SCAMGERIA — WHY MANY NIGERIANS BELEIVE THEIR COUNTRY IS A SCAM
In the new world of the social media, it is not uncommon to see Nigerians who refer to their own country as ‘Scamgeria’! This new acronym affixes the word ‘scam’ and its derogatory connotation to the country ‘Nigeria’, denoting that the former is an essential part of the later. “This is strange and harsh! This is unpatriotic!” I said to myself, the first time I saw it. It worried me. So, I began to think about it. Surprisingly, I did not think long and hard before I found out that it is not without many good reasons. I discovered that the acronym ‘Scamgeria’ is not unfounded! In fact, the state of the Nigerian State itself gave birth to it. The social media generation only popularised it. Strangely, there are countless local but logical reasons why many Nigerians think that their own country is a ‘scam’. These reasons are not far-fetched, they are everyday and everywhere experiences.
Every Nigerian who cares the least to know, can confirm that, in broad day light, the country called Nigeria thrives on fraud and deception. It takes just a little interest to see that indeed, Nigeria is a giant-scale fraud. And the people now know it and are fed-up with it. And maybe, this is why there are open agitations and hoisting of ‘new’ flags everywhere in Nigeria. People are now obviously wearied of the ‘scam’ that Nigeria has become and they are calling it out in many forms and guises. If you look in the streets of Nigeria and in the pages of the social media, you will see the evidences of the peoples’ frustrations. One major one was the recent #Endsars protest.
However, the first ‘scam’ on Nigerians, so to speak, is found in the preamble of the Nigerian 1999 Constitutions which falsely claims that: “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Having firmly and solemnly resolved, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation … Do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution”. We now know that this claim is false! The peoples of Nigeria were never consulted before this claim was made! The peoples of Nigeria did not give themselves the 1999 Constitution that currently governs Nigeria. It was given to them by the ‘fiat’ of a bunch of soldiers at the end of the military junta in 1999. And the worst of it, is that this Constitution is riddled with deliberate prejudices, inequities and violations against many God-given rights of the peoples of Nigeria, but deliberately favours the caprices of Nigeria’s few ruling-elite. For fact, the only time that the various peoples of Nigeria gave themselves a Constitution was in 1963, during the First Republic which was abruptly ended with the January 15th 1966 coup d’état.
Nigeria is the the giant example of when misfortune became a nation!
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Nigeria has been mocked as ‘scamgeria’, not by foreigners but by its own citizens, because Nigeria, 60 years down the line, has largely served the interest of its colonial and political elite, rather than those of the masses of its various peoples. Nigerians now know that much of what happens in the public and political sector of their country are fraught with fraud and falsehood, even from its very beginning: such as State and Local Government creations, census figures, election results, legislations, litigations, appointments, development projects and even administrative processes. A very good example is the issue of census figures and particularly those of 1962 and 1963, which were the first and second Independent census programmes in Nigeria. Their bogus results were so shameful that the results were never announced; because of obvious fraudulent manipulation of figures. Ten years later in 1973 another census was conducted. But, again, it was nullified because the results produced were hotly disputed and rejected even before they were announced. Just like election figures, population figures in Nigeria are wantonly rigged and weaponised, for the profit, not of the people, but of the leaders. The people now know this!
On elections! Nigerians know quite well that starting from the 1965 elections, most elections in Nigeria are rigged and that most political office holders are ‘selected’ not elected. They know that the judiciary in their country is not the last hope of the common man. Nigerians now know that, not only politicians, but even their judges are corrupt and that they cover bribes with their wigs; they have seen judges jailed or sacked for corruption. They have seen judges give conflicting judgments on the same case, using the same law. They know about judges who are the favourites of particular political parties and who always give judgements as the parties would please, not as the court would please. Nigerians know that the slogan ‘police is your friend’ is a street lie in their country. They know that in Nigeria policemen are the errand boys of politicians, who open doors for them, hold umbrellas for them and clean up their ‘mess’. They know that policemen can kill and maim on behalf of their politician ‘Oga’. Nigerians know that the fastest way to make money in their country is to join politics and to be in the ruling party; and they all know how the politicians actually make their money. They know that most millionaires around either ‘kidnapped’ public funds or became wealthy by securing market monopoly and economic sabotage with the help of politicians. Other politicians, especially those from the East, get ‘quickly’ rich by trading on the collective interest of their people.
Nigerians know that merit is ‘snubbed’ in the public and political sectors of their country. They see it in the Civil Service. They see it in the disparity of University admission cut-off marks between the North and the South. They now know that you don’t even need a certificate to be the president of Nigeria. They call Nigeria a scam because they can see that, in the country of the most educated people of the black world, most cabinet ministers have no relevant qualifications or experience to fit the portfolios they hold. Yet, for a young ‘unconnected’ Nigerian to get a job, they expect him to be below 25 years of age, to have a first-class degree and to have 10 years working experience. This is nothing but scamming job opportunities for youths!
