Nigerians sha

I am Nigerian
I watch Asian dramas (2019 update: mainly Korean dramas)
I watch Naija movies and I used to watch soap operas while in Nigeria. 

I was born in Mushin, on Onanuga Street
Then we moved to Kelani Street, still in Mushin
I lived opposite Mushin Olosha market.

I have seen a burnt body in the street 
A policemen once directed traffic, allowing my mum and me to cross the busy street.

The Nigeria I know is not glamorous. It is busy and bustling. It is not pretty but it is real and gritty and genuine. I know that blogs like Bella Naija offer a more glamorous view of Nigeria but it hurts me. I liken it to a feeling of whitewashing. There is poverty in Nigeria. When a foreign body provides a statistic like "Nigerians living in poverty rises to nearly 61%" Nigerians are quick to say it's a foreign body, it's all to tarnish the name of the country. Anyway, Nigeria's own National Bureau of Statistics says 112.519 million Nigerians live in relative poverty conditions.

Apart from the relative poverty index, other poverty measurement standards are absolute measure, which puts the country’s poverty rate at 99.284 million or 60.9 per cent; the dollar per day measure, which puts the poverty rate at 61.2 per cent; and the subjective poverty measure, which puts the poverty level at 93.9 per cent.

Naija's own artists have tackled this problem: 

Fela Anikulapo Kuti - Every Single DAMN Song 

Nneka - Every single song

Eedris Abdulkareem - Jagajaga, Naija My Country

Sound Sultan - Mathematics/Jagbajantis, Gengen, Craze World

Trybesmen - Plenty Nonsense 

Kush - Let's live together

Onyeka Onwenu - Peace Song, One Love

Daddy Showkey - Fire

Femi Kuti

Lagbaja - Gra Gra, Suuru Lere

Kandy Sea - No One Knows Tomorrow 

Maintain - Alo, Efon

MI - Crowd Mentality

Now Rick Ross tackled it and I love it. See this is the Nigeria I grew up in. I saw these things all the time, the pile of refuse, the stench of the refuse. The smell of a burnt rubber stays with me today. I saw people like these all the time. I saw hawkers and little children and beggars. I lived around poor people. I was fortunate to have parents who made sure we had a roof over our heads and food every single night. We lived in a face-me-I-face-you, then a bungalow and now I think they are in a house. My point is this was my reality, my Lagos and my Nigeria. So yes it hurts me when Bella Naija try to erase these things with their haute couture and African designers including Summer and Spring in their collection. 

I understand that people do not want to hear sad news all the time. I get that. The artists above also made light-hearted music, in fact the songs above have an appealing beat without the message drowning you in sorrow. I am tired of Nigerian artists ignoring where they came from. I am tired of the awards celebrating the same mediocre people, and yes P-Square and D'Banj and Wizkid count as mediocre. So yes, I like Fazebook Babes because it shows Nigerians as they are, quick to ignore their own problems while chasing some societal status. I am tired of the issue of poverty not being discussed enough. I am tired of a mediocre government who sacks the few doctors it has, cuts off the livelihood of okada riders, passes ridiculous traffic laws, and fines owners/renters N250,000 or a six-month imprisonment for failure to beautify their properties

But condemnation for the law came from all quarters. More worrisome is that violation of the laws attracts between N30,000 and N50,000 fines or imprisonment up to three years. The motorcycle riders stated that the law would prevent them from plying about 475 routes in the state, a factor they said would seriously affect their income. Such was the discountenance of the motorcycle riders to the traffic law that they instituted a case against its implementation.
Even motorists described the law as extortive and unworkable. The law forbids them to make phone calls, eat, count money or engage in “other dangerous activities,” while on the wheel. As for pedestrians, they are forbidden to cross the expressways.

It seems Nigerians, Lagosians in particular, love dressing up messes. Rather than sweep the dirt and clean the grime, they adorn it with fancy clothes and spray the stench with perfume. It sickens me when Lagos is hailed as some great state when it is far from where it should be. Perhaps we need more Rick Ross showing us just what is wrong with us. We never do listen when our own say it. Or Fashola can simply imprison people for disobeying an ill-advised law.