If we blame the government for all things, what about what we do?

A friend had a terrible accident few months ago; yes, we can blame the government for everything; from the bad roads that caused the accident or the fact that the truck, which should have its special road network- made the swerve that led the car to a bush, the bitter truth that no emergency vehicle was coming to help him out of the car to a hospital where the doctors and medics could be on strike due to unpaid salaries or lack of equipment; because the ministry in charge must have solely embezzled the fund and provided hospitals that are lucky enough to know a top official in government only  with generators that might not also function because there is no fuel, or the surgeon who would work in the emergency unit comes to work only on Mondays and Thursdays; whereas the accident happened on a Saturday.

Well, all that happened, and the victims, to save themselves from the troubles, had to call someone they knew who led them straight to a working hospital where they had got to on motorcycles with blood dripping from the victim. They overlooked the harassment that could come from the officers in uniform who might tag him a criminal and would need police report, or the nurse that would welcome him at the hospital with a frown and a question of “where is your card” with little or no empathy. We would all blame the government for not paying the hospital staffs well or not providing enough to put everyone in a good system.

That “where is your card” led a man to almost beat up a nurse in my presence years back. His wife was peeing on herself and her son was gasping for breath due to an accident, but the nurse was asking for their card. I was filled with vexation that day.

Can we take a break and leave the Nigerian leaders alone in their world of utmost disregard for democracy, human rights and proper leadership and talk to ourselves!

So, there was a project I was involved in that needed me to have interactions with some whites {note that not all whites are good and definitely all blacks are not bad) but this interaction I had was with a stranger. The man whom I will name Sean –not his real name-  had never seen me and I had no idea of who he was before the interaction started.

I had to write, and work on some unofficial reportage for him through another company here in Nigeria.  Hence,  I was working with my fellow Nigerian and an ‘oyinbo man’. Trust me; I got frustrated with my known fellow Nigerian soon. There were too many unnecessary protocols that were not his fault but the system’s.

An average person on the streets say “I no trust anyone for here o, na only God and myself”, or another says “Nigerians are selfish people, they do everything for themselves”.

When driving, as a Nigerian, there are just common outbursts such as “you are a fool”, or “come and take the steering from me now, old man” followed by  unnecessary honking and show of five fingers spread out to look like chicken legs. We lack patience on the road. A lot of people would make double parking on narrow roads and expect not to cause uproar; how is the government to blame for that?

So many times, you want to see someone in their office and just because they are the ‘bosses’, while actually not doing anything at that point would delay the visitor for hours or days to feel powerful. Is that the government?

You are on the bus and you realise that you might have more passengers but you do not have enough seats, yet as a commercial driver, you quickly decide to increase the fare or leave the passengers an option of increasing the number of people on a seat so they can pay the lesser price. You end up making the journey stressful and inconvenient. I witnessed this scene where an old woman was groaning in pain when she was asked to sit and in pain has said “mi o lowo so I cannot pay for a seat”- I don’t have enough money to pay for another seat.

Some call it being business minded and this is not intended to be a self righteous post. The little things we do matter, we are to make life easier for one another in ways possible.  Many of us would wait till there is someone a client knows until things get done.

The government is not the one who parades a used phone as new in the market and sells it at the same price of a new one, same as a vehicle or other general things in the market. It is individuals who would reduce the fuel gauge so that a buyer gets lesser value for what he gets. We are being tagged fraudulent on a regular basis by international bodies. The work starts from individuals; individuals create families, families create a nation.

I think sometimes we can save the government the excuse and probably see if we are intentional about positive things we do to our fellow citizens, we might just have better times; the government should play her part and we should do same.

• Favour Boluwade is of the Nigerian Tribune.

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