Happy Birthday Yanki

This is a belated post.

As most of my fellow citizens of blogville know, it's the fourth of July tomorrow - America's Independence day. The most famous democracy in the world is celebrating and the whole world will participate one way or the other.

It'll be all over the internet, the international news networks and the satellite TV shows. And as a lover of democracy, I'm happy. But as a guy who now lives my own country's capital, where I can observe firsthand the mood of my countrymen, I'm sad. We are so negative and cynical. I ask myself again and again how we became so cynical a people.

I've found that some of the most cynical Nigerians seem to be in Abuja. They'll tell you who did what, stole what slept with who to get what and so on and so forth. And instead of coming together to work for change in our country, these same negative people seem satisfied to live lives resigned to the very problems they see.

People in Abuja regularly interact in churches, mosques, clubs, bars, movie theatres, hotel lobbies, and car parks and in almost all these places I've found that it seems to be a thing of pride to know the negative inside story. Everybody wants to tell you what is really going on at the senate or at the presidency or even in less hallowed government chambers.

I was commenting to my cousin about the NTA DG prior to Ben Bruce who stated to my hearing that it would be impossible for NTA to start 24hr broadcasting. His reason? Their equipment could barely keep them on air as it were and to go 24hrs would finally kill them. Yet, barely a year later NTA was giving us 24hr service. Thanks to Ben Bruce.

Another kinsman in the room immediately let me know that the only reason Bruce was able to achieve that was because his appointment was at the behest of the late Stella Obasanjo who wanted someone who would give her the sort of personal coverage she wanted. According to my cynic, NTA had never before or since received the sort of allocations it did under Obasanjo.

I tried to counter that even with money, one still needed vision and was about to point to Silverbird Cinemas as proof of the triumph of vision over impossible odds. But I was cut off as my cynic let me know that those ideas had been on the table for years but Bruce merely reaped the benefits of his contacts. He also implied that Bruce made money during his tenure and pointed to the Galleria as proof.

I was sickened. Both by his odious cynicism and by the possibility that he was right (hey, I'm not naïve). But still, must we continue to seek out the bad in every good thing? I mean c'mon… what you seek you will usually find. And I'm tired of finding a corrupt tale in every good deed.

Remember the way DSTV bestrode our DTH satellite TV scene like a colossus? Remember the way they dealt with any and all challengers till the last Minister of Information, Frank Nweke Jr, almost single-handedly ensured that DSTV could not claim sole broadcast rights to high demand foreign channels in Nigeria? Remember how that opened the door for HiTV to become the first real challenger to DSTV in almost two decades?

I was so happy when that happened and Nweke Jr was my main man. I actually look forward to meeting him to tell him so. Well, a new acquaintance I made two days after I arrived in Abuja revealed to me that Nweke Jr is a major shareholder in HiTV. The news was one more unwanted stone in my rice if you know what I mean. Now I'm wondering – was he a shareholder before or after campaigning so astutely to bring DSTV's reign to an end? I wonder if he's conscientious enough to admit to the negatives in that achievement. Either way, he and Toyin Subair are two people I'd like to take to lunch someday.

Speaking of lunch, I was at Chicken Republic with a friend after church this past Sunday and he complained about how we Nigerians just love huge profits in the short run even if it meant fewer people could buy things. His example was a guy importing cars at about 800,000 only to resell at 2million. He felt that was outrageous. I agreed. Then I asked him about a house he purchased and remodeled at a cost of 30million and had just offered to a buyer the week before at 90million.

He smiled and admitted he was just as bad. At least he was conscientious enough to admit that he was a part of the problem. I wish we would all be that way. I wish more people would seek to change themselves first. I wonder how many of my fellow bloggers would be proud of the source of the money that sent them abroad to school. I wonder how many people reading this would start standing up to parents, uncles and aunties who are obviously living on money they haven't earned. It's for all our sakes including that uncle's.

I was at a house in Asokoro belonging to a former minister of finance and I could not help feeling a rising sense of outrage at the obvious wealth. Every single furniture and fitting in the place was imported; probably with my money if you believe the rumors. I took photos to show my wife. It was a lovely home. Don't get me wrong – I don't begrudge people the right to live well. But we have heard the stories and people have eyes. You can't suddenly start spending money and not become a target. And the way people gathered across the street to watch this minister's family move in made me realize how unsafe they truly were.

May these grenade throwing kidnappers and fighters in the south-south not ever realize how easy it would be to hit the real thieves at home in Abuja. Some of us bloggers could become collateral damage. I'm tired of being negative. I want to see change. I will keep blogging for change, talking for change and living the change I advocate. I hope maybe in my own way I can encourage others to do the same.

I'm not alone in this. We all want to be truly happy for our nation on it's next birthday. We want to stop hearing the noise of generators. We want to be able to rent or buy a house at reasonable prices. We want to not overpay for a car. We want to not fear our police. We want to not suspect every campaigning minister or doubt every government initiative. And we can too!

We start by not throwing trash on the road. We continue by not going late to work and by asking what else we need to do. We keep it up by at least being nice to the next person and by never being rude to anyone. We take it to new heights by learning to apologize and by offering to help others solve problems. By seeking and finding ways to get money that we cannot tell the whole world we got. It's up to us bloggers, regular readers and casual surfers. It's up to us government workers, private businesspeople and traders. It's up to us O.

So, having typed all this to the rhythm of the generator let me conclude. To one of the countries that give its people those things that we all want I say… Happy Birthday Yanki!