By Ochuko Arodovwe
When the Algerian psychiatrist and political philosopher Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) wrote _The Wretched of the Earth_ in 1961, just before his death, he used the book to interrogate the contrasting character of the quality of life of the settlers and natives, whites and blacks, colonisers and colonised, in pre-independent Africa.
He noted that the settlers were the privileged, the oppressors, the haves and the wealthy; while the natives were the wretched, oppressed, have-nots and depraved.
The “Nigerian Earth” is a microcosm of the larger earth Fanon referred to in his book. It is the geographical space that marks the boundaries of the Nigerian multi-national state. It includes the present 36 states and the federal capital in Abuja. Its land area is just below a million square kilometers.
Like Fanon’s earth, the Nigerian earth is home to two classes of people: the oppressors and the oppressed; the rich and the wretched; the victors and the victims.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth cut across ethnic, religious, occupational and territorial divides. They are victims of circumstances they did not device, recipients of life realities they never prayed for, and objects of callous actions of men they would never wish on their enemies.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth are the shock absorbers of maleficent economic and social policies of government, they are the unfortunate humans born into a society whose leaders and decision makers have no sense of humanity, with their conscience frozen in callousness, and who lack the simplest intelligence for governance.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth are those whose God-given wealth sustain the lavish lifestyles of their oppressors, at their expense! They are those who suffer malnutrition, while their oppressors seek medical help abroad to manage their obesities, due to overfeeding!
The wretched of the Nigerian earth is that graduate who has no job after 8 years stay in school for a 4-year course, thanks to ASUU strike; but whose low-performing class mate had three offers to choose from, just with a phone call by his privileged father to another privileged member.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth is that victim who must purchase a generating set to power his house, and queue for hours to buy fuel to run it; must contribute to hiring watchmen to guard his street at night; must sink a bore hole to get drinking water, and must drive through damaged and flooded roads. He is a victim of circumstances he did not device.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth has no where to turn. The world is against him, or perhaps, he is against the world, because he is angry 24 hours of the day. His anger has no object. He is just angry at everything, or maybe, angry with himself. He asks several questions not minding if there are no answers: “Why was i born”? “Why did I come into the world”? “Why did God do me such disfavour in allowing me come to the world to suffer”?.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth is a helpless human, full of envy. He envies the lavish lifestyle of his oppressor, but traditional morality forbids him from prying into another’s possession. But the envy of the wretched of the Nigerian earth is a justified one; for he knows within himself that if the playing ground were level, and the goal post had not been indiscriminately shifted, his oppressor would have had less and he would have had more.
The helplessness of the wretched of the Nigerian earth encourages thoughts of suicide in him. He wants to end it here and now. He considers that if life is a gift, then one should be free to do with his gift as he pleases, including thrashing it. His endless wait for a better tomorrow which may never be, has made living an unbearable, tiring trauma.
Death, for the wretched of the Nigerian earth is no longer an event to be feared, or guarded against; it is an end to be looked to with joyous enthusiasm. It is a terminus to this unexplainable puzzle called life.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth would jump at a visa of escape, to anywhere, just any option outside Nigeria. He seeks respite from his tiredness.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth seeks solace in the divine. He hurries to church, hoping for comforting information about the afterlife, its bliss and justice, a paradise which respects no social distinctions, where equality is the mantra. But alas, he is disappointed!
The church has no such information to offer. The building project is the central goal – what someone has recently called the ‘cathederalization of Christianity’. To be in good standing is to donate handsomely to the project. The pastorpreneur has no immediate interest in the otherworldly. Experiencing earthly paradise through maximum acquisition of what there is, is the priority.
And so, the wretched of the Nigerian earth discovers new oppressors in the supposed household of God. He is also not recognized here, since he is not the highest donor, indeed not a donor, for he has nothing to donate.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth is not only a victim, he is a victim who is blamed for being a victim. Despite such blatant accusation, he is unshaken in his conviction that he is innocent. He is, in his opinion, just an unfortunate victim.
But shouldn’t we interrogate the supposed innocence of the wretched of the Nigerian earth? Should his innocence be accepted at face value? Couldn’t he have been complicit in his unfortunate situation?
For instance, where was he when his mates were climbing the social and economic ladder? Where was he when his mates were forging certificates, inflating contract figures, diverting public funds, cutting corners, collaborating with foreigners to sabotage the system, etc. Where exactly was he? Perhaps, he was too principled, too forthright to join them!
Really? In Nigeria? Who does that? That may be the practice in sane societies where merit is rewarded and fraud punished, societies where decency is still of high value. But in Nigeria? No!
The rule in Nigeria is to make money at whatever cost: build mansions, purchase exotic cars, send the kids abroad, and establish businesses. With your financial security guaranteed, you can then join in pontificating and preachments of morality, including being a motivational speaker! That’s the way to go in Nigeria.
The wretched of the Nigerian earth, on this pain, deserves the blame for holding on to character and conviction, which though praise worthy, is inappropriate in the Nigerian context.
But wait a minute! Aren’t we being hard on the wretched of the Nigerian earth? He deserves commendation after all. He is a hero, the unsung hero of the future we envisage. He is the standard of future morality. He is the most far-sighted of his generation. He is ahead of his time. Justice is his to find, or perhaps, he does not even need to find it, for he is already an embodiment of justice.
The bottom line is self-evident. Nature is rational. It cannot be fooled. It has before hand determined the equalizing end to all men. In the great beyond to which all mortals are destined, there are neither rich nor poor, neither haves nor have-nots, neither privileged nor wretched, neither oppressors nor oppressed.
In that world, only character, which one imbibed while in bodily form on earth, distinguishes the one from the other, and mark the great divide between paradise and sheol. Herein lies the ultimate consolation for the wretched of the Nigerian earth!!!
