Nigeria And The Question, ‘Wetin Cause Am’?

“…The hungry child with stomach ache is busy pointing at his head and complaining of headache”. Local adage

'Wetin' is a word in local parlance that means many things, it is tone dependent, and it is also a circumstantial word, used by many and for all sorts of reasons. In simple English it means 'what'.

So when one says wetin, he/she implies 'what'…and it could be wetin you want, wetin be the problem, wetin dey do you, wetin be the matter…or just WETIN!

In this case, it is wetin cause am…meaning what caused it, the raison d'etre as the French would put it, a close phrase would be 'whose fault is it.

And with the short take above permit me to share this week's admonition with us, I am sure that we must be wondering wetin, or rather the reason, for this conversation and where we are headed.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU is still on strike, after an 11 hours marathon meeting with a Federal Government team, headed by the President, the Union is still consulting with stakeholders before it calls off the four months old strike—so wetin cause am? Who really is at fault, the students, teachers, government, what really are the issues?

I read the other day some university don blame ex- military President IBB as the reason for the drop in our university education and the strike, and I asked so wetin cause 'Ali must go' strikes. And if IBB was responsible since, Abacha, Abdulsalam, and Obasanjo whose fault is it now?

I predicted that with each passing day the Stella drama known as Oduahgate would fade, and sure it is already, after all the committees, investigation, and ethnic/religious paintings and panting—wetin cause am, or is the raison d'etre an act of 'god'?

Do you remember the case of missing millions from the MINT Company, or whose fault is it that Farouk Lawal and Femi Otedola has become a forgotten case. I sincerely cannot blame anyone for forgetting, these things happen either too fast or too many of them occur that it is difficult to keep up—so wetin cause am?

The question, it is like a visit to your car mechanic, or the radio repairman on account of a problem, and when he is done, or while diagnostics is being done, you quip, “So wetin cause am”.

Nigeria and our problems are a case of wetin cause am, a big blame game, no one seems to be in accord as to what the root of the problem is, when we label it as corruption we are quick to re-label when the culprit is our sister/brother.

We blame the leaders, yet we do not run a monarchy, the leaders are thrown up from us. We blame followers, but really where do followers get the staying power to protest anything?

Wetin cause am, that a man whose governor is stealing blames the President, and if his local government chairman is stealing he blames his governor. A man would blame government if his wife is unable to conceive, and blame the police for his dog that refuses to bark.

Who really caused Boko Haram, how did kidnap creep into the Nigerian society, where did it all go wrong, why did it go wrong, when did it wrong, is it us, or them?

The ICPC seized 61 houses from an NSDC official, how did he get them, haba, a mere NSDC official, so imagine what some permanent secretaries would own, I know a governor that owns half his state, wetin cause am?

Have you noticed or wetin cause am, that once they are out of government most of our 'respected' leaders become 'activists', ask Dino, Rufai, Ribadu, Oby, even Obasanjo, they all criticize government and you wonder until those of us outside government, get in there, and then—'shuru' (Hausa word for silent).

Can anybody explain to me when Tambuwal or Mark cautions leaders, or the Sultan blames the elite what they really mean, how does one really understand Nigeria…a nation where a consumer that owes PHCN bill for six months castigates the utility company for supply, and the supply company charges another consumer for power not supplied at all.

It strikes me, no one ever says sorry in Nigeria, I mean tell when has a Nigerian leader past, or present, even in the future---whether councilor minister or governor said, “I am sorry it was my fault, I caused it, I could do better, I took the wrong counsel”.

No, we blame our political enemies, the opposition, the police, and army. Then we jump on the faith board, Muslims blame Christians, infact I asked a Christian friend if we should to blame Boko Haram for erosion in Rochas Okorocha's village, or how do we blame Christians for Fashola's deportation saga?

Wetin cause am, banks declare billions after tax profit, Aganga, Ngozi and co. tell us 'liebaran' stories of success quoting millions and yet we do not see like they do, or understand like them, it must really be that we are the problem.

Wetin cause am say all they do at the Revenue Allocation Meeting is share money, and the people never understand where the money goes…oops, it goes to 'their' mansions, luxury bulletproof cars, concubines and voodoo men/pastors/imans.

Though I cannot claim to be an expert I have been involved in many relationships especially break-ups and potential break-ups. In my experience a large percentage of the divorced people I've worked with primarily blame their partner for the breakup of their marriage.

In relationships, it is always the other person's fault; we are willing to justify ourselves. While there are always exceptions, it is rare that any one person is totally responsible for the failure of a relationship—or a conflict. There are rarely any totally innocent parties. We all contribute something in some way.

We see the "holes in their head" but can't see the meshing "bumps on our heads." When we do not do that, to ease the pain we blame ourselves, a case of we are all at fault.

I end by saying, we need to stop justifying ourselves and take a long, honest look at ourselves and resolve OUR problems, for us to have any hope of wholesome, and meaningful growth as a nation, as for now like the hungry child with stomach ache we are busy pointing at our head and complaining of headache, wetin cause am—only time will tell.

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