A concerned Nigerian based in the United States of America, Oluchi Enaworu, has decried the rate at which Nigerians use the social media for the wrong reasons.
In an article circulating across social media, Oluchi wrote that if only Nigerian could utilise the powers of the internet, so many things will work well in the country.
She took specific interest in unnecessary trends that have gone viral across the country, after they hit the social media, which she believed could be used in more important areas to better the lives of the people.
Read her article below
If 70 million Naira was raised within 24 hours for a sick child; if you can drag your boyfriend’s sister’s aunt’s ex and it gets to every newspaper in Nigeria; if you can make a child to gain scholarship overnight by just reposting a video; if you can make a celebrity out of a nonentity, then there’s something you can do about everything.
I live in a country where everything works, food is cheap, water is clean and roads are smooth and I believe that these are necessities that everyone is entitled to. If I flick a switch, light comes on. By Monday, I will go to work and I won’t be owed salary for a minute. If I get hit by a car, my insurance company would jump in and take care of things from their end. I could hire a lawyer to sue my governor if I was offended and the trial will go according to the law. I have no worries whatsoever, yet I spend my time sharing the little I know with my people. I could easily say, “that’s your problem. Deal with it.” But I’m still a Nigerian and I have friends and family suffering.
When you start using social media for the right reasons, change will come. Tanker drivers will no longer weave through traffic carelessly to avoid killing people and getting sued for billions.
Greedy landlords will not continue to rent out an unsafe building marked for demolition which could collapse leaving hundreds dead or injured. Who wants to go to prison for something they could have easily avoided?
Policemen won’t open fire in the middle of the road because a keke driver refused to give them 500 Naira. Again, the entire force could be sued for millions. Imagine if they police force goes to court every other week for one reckless behavior from their staff, and they keep losing millions as payment for damages?
Transit bus companies would do routine maintenance on their buses and do drug checks on their drivers before sending them on a 8 hour journey. Again, if a drunk driver keeps making them lose money, what do you think would happen?
The same goes for the state and local government. If you keep calling them out, they will be forced to do the right thing.
The list is endless, but you get the point. Don’t say, “there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Oluchi Enaworu
