Thread by @subomiplumptre

Money does not stop nonsense. Values do.

When you purchase peace of mind, efficiency or quality; when you use money to escape Nigeria, it's because of the excellence and results that the other party inherently supplies. 🧵

Your money didn't buy those things. It simply gave you access to better healthcare & education, good craftsmanship, an orderly society and quality goods & services.

From a systemic point of view, nothing in Nigeria stops nonsense. Despite deep seated historical issues, China has the production capacity to stop nonsense. Even New Zealand's government can do same. It beat an epidemic.

In Nigeria, it takes the courage, personal values and unusual work ethic of outliers to stop nonsense. Stella Adadevoh did.

We've almost come to expect nonsense in Nigeria - from the drama in Aso Rock, to the impunity in our legislative chambers, to even our religious communities. Excellence is the exception and not the rule.

Here is how Nigeria typically tries to stop nonsense. We boast about trains we didn't build and conduct COVID-19 tests with reagents we didn't produce. We claim self-sufficiency in crop production, omitting the foreign input in processes, equipment and management.

Other countries stop nonsense by first investing in education and then patiently waiting for homegrown products to bring their knowledge, skills and ingenuity to bear. They do so alongside skills transfer. They don't just buy the skills and hope for the best.

Instead, in Nigeria, we try to stop nonsense by presidential decree. Shior.

As the number of excellent Nigerians becomes disproportionately stacked against the corrupt, it will become harder for you to use money to attempt to stop nonsense. The excellent will choose who they work for. You may not be the highest bidder.

It is when your parent dies during a lockdown because they can't go for their next medical appointment abroad, that you finally realise your money doesn't have the capacity to stop nonsense. Nonsense will simply consume you.

#Nigeria #Corruption #Money #Wealth

Solution: People who selflessly love Nigeria and are excellent should come together to quietly participate in Politics. No noisemaking or grandstanding. Just strategic execution and results. For this is where money can really be put to good use to change a nation - politics.

You can throw money at poverty, bad healthcare, terrible education etc and the problem keeps getting bigger and bigger. One stroke of a political/policy pen can stop that nonsense in a few years. Too many countries with minimal resources have demonstrated this.

Every ideological movement is sustained by funding. People are bused to rallies. Merchandise is printed. NGOs are supported to lobby policies. No successful ideological movement endured without strategic funding and the brains of a strategic few.