Lawyer turned musician Folarin Falana popularly known as Falz the bad guy has been trending online since last week for reasons I don’t know and was not interested in knowing. The amount of information overload on social media is such that one has to choose what he or she wants to know to avoid unnecessary distractions.
It was not until last Thursday that a colleague asked if I had heard or watched the latest song by Falz titled This is Nigeria and I said I had not. He showed me the video and after watching, it struck me why he has been subject of discussion in many circles online and offline.
The song is a sad commentary on the situation of the country which vividly captures the breakdown of law and order in every sector of our society and the sordid situation we have found ourselves as a nation.
The lines below from the controversial songs are indeed a true reflection of what our dear country has become:
This is Nigeria [yea]
No electricity daily oh [eh]
Young people are still working multiple jobs
And they talk say we lazy oh
This is Nigeria [eh]
There’s plenty wahala sha
Fulani herdsmen still dey slaughter
Carry people dey massacre
This is Nigeria
Bombs in my area, this is democracy
Political hysteria
Yahoo yahoo don tear everywhere now
And we act like it’s so cool
Casting the p and being castigated just for trying to be noble
This is Nigeria, look at my nation ooh
Sarz stop me for road, any explanation,
You go talk am for station oh
Falz reminds me of late Afrobeat, king Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who was more of a social crusader who sang many songs to campaign against injustice in the country.
Those in government and many others may not find the song funny. At a time we are trying to project a good image of the country and highlight the supposed dividends of democracy, Falz song underscores our motion without movement as a country.
Falz’s song questions the promise of change, but the lyrics are truths we have to live with and urgently do something about them.
How do we explain that indiscriminate killings and kidnappings by terrorists, herdsmen and other gangs of gunmen that has become the norm? Try as much as the security agents have, the killers have continued to have a free reign.
More than those we get to hear about, there are many unreported cases which make some parts of the country very unsafe more than ever before.
We are not at war, but we are having mass killings and burial. How did we get to this level of brigandage? Security men who are supposed to be law enforcement agents are the law breakers themselves.
In an explosive reporter’s diary last week, an investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo paid his way to Lagos and back to Abuja with a car without any required paper. At a point, a policeman who collected N20,000 from him advised that he should claim armed robbers took his bag when he is asked for his paper at the next check point!
Like Falz sang, This is Nigeria.
