiled all night for a thousand while Alhaji Abubakar‘s accounts activate millions without moving an inch from his bedroom, yet his country remains in penury and poverty persists among his people.

Dayo toiled day and night to acquire a degree from a prestigious university across the 6 geopolitical zones of the country. Inspite of the pestilence and mental slavery endured to attain this position of a university graduate, he is enslaved to an uneducated billionaire whose interest is his profit rather than the development his employees require when they are no longer available under his custody.

At this moment we begin to question the urgent need for education in a society that considers any factor of development unnecessary to compete socially and economically, churning out graduates like millipedes, only to be crushed by the rigid and primitive labor force.

The high rate of bombing Ali encountered in Maiduguri likewise the incessant killings and kidnappings are never discarded from our memories yet we are regarded as the giant of Africa across foreign lands. The Olu experience over xenophobia in South Africa proves the disdain we encounter even within the black community.

Suicides are rampant along our bridges, our oceans swallow bodies in place of the grave yet the country remains silent in the comfort of its grief. The chiefs swindle yet nothing is done; can we now see how we have died in the dark?

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Ogunniyi Abayomi was born July 11, 1991 in the city of Lagos, where he resides. A poet and essayist whose works have been published in various journals.