If Nigeria Is A Scam; then we’re all scammers- Pastor Adefarasin

Every nation, on the other hand, must be distinguished from Nigeria as a republic. Nigeria is still there, despite the fact that governments come and go. Nigeria is characterized by its people, and we must acknowledge that.

So, when we cast pejoratives at the country we are only slinging shots at ourselves. If we say, ‘’Nigeria is a scam’’, inadvertently we are implying, ‘’Nigerians are scammers’’.

Nigeria did not become a “scam,” as some of those who despise the country say, by accident; it became what it is as a result of our collective efforts.

Nigeria isn’t just a “geographic term.” Nigeria is defined by its inhabitants. We made it so, the good, the poor, and the ugly. We are a vector of the causative factors in whatever ails the country.

While I understand that Adefarasin’s outburst was motivated by patriotism, his description of Nigeria as a “scam and fraud” lacks tact and logical thinking.

If Nigeria is a fraud; then we are all fraudsters – leaders and followers alike. We all have contributed in no small measure to the discomfiture of the entity.

We live in a country where pastors run their ministries like conglomerates. They run them like business enterprises but evading tax in the process.

CAMA; a law to regulate the business undertakings of the religious industry and to bring some transparency and accountability into the ‘’spiritual business’’ was introduced by the government.

However, the staunchest antagonists of this law have been pastors. Yet, these same people who do not want to live by the law are the loudest voices when passing capital sentences on Nigeria.

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Interestingly, these pastors run their churches in conformity with the law in other countries. They submit their finances for regular checks by the authorities in the UK, the US, and other places. But in Nigeria, they live in the triumph of the law.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has been spreading injurious falsehood regarding COVID vaccine. He claims it is the concoction of the anti-Christ. He was fined 125,000 pounds for making ‘’potentially harmful and unsubstantiated’’ claims about the vaccine by the UK. But in Nigeria where he continues to traffic in COVID conspiracies, he has not been made to account for his transgressions because he is a ‘’man of god’’. Perhaps, this is why Nigeria is a ‘’scam’’.

If Nigeria is a scam, then it is because of pastors who sit on high and trample on the laws governing the land. If Nigeria is a fraud, then it is because of pastors who go into concordats with politicians every election season; campaigning for them on the pulpit and commanding the bloodhounds of hell against those who do not accept their ‘’anointed candidates’’.

The clergy is as tainted as the political class.

Also, a civil servant, who earns N150,000 monthly but has kids in UK schools and with real estate dotting major cities in the country, will revile Nigeria submerging his own hypocrisy in lamentations and jibes at the state.

He ignores conveniently his complicity in the corruption ravaging the country. In addition, some citizens spurn laws, rules, and regulations. Where there are traffic lights, they ignore them; where there are procedures, they bypass them, and where there are standards put in place for effective service delivery and operations, they abandon them.

Yet, they all blame ‘’Nigeria’’ for the jeopardous status quo as if the country exists without its people. The problem with Nigeria is a people problem. But the tragedy is that no one wants to accept liability for the appalling state of things. We cast the blame at the feet of ‘’abstract Nigeria’’. We are all complicit in the degenerative emasculation of Nigeria.

Instead of abiding in wilful fatalism about Nigeria, we should project goodness and positivity into the system while working at making our country what we want it to be. Nigeria is what we make of it. The political class is flawed. But that is the reason a new generation of leaders must emerge and take the reins. None but ‘’ourselves can free our minds’’. Citizenship is a call to duty.

NIGERIA IS NOT A SCAM.

( Fredrick Nwabufo)