LET'S BECOME NIGERIAN “CITIZENS” IN 2026

 

Happy New Year to all Nigerians, and I hope we’ve all gotten off to a revamped tax culture that the President Tinubu-led government officially kicks off today, 1st January 2026. Payment of tax is one of the requisites of “citizenship”, and the effective and transparent utilization of these revenues is, in turn, a fundamental proviso of public leadership, whether in a democracy or any other form of government. Notwithstanding the declining public trust in Nigerians who hold public office (political office holders and civil servants), the question is: will you be any different if you were appointed or elected to any of those official seats today? The assurance in our individual answers will only stem from our current “citizenship” ratings. 

When a Nigerian “citizen” points a finger at those in positions of authority, three fingers point back at him or her, signalling that there are enormous responsibilities expected of every bearer of a National Identification Number (NIN) given by the National Identity Management Company (NIMC), birth certificate issued by the National Population Commission (NPC), or a passport allotted by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). Having almost always written in condemnation of poor public leadership in Nigeria for too long, this new year's article overlooks those in positions of authority for now. Instead, it implores all non-occupants of public offices in the world’s most populous black nation to recommit to being “faithful, loyal, and honest” in developing nation-building habits. These constructive lifestyles will then enable them to fulfill their duties to families, communities, schools, workplaces, worship spaces, and public roads as “citizens”. And if you’d love to double-check who “citizens” are, take a tour with me on the rest of this piece as I consult the ancient Greeks’ classification of individuals in a country into three groups: idiots, tribesmen, and “citizens”.

Idiots are not mentally deficient people, but persons who choose to be “private” in their private or public dealings, selfish in their approach by avoiding the common good, and think only of gratification to either themselves or their families. Greeks did not intend to insult anyone (and I do not either) with the idiot tag, but to emphasize that you will be so called if all you think of is your private comfort, regardless of how it affects our communal well-being. Are you a Nigerian who is uninterested in obtaining a voter’s card? Or do you have one just so that it can be used as an accessory means of identification? Are you one of those Nigerians who would rather rant on social media than go out to vote in local government, State, or Federal polls? Do you drive against traffic (“one way”) as a shortcut to your office/home to “conserve” fuel rather than head for the appropriate U-turn spot ahead? Do you throw garbage out of your moving vehicle, littering the roads, but in your selfish opinion, decontaminating your car? When was the last time you obeyed traffic lights on your way home from the church or mosque after “worshipping” God, and not excusing your destructive traffic habit to hurrying to make lunch or catch a needed Sunday nap? Are you often rude to highway duty police officers without provocation because they just “disgust” you?

What else qualifies for idiocy and disqualifies citizenship? Self-important Nigerians who cordon off streets to host parties and carnivals without permission from the appropriate quarters or recourse to the distress of other road users. Medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, or laboratory scientists who wilfully “discourage and de-market” health insurance uptake by their patients just because their healthcare facilities earn more money from user fees. Patent medicine vendors who offer “beyond-their-license” medical services to Nigerians, thus promoting quackery. Nigerians who falsely “reduce” their age when registering for civil service jobs to gain more years in service and defer their retirement. Persons who are quick to willingly offer tips (actually, bribes) to that government official handling their driver's license, retirement benefits, tax entries, or the procurement verification of their company’s bid for public contracts, to “hasten” the process. Villains-cum-civil servants who extort everyone who shows up at their official desks in search of government services, excusing these habits as “smart” ways to earn extra cash or top-up for their “meagre” government salaries. Federal, State, or Local government civil servants who are either perpetual absentees or latecomers to work, and who have “bought over” their superiors (in cash or kind) as accomplices, so that the latter look the other way. Police officers, soldiers, civil defence operators, DSS agents, Amotekun officials, or security operatives who leak operational intelligence to criminals or rent guns to bandits, kidnappers & armed robbers for more money. And guess what, all Nigerians who bypass their home or office electricity meters to “save” energy costs in an economically challenging period, jump queues in banking halls and gas stations as a “sharp guy”, register their children/wards at special centers for NECO, WAEC, JAMB, and post-JAMB examinations to give them an “undue advantage” via examination malpractice, are all idiots, says the Greek classification.

Tribesmen are some steps removed from self, yet their attempts to advance communal interests are driven by clannish mindsets, voices, actions, and reactions. In other words, the considerations of ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation influence their choice of civic responsibilities. Do you pass biased judgment on another Nigerian’s case because of their tribe? Do you only vote when your kinsman is among the contestants? Do you stoke the embers of disaffection between your religion and practitioners of other faiths? Or you perhaps believe in killing your fellow human in the “defence of your God”? As a Christian or Muslim cleric, is your worship center in competition with itself & other denominations and hence, has become the regular “noisemaker” with loudspeakers, preventing nursing mothers, post-operative patients, and every other member of the community from either enjoying their normal daytime activities or observing sound sleep at night? Have you become an emergency street urchin, lout, or hanger-on because your tribesman is the new Minister or Commissioner, and your new livelihood is earned by loitering in his/her public office area, raising two hands and loud chants along their office corridors to solicit cash hand-outs from him/her?

As for the third classification, “citizens” are nationals of a country who are conscious and intentional about the intersection of their self-interests and the country’s development. Therefore, that Nigerian bricklayer who habitually inflates measurements (in square meters, for example) to defraud clients; the Nigerian car mechanic who cannot help but connive with vehicle part sellers to inflate prices for customers; that Nigerian yahoo boy (cybercriminal) with expertise in financial fraud; and the Nigerian petrol/gas attendant/cashier who colludes with the station manager to manipulate the pump metering gadget to fleece unsuspecting buyers are not “citizens”. They will only become one in 2026 when they realize that their unfair & corrupt individual actions create an endless cycle of dishonesty among the current & coming generations of Nigerians, and thus retreat henceforth. A Nigerian food vendor-cum-good citizen will uphold hygienic food-handling procedures to safeguard consumers, just as an agricultural product trader will not preserve plantains with calcium carbide, even if relevant government authorities are derelict in their regulatory oversight this year.

Fellow Nigerians, our leaders will not fall from the sky; the next crop of appointed & elected public officeholders will come from the idiots, tribesmen, and citizens we currently have. In other words, if we populate the distasteful list of idiots and tribesmen, then we would have depopulated the number of “citizens” urgently needed to develop Nigeria in 2026. Shikenan! 

Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi is a Medical Doctor, Health Finance Specialist, Author, Reformer, Coach, Public Policy expert, and social entrepreneur who can be reached in Abuja via adetoluademujimi@gmail.com 

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