Nigerians regard politicians, the leaders of their country, as scammers and liars because they see them — year after year, tenure after tenure, party after party — make promises but fail to fulfil them or even deny them after elections, on national television. Recently, one desperate politician promised to end Boko Haram in 3 months and to sell fuel at N80 per litre, 6 years has gone, as usual, he has done the opposite. Nigerians call politicians scammers because all the political parties are the same. They have no ideology, no shame, no permanent members, no permanent opponents, no permanent supporters, no permanent friends, no permanent foes. The only thing that matters is their interest and their money. For instance, in 2007 Bola Tinubu said that Muhammadu Buhari is a tribalist and a fanatic. In 2015 he canonised him a saint. In Nigeria, politicians not only speak with two different tongues, they even lie about their age, forgetting that the internet does not forget and does not lie like them.
Nigerians call Nigeria a scam because, before their eyes, recovered loots are in turn looted by those who recovered them. If not so, where is the Fulani man called Ibrahim Magu, who, once upon a time, was the vanquisher of corruption in Nigeria. They call the country a scam because they see that their lawmakers are also government contractors and that, in Abuja, they do more lobbying for contracts than law-making. Nigerians know that most of their ‘representatives’ only represent their pockets and that this is why nobody in Nigeria has been allowed to know or to say exactly how much lawmakers ‘take’ as their pay. They call the country a scam because they see that even the government makes use of thugs against the citizens and against the country. We saw it during the #Endsars protest! We saw it when two politicians were dragging over a sealed property in Owerri! We see it during elections, when they drag ballot boxes! Nigerians call their country a scam when they see that their government parleys with bandits and pays ransom to terrorists but it uses jet-fighters to attack legitimate agitators who are demanding that they either fix the country or disband it.
It is only in Nigeria that the entire hierarchy of the army or police can be sent packing — not minding their years professional experience and expertise and not minding the rules — only to make way for a nepotically favoured candidate. It is only in Nigeria that failure is rewarded! One example is those Service Chiefs whose tenure saw the worst and most prolonged form of bloodshed in Nigeria, but who were rewarded with diplomatic portfolios, in spite of loudly opposing outcry. It is only in Nigeria that the courts can manufacture electoral votes in order to push a candidate from the fourth to the first position and so make him a governor against all legal logic. It is only in Nigeria that some special security squad openly carry POS machines for sharp-sharp ‘settlement’ by defaulters on the roadsides. It is only in Nigeria that special snakes swallow public funds and when public officials are asked to account for monies that they spent, they simply faint and are ‘taken away’ to the hospital by already awaiting aids. It is only in Nigeria that whenever too much money has been ‘cornered’ in an office or agency, fire will descend from nowhere and raze down the office and the files, so that every evidence is lost. This is why the country is called a scam?
In Nigeria, the logo of the police is a huge elephant; and that seems to explain why the police always arrive the scene of a crime only after the criminals have gone. Then they will arrest passers-by or on-lookers who came to see what had happened. Those arrested will have to pay to bail themselves, otherwise they would be paraded as the crime suspects. They call it ‘Mass Arrest’ and it only happens in Nigeria! In Nigeria, soldiers ‘own’ roadblocks and roam about in every street corner harassing people at every slight incident. Luckily or unluckily, these days, people have become used to them and even challenge and defeat them in street-fights. These soldiers kill people with ease, and as expected, people have also learnt how to kill them with ease. But it only happens in Nigeria and that’s why many call it a scam! Believe me, there is nothing one does not see in Nigeria! A firm called Dangote Group uses limestone from Nigeria to produce cement also in Nigeria; it sells the cement to Nigerians at N3,000. But when it exports the same cement to Zambia, it is sells at N1,300. Again, Nigeria itself, produces petroleum, but it imports all its petroleum products. This same Nigeria has four refineries and votes billions of naira to service them periodically. But these refineries are never fixed to function; so that Nigeria’s invincible oil-cabal will continue to import fuel and take fuel subsidy from the government. These are among the reasons why Nigerians see their country as a scam.
Nigeria is the only country in the world where the government itself scams the people! Hmm! Otherwise, why would government officials, charged with providing for the people, hide food palliatives donated by corporate groups and individual philanthropists, for the masses during the Covid 19 crunch? Why would the government prefer that goods worth billions of naira spoil or expire at the Lagos ports rather than open to full capacity the other God-given ports at Onne, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri etc, to ease the traffic at the Lagos ports? Why would federal law-makers refuse to patronise home-made cars but prefer to send whooping N6 billion abroad to import car? If the government is not deceiving the people why ban the importation of foreign rice to boost local economy but allow foreign medical treatments for politicians? If Nigeria is not a scam why would the government not use jet-fighters to dislodge Boko Haram terrorists at the Sambisa forest and other killer bandits roaming the North, the way it did against the operatives of ESN at Orlu and several villages at Akwa Ibom and Benue States recently? Why would the government not arrest the Miyettii Allah bandit herdsmen who claimed responsibility for the recent attack on the Benue State Governor, but is going after ESN for daring to confront killer herdsmen in their own villages in the East? Why? How do we explain it?
