A rant inspired by “On black sisters street”
I uncurled from my comfortable position on my bed and reached for a glass of water. While I drank, I could not help but draw parallels between the lives of the characters in the book “on black sisters street” and between my life and the lives of the young women I know.
This book was powerful; you see, it followed the lives of 4 young girls from Nigeria who found themselves in Belgium while desperately trying to search for a better life and a better economic climate. These were women that were willing to work hard but there were no opportunities to work and earn a livable wage in Nigeria.
To be Born in Nigeria, already puts you at a disadvantage not because we are a people without a culture, identity, or power but because of the greed and wickedness of politicians that have been elected into positions of authority. Being born as a woman in Nigeria puts you at a greater disadvantage, in addition to being on the receiving end of political greed and carelessness, as a woman you also have to fight the system of misogyny. A system that constantly tells you that your sole role as a woman is to serve men. If you are unfortunate enough to be born into a religious family which is a high possibility in Nigeria because ironically the country is extremely religious, then you are at a greater disadvantage because then you are blinded and quieted by religion and you are forced to accept or at least not question the sub-standard treatment by the misogynistic society supported by religion.
On black sister’s street follows the lives of these young women each with a story of their own, each with their own problems and each with plans and motivation to search for a better life. They arrived in Belgium where they were made to work with their bodies for money, they were forced to exchange sex for money. They were forced to repay their debts incurred by their sponsors who facilitated their move from Nigeria but the girls where not given any other option for making money except sex work.
A lot of blame is put on Nigerian politicians through out this book. They are blamed for the terrible economy and lack of jobs which has forced people to do things, desperate things they do not want to do just to earn some money. The economy has made people desperate which is understandable because when a person is hungry, they would do the unthinkable to quench that hunger. Though it is fiction, and the characters are not real, their plight is real, and the broken economy of Nigeria is real. This book was written and set in 2000 while President Obasanjo was president of Nigeria. It is 2022 now and not much has changed, dare I say things are even worse.
Nigeria’s current president is president Buhari, a man that was elected to office in 2014 and has spent 8 years ruining an already beaten down country. Under him, the naira has lost more value than it ever has in years, the price of fuel is ridiculous, people are hungry, crime has increased, the universities are constantly on strike because the lecturers are not being paid well and even the curriculum has not been updated to ensure that students can learn and compete in the world. Buhari has really truly made a mark of incompetence. Some years ago, he made a big fuss about providing tools to empower youths and I kid you not he provided tricycles popularly called Keke and told youths to become drivers of public transport. There is nothing bad in driving a transport vehicle but for context Keke’s are highly unsafe and it adds to the congestion of the roads in Nigeria and more importantly if a president is trying to empower young people to be able to compete in the world, then he should be providing tools and educative materials to develop the young minds and not tell them to become bus drivers.
At a time, when technological innovations have taken the front and center stage, computers, and educational materials to develop technological competence should be provided. Buhari loses the mark every time and has succeeded in destroying my already fragile country forcing more people to be in bad and desperate situations; forcing people to seek better lives in other countries which doesn’t always turn out well because first we are immigrants, we face discriminations because of our different accents and of course our black skin gives racists the push to rear their ugly racist heads.
There is hope though. One of our traits as a people in Nigeria Is our ability to find hope in the direst situation. The national election is here, the youth have transferred the anger from the endsars movement, a peaceful protest that was set up to end police brutality which took place in 2020 and have decided to campaign for peter obi to be the president of Nigeria in the next election. The reason is that Peter Obi is the best option with Tinubu and Atiku as his opponents. It is very clear that Atiku and Tinubu have no place in Aso Rock. You can draw a direct line from the ruin of Nigeria to the wickedness and corruption of these men. Tinubu has always claimed to be a god father in fact in his speech his main reason for contesting for the presidency is that it is his turn to be president. He claims that he has gotten other candidates in past years elected so therefore this time it is his turn. Note that he has no plans to make the country better, he has no plans to improve security, electricity or even education. He is wealthy because for years he has eaten out of the hands of people and has taken a cut from almost every business in Lagos state. He has plans to continue taking but this time to take from the country. He only plans to ruin us. Atiku on the other hand is the definition of “if you try your best and you do not succeed, try and try again”. He has been trying to become the president for so long, jumping from one political party to another, cutting corners and making false promises and no one has fallen for his lies, this time isn’t different.
Compared to the other candidates, Peter Obi is the obvious choice. He is the choice that makes sense. He is considerably younger and fit and looks like he has the energy to start the fight to turn the country around. I want to hear more from him though. I want to hear what his plans are. I want to know how he plans to make the country better. It is not enough for him to say that he would end insecurity, I want to know how he plans to do it. I want to know what he thinks the source of the issues we face in Nigeria are and how he plans to fix it. I want more than empty promises. I want a president that is willing to ensure that we start manufacturing things in Nigeria and reduce our dependence on imports. I want a president that is committed to permanently fixing our problem with electricity instead of one that makes empty predictions with hardly any plans to follow through. I want a president that truly cares for the people, that cares for the youth and their place in the world. I want a president that is committed to ensuring that all Nigerians have human rights regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. The same way a person should not be killed if they practice a different religion so they should not be killed for consensually engaging in romantic relationship with a person of the same gender. The former president Goodluck Jonathan passed the SSMPA bill which essentially subjects a person to 14 years in prison if they are caught engaging in homosexual activities. I want a president that see that bill as a violation of human rights and is committed to putting an end to such.
Peter Obi seems like the light we need. He seems like he will be dedicated to this fight, and I want to stand by him but I am tired of empty promises. He is a politician, so I know that half of his job is to make promises. I can only hope that the promises he has made, he can implement. He wants to end insecurity in every ramification he said, he wants to unite people and pull them out of poverty and give them a new sense of hope and patriotism. I hope he can do that. I hope he can look at our health sector and make a much-needed change there, there should be less privatization and more access to health care. Hospitals should be renovated, and equipments drastically updated. There is so much work to be done and I hope peter obi can get things done. I know Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku have also made empty promises, but I would urge them to pack their bags and go home, there is no winning for them. To Atiku and BAT, We are fed up with your corrupt and wicked actions, you have done nothing but further destroy our country and our futures and we would not stand by and let you do more harm.
