I give up.

Yes, I give up on this country. Every day it keeps getting worse and it seems a hopeless situation now. I remember about this time last year, I was asking myself, “is there really hope for Nigeria,” and honestly, I was full of hope. Now fast forward to a year later I can’t say the same.

Truly I have given up and I’ll tell you why.

You must have heard that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but I’ll tell you this, what breaks your heart over and over again will surely kill you – and that is exactly what my relationship with Nigeria is like. An abusive one I must say, and I cannot come and kill myself especially not for a country that has zero regard for the life and welfare of its people. That said, let’s get into it for real.

Every day in the last couple of weeks, we (Nigerians currently residing in the country) have woken up to several disturbing news and the first I will address which is the most recent of them is the banning of bikes (Opay, Gokada, Max, etc.) and keke napeps in Lagos state.

Now while it is true that the duo above are steadily becoming a nuisance to many of us, they have actually helped with the transportation problems we have in the state. Not only are they cheap and affordable for non-car users, they are quick and can easily maneuver the constant traffic and gridlock we have been experiencing lately in the state. So, for the government to just suddenly up and announce that they’re banning them, and hear me out, without an alternative means of transportation seems utterly thoughtless. Of course, it is true that there are accidents on the roads involving motorcycles and the rest but banning them will not suddenly stop these accidents. If we’re to go by that logic, then trailers and containers should be banned as well since they cause accidents and are even more fatal. In fact, we might as well ban all vehicles since they also cause accidents, and does that make any sense? I’m sure it doesn’t if you really think about it.

Now what I believe should be the right approach (I’m open to your thoughts on this) is to find out why bikes and napeps are increasing by the day and becoming the go-to mode of transportation, and also find out the leading cause of road accidents. Having this information will act as a guide for the policy and decision makers to provide the appropriate solutions. The outcome of following this approach will definitely not end in one that will pose a challenge for non-car users to transport themselves from one point to another.

Another approach can be to gradually phase them out whilst simultaneously introducing an alternative or to immediately roll out an alternative mode of transport and cancel out the bikes and napeps. Point is, there should always be an alternative or a backup plan when huge changes such as these are to be made. A problem cannot be solved by creating another problem or to put it better, you cannot consider a problem solved if it creates another problem. Unfortunately, that seems to be the order of the day in this country and I am tired.

I give up.

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