If the government is not scamming Nigerians, why are they backing or tolerating the obvious economic monopoly of the Dangote Group which is injurious to the economy of Nigeria? If Nigeria is not a scam, why is it that, in a multi-tribal country, only the Fulani, President Buhari’s kinsmen, are qualified to head all security and revenue agencies? Why? There are very many good reasons to believe that Nigeria is a giant scam. Everyone knows that the Easterners own majority of the import businesses in Nigeria, if the government believes in Nigeria, why do they not allow the natural seaports in the East to function? Why is there no functional international airport in the East of Nigeria? Why is there no rail line in the whole of the Eastern Region yet?
If the government believes in Nigeria, why are all the Defence Academies and armour depots located in the North of Nigeria? Why? Who is afraid of the other and why? If the government is not scamming the people, why does it embrace, rehabilitate and remunerate terrorists, but ignores their victims in perpetual misery. Why is the Nigerian government rehabilitating and reintegrating so-claimed repentant terrorists while families of their victims are still in IDP camps? I can’t explain it! If the government is not scamming Nigerians, after 60 years of self-rule, why have they not given Nigerians, at least just one thing, one basic necessity of life, such as: stable electricity or pipe-borne water or good road network, or good education system or good health care system or housing? Why is it that there is nothing that anybody can be truly proud of in Nigeria, after 64 years of mining petroleum? What else is a scam?
If you still don’t think so, then point out one country in the world that is governed by a ‘presidency’ or if you wish, an ‘invisible’ president who only comes out when he is going to London for medical treatment. Nigeria’s citizens are the most educated non-Americans in the USA, they are 1 in 4 of the medical personnel of Britain, but the leader of their country cannot present his most basic certificate. Nigeria has no nationwide rail line, but transport minister Chibuike Amaechi is begging to be allowed to build one in Niger Republic and he talks about it with impunity and unimaginable arrogance. What else is scam? Nigeria’s national budget details shows that Nigeria’s president pays rent in his presidential villa, though the landlord is undisclosed. Nigeria has no national airline but it has fleets of presidential jet. Nigeria budgets billions of naira for the presidential clinic, yet its president treats himself in London. What else is called scam? Who is fooling the other? Of course, leaders in Nigeria do not lead by example: they are not punctual, they do not obey traffic rules, they do not join cues. Name it! In Nigeria, only the masses sacrifice for the good of the country. Only the masses are made to obey the laws. What else is scam?
Nigerians know that NNPC — the country’s oil conglomerate — makes no profit but it always loses money; yet its staff are envied in the whole country for their bountiful pay. They know that whenever the same NNPC and the likes announce a recruitment process to the public, the exercise has already been concluded. Nigerians know that there is a cabal that owns the oil industry in Nigeria. This cabal makes sure that the refineries do not work so that they will continue to take petroleum subsidy from the government to import the same petroleum that they extracted and exported from Nigeria. Nigerians know that there is another gang of moneybags who will never allow stable electricity in Nigeria so that they will continue to import and sell generators and diesel. Nigerians know that the suffering of the masses is the profit of the ruling cabal; and that’s why they call the country a scam!
As a result of this scam that has gone on for decades, today, nobody takes Nigeria seriously. And the proves are everywhere! That’s why Joe Biden will call other African presidents but would not border to call Buhari; that’s why Kamal Harris would not call Osinbajo. That is how Twitter ‘jumped’ Nigeria and ‘landed’ in Ghana, in case you are asking ‘how it happened!’ And in case anyone cares to know, many serious-minded businesses are trooping out of Nigeria. At the last check, the tyre companies Dunlop and Michelin have left Nigeria also for Ghana. PZ (Patterson Zochonis), OPay, Etisalat, Unilever Plc, Guinness Plc, Cadbury Plc, Tiger Brands, Truworths, Woolworths, Shoprite, Mr Price etc have either left or are preparing to leave Nigeria. Evergreen Line, Messina Line, Gold Star Line among several other shipping companies have also left the country recently. But that’s not all; the British bank HSBS and the Swiss bank UBS have also closed shop in Nigeria. These firms may have also discovered that the scam-country is not viable. But I believe that in leaving they are actually sending us a message to fix our country, even if it means disbanding it. And thanks to God, everyone now seem to be waking up to the fact that the ‘scam’ is obviously unsustainable!
Clearly, both the people and the politicians themselves know that the whole thing is a unbelievable ‘scam’; that’s why nobody takes the country seriously. Recently we heard that even the Service Chiefs don’t take their Commander-in-Chief seriously in Nigeria. Nigerians know that the international community also knows these things, and that’s why they too do not take Nigeria and Nigerians seriously. Nigerians know that the international community only get interested in Nigeria when the fat pockets of Shell or Chevron or Agip or Total are threatened. Nigerians cannot blame them but blames the ‘scammers’ in powers who made Nigeria a scorn and a scam. Politicians and their spokespeople can scoff and rebuff these facts, but ordinary Nigerians who read newspapers can confirm them. I, on my part, can confirm that Nigerians are tired of the scam, the scorn, the scourge! In fact, when Nigerians call their country a ‘scam’ or a ‘zoo’, it is not satire, it is not for fun, it is not also mockery! Rather it is a message that they deserve a better country! It is a yearning for a better country! It is a demand for a better country! And they would stop at nothing to have it!
Michael Richmond Duru
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