Background Noise
Today felt like one of those days where the reality of this country just hits you in the chest.
I was waiting for a bus when a man asked me for water. I did not have any, and honestly I did not want to give money either. Someone handed me a Coke instead, and since I was not going to drink it, I gave it to him.
After taking a sip, another woman nearby asked him for some.
He gave her the bottle immediately.
I asked if he knew her.
He said no.
Later on, I saw people struggling to climb into the back of a Hilux just to get home. Fuel queues everywhere. Then right beside all of this, campaign banners asking for another term.
That contrast stayed with me.
Not because poverty is “new” to Nigerians. We see it every day. Maybe that is the problem. We have seen it so long that scenes which should shock us now feel normal.
People should not have to struggle this hard just to move around, eat, survive, or hold onto dignity.
And yet every election cycle, many people disengage because they think their vote does not matter.
It does.
Get your PVC.
Even if you are tired.
Even if you are angry.
Even if you think nothing changes overnight.
A country only gets better when the people inside it stop treating suffering like background noise.