The Nigerian Nightmare: A Graphical Story

 Something happened to me recently: I was typing something on my email's compose field. So, I was going to write the word 'Nigeria' but I mistyped the fourth letter which made it read 'Nigh' instead of 'Nige'.

And, voila! One of the keyboard suggestions was asking me if I was trying to type, "nightmare".

"No, it's 'Nigeria' I want to write," I seemed to reply.

Then, I realized what an uncanny message it was - probably from the gods, lol! There's no doubt that living in Nigeria may feel like a real nightmare to many of her citizens right now.

For example, there's this deeply poignant situation I'm dealing with. It concerns a family of six that includes a suckling 4-month-old baby - and they can hardly get a meal a day.

A Typical Example Of The Nigerian Nightmare...

Although the man of the house is a welder, he hasn't been able to work for a long time since he has no generator and there has been a near blackout in the town for months now (it's as bad as 1 night on, 2 weeks off).

"But, all these things would have been manageable if the clients were coming as before," the man said to me. "If they had been coming, I would have been borrowing generators from my fellow welders".

Who expects a welder to have many clients at a time when people don't have food to eat? Even if they were to come, the service cost would go through the roof as a result of buying fuel and other materials for the work at breath-takingly exorbitant prices. 

That tells you in a jiffy how much small businesses - the bedrock of the economy - are suffering and dying across the country right now. It also means that people are suffering and dying.

When there is energy crisis in the electricity and fuel sectors, it leads to energy crisis in the food sector too. In other words, when bad government policies affect these life essentials, it's far more serious than mere political talks in high-brow Abuja offices.

To make a long story short, the family in my story is going really hungry.

Just imagine! As late as 10pm, the nursing mother comes banging on my door and crying to me that she's not eaten since morning and her husband is yet to come home.

The woman's bones are showing through her shaved head. One day, I met her while she was breastfeeding the baby and I couldn't help but wonder if any milk remained in her mammary store. I actually wept.

The other day, her baby was crying profusely and I was like, "why not breastfeed him to make him stop crying?".

"He sucks too much and makes me too weak," she said in such a quick tear-drawing voice. She went ahead to breastfeed him any way. As for me, I could only imagine what it might feel like to have to be the source of food for another human being when you yourself can hardly feed.

The woman complains bitterly about how her husband is failing in his duty as a father and husband. She wonders why the man can't do so much as provide the family's daily meals.

I try to calm her down by explaining how Nigeria is hard not just on them but on everyone else. But, what's my explanation for a hungry nursing mother?

Then, I tried to find out why the man keeps late at night. Well, so far, my findings indicate that the man keeps late to avoid a confrontation with his wife any time he's got no money for preparing dinner.

You just need to look at the man to know the real meaning of 'frustration'. I just told myself: "can I justly blame this guy if he goes for armed robbery in this situation?"

Although I acknowledge there are many healthy options other than robbery, - which options I'm currently exploring with the family - who'd blame him should he go into one of the crimes just to see his young family feed at least two times a day?

That instance illustrates one of the major causes of rising crime rates in the country. Again, you can see a real-life connection between energy crisis and crime rates.

To be sure, this young man isn't lazy. He learned a skill that is needed in the society. He managed to get a workshop and equipment to enable him serve the society and his family with the skill. But, you can see how unwarranted macro-economic forces far beyond his control are stopping him despite all these efforts.

What else could be more nightmarish than this? What else do you expect him to do? You can see that callously announcing the removal of fuel subsidy on President Tinubu's first day in office had profound life-and-death implications just like his many other policies.

The other day, I saw a 3-year-old daughter of the family in my story. She looks so emaciated she could be suffering from Kwashiorkor. But on this particular day, she was simply lying down on a cement floor as if lifeless. I had to rush and make food for her even when I could hardly feed too.

Then, this night, I overheard the woman complaining bitterly around 11pm that her husband came home without any food whereas she and her children were yet to eat. After some time, she came knocking on my door for help. Unfortunately, I had nothing to offer and it was too late to run around, and it truly hurts!

It hurts me deeply to know that these kids and their nursing mother are in bed hungry. It hurts that I too, cannot offer them adequate help. It hurts to know that this is just one example out of millions of families across the country. Oh, it hurts even more to realize that the old people causing these kids excruciating suffering are feeding fat and asking them to be patient.

Should they be patient to death?Those who are holding this country down should realize from this that they are actually committing huge crimes against humanity on an hourly basis.

Please, please, help me share this story until the so-called Nigerian leaders hear it and come to their senses. Otherwise, we might all share the responsibility for the quiet holocaust going on here.