We shouldn’t be surprised about the high rate of criminality that has spread to every corner of the Nigerian society. It should be expected. It is what we all signed for, directly or indirectly. We are the creators of the evils we see in our society today. We have created the society we complain about. Recently, I was having a conversation with someone about how we have come to legalize corruption in Nigeria. We love corruption as long as it benefits us.

Nobody likes to work for money legally. We all love to be given money freely, without working for it. The politicians don’t see anything wrong in it when they spend the money meant for the masses on themselves. They see nothing wrong in diverting public funds into their private coffers. They don’t care who dies as a result of their greed. They don’t care who goes hungry. They care less about who gets sick. They live life at the expense of others.

Everyone of us is corrupt but we will always point fingers at someone. We glorify people who do bad things when we benefit and then turn around to tell people what should be done. There are some of us who even prefer internet fraudsters to patronize our businesses instead of people who make money legally. We are always happy when these fraudsters buy things above their normal price from us. It is not bad, as long as we are gaining.

We are a society that celebrate those who have money to throw around, even if they lack good character. We are a people that rate wealth higher than a good name. We despise people who make money legally and deify people who make money through corrupt means. On the internet, I have seen too much videos of young people killing fellow human beings to use them for money rituals. That is how bad our society has become.

Who are we to blame for this? The society, of course. All of us. We are all responsible for the decadence in our society. You can’t walk freely without looking around to be sure you are safe. People get kidnapped in broad day light and taken away to be used for money rituals. Students use their fellow students for rituals. Friends can’t trust themselves anymore.
Boyfriends use their girlfriends for money rituals. They call it Yahoo-Yahoo. Bad!

We have raised bad children who have now become a threat to us. We have heard cases of children using their parents for money. The desire to get rich by all means has taken our humanity away. This is brought about by a society that celebrates success without caring about the source and track record. As long as we respect only people who have money to spend, we will continue to experience this menace. Ritual killings will prevail as long as we respect people by the size of their pockets.

A society that doesn’t celebrate or encourage hardwork and productivity must have a lot of evils to deal with. As long as people are made to believe that life is all about money, we will keep living with crime: sleeping and waking up to it. If we keep birthing children in poverty, what do you think those children will grow up to become? They will become a pain in the ass. They will become a stubborn bone in the throats of the people. They will be tormentors of the society.

You can have any position you want in Nigeria if you have money. You can get any award if you have money. You don’t need to be a good person. You’ll easily get any title with money in your hands. And you think the younger generation are not watching? They are seeing everything. They know what we prioritize. You won’t even be recognized in religious institutions if you don’t have money, no matter how good you are. Who cares about a man without the papers?

What is currently happening in our society is our fault. Our religious institutions are part of the problem: teaching people to pray for miracle money even during working hours, instead of teaching people to provide value if they want to attract money. We have failed to let people understand that until you provide value, you can’t attract money. Value is a magnet that draws money. There is no magic to making money except through value creation.

These are things that some of our youths don’t understand. They want to spend money without contributing anything to the society. They want to make money without working. They want to live large without adding value.
And to do that, they had to resort to crime. This is why girls are disappearing on the streets. This is why young people are running mad. This is why ladies are being killed in hotels and their boyfriend’s houses. We have, indirectly, encouraged crime as a society.
And it is sad. And bad!