I have lived in this country my entire life. I've never been away for more than a few months. Wherever I go, this is home. Therefore it's safe to say I know Nigerians like the back of my hand. One thing I know for sure is that there is a problem with our quality of reasoning.
I don't know where this deficiency in reasoning and thought comes from or how as a people, we became infected by it but it is pervasive & widespread & it has no restrictions in terms of age, gender, social status or educational background. It's everywhere.
I have had the opportunity of having an extensive discussion about this issue with @richardalijos and no matter how we try to find other reasons, we always circle back to this: there is a serious problem with the quality of reasoning & thinking of Nigerians.
If you are to observe this assertion closely within your family, circle of friends, colleagues and community, I have no doubt you will find that it's true. Though it may exist in varying degrees, it exists.
Nowhere is this poor quality of reasoning expressed than when it comes to issues of corruption, bad governance and especially crime & punishment. It is almost impossible to have a logical discussion about these topics without noticing how poorly we reason & think about them.
Discussions about crimes and punishment are even worse as that's when the deficiency in reasoning rears it's ugly head with no compunction whatsoever. We have a skewed, nay, sick view of crimes & punishment in this country.
When you're the victim of a crime there is an almost suffocating barrage of expectation on you to forgive the offender. If you are unfortunate to be in the midst of people with very low reasoning capacity, they may gaslight you into feeling like the offender for wanting justice.
It is therefore not surprising to hear some people making comments like "Dr. Boniface's reputation has been ruined" or "He may commit suicide cos of this." See? Poor quality of reasoning. No thought spared to the countless victims of his & other lecturers.
And let's assume you have the balls to accuse someone in a position of authority for wrongdoing, you are done for. In fact, some people would suggest that you show gratitude you were considered worthy of being offended by whoever it is that you're accusing.
After all, "the fact that he was harassing you is a sign that you are attractive and you should therefore be grateful he chose you out of numerous girls." It's sickening!
If you think the tables being turned on you to become the offender rather than the victim happens only in cases of sexual assault & harassment, you're dead wrong. In 2017 when my nephew was murdered & the suspect was apprehended, my cousins were at a police station to follow up.
A police woman pulled my cousin aside and proceeded to admonish her about forgiving the suspect. This lady had the gall to end her statement with "you're a woman like her. How would you feel if you were arrested & locked up for making a mistake?"
Let's just say it took the intervention of other family members to hold her back from choking the police woman. While such statements & selfish disregard for the feelings of victims of crimes is annoying, it doesn't shock me any more cos I sabi my people. They never disappoint.
Like I said earlier, I have no idea where this deficiency in reasoning came from or how we got infected so I have no answers as to how one can cure oneself from it but I guess empathy would be a good place to start.
If you suffer from a deficiency in reasoning & you blame people for being victims of crimes, don't think this long thread in some way absolves you cos I used the word "deficiency". That's just me being polite & not saying you're despicable & disgusting cos it would be rude.
