It does sometimes feel like the countless violent deaths recorded in the Country are unfelt by her citizens, and the bulk of the masses are un-compassionate, horrible people. That may be the case for a few people, but in a general sense, the relative silence of the citizenry is not as a result of apathy, but a systematic and well-planned crippling of willpower by the elites.
We have become, in a sense – Traumatized and are forced to live with this Trauma daily, having to adapt to it.
Three Pronged Attack
The elite use a three-pronged system to keep us docile and subservient here in Nigeria by:
*Economic Stagnation
- Politico-religious divisiveness
- Information manipulation
The Economic Stagnation method has all of us on a never ending quest for mere survival. This is done to keep us reliant on the political class for our daily bread, making them Gods of some sorts. You can check that the most parts of where high level of voter presence are based in the country, also register the highest levels of poverty and stagnation
Ethnic and religious divisiveness is among the oldest tricks in the book in other to win over large partisan numbers due to affiliations rather than competence. As evidenced in past and present elections, Vote patterns usually border along ethno-religious lines. It is also the primary cause of violent conflict in the country.
Information manipulation works easier on a poor, politico-religiously divided crowd, which the elite have managed to achieve. Rather than prioritize the things that bring about enlightment like sound education and independent thinking, the major focus has been sowing seeds of discord among us.
Changing the pattern requires a united front from enlightened, independent citizens willing to take the message to the grassroots. Otherwise, with worsening indices daily in poverty, violence and education, improving the lot of the masses may be nothing short of a pipedream.