Why Power Mistreats Us In Nigeria~Dr. Remi Adekoya
by Dr. Remi Adekoya
There were two things that surprised me in my early days as a political journalist in Poland, my mother’s home nation. The first was how relatively easy it was for me to arrange one-on-one interviews with ministers and other VIPs running the country. The second was how nicely and respectfully they treated me. My Nigerian upbringing hadn’t prepared me for this. These were Big People running things, I was “just” a journalist. How come I didn’t have to jump through countless hoops just to get in the same room with them? How come the interviews felt like a conversation of equals? How come I never felt small in their presence?
The numerous testimonies offered by Nigerian journalists and public commentators as to what a nice man the late Abba Kyari was, remind me of the feelings I had back then. Feelings of gratitude towards power for being nice to me. Because that was not what I had expected. This is not about Abba Kyari, it is about the fact that one of the biggest obstacles towards developing Nigeria, and indeed Africa as a whole, lies in our attitudes to power. Specifically, in our assumptions about what power is entitled to and what we feel entitled to demand of it.
When we complain about Nigeria’s leaders, what we often complain about aside issues of competence is the manner in which they exercise their power. The way they lord it over us. Though some Nigerian politicians are classic scumbags whose leadership flaws are directly attributable to their character flaws, the bigger problem is that even those who were no worse people than you or me before getting to power tend to look down on us, exploit us and treat us like rubbish once they do. What makes them behave this way and more importantly why do we keep letting them get away with it over and over again?
It is because both we and they have been conditioned to view power in exactly the same way. As something that entitles you to more than the rest of society. More money, more status, more respect.
