De-sensitization
Malik Olamilekan Adeboye@adeboyemalikolamilekan580166
5 days ago
Sadly, in Nigeria today, pain has become so routine that it feels almost seasonal; expected, recurring, and quietly accepted. The ways Nigerians express their collective suffering have been reduced to music, viral content, and comedy skits that make light of real tragedy under the guise of empathy. But calling that empathy would be dishonest. It is, at its core, hypocrisy dressed in relatability.
This pattern reveals something more troubling: Nigerians have been desensitized. The constant exposure to suffering has bred not resistance, but adaptation - a dangerous complacency that has replaced the instinct to fight back against abnormality. Instead of demanding better from those in power, the default response has become quiet endurance, sustained by vague religious hope that things will somehow improve, without any concrete evidence or collective action to make that happen.
What is most concerning is that this desensitization has dulled the very instincts that should drive civic resistance. Recent events, particularly the abduction of young Nigerians coupled with the previous incidents in other states of the federation should have been the breaking point. A coordinated nationwide shutdown, even for just 48 hours, would have sent an undeniable message to the concerned public administrators.
The expected key bodies which however have the power to bring the country to a standstill in solidarity are:
🥢 NURTW/RTEAN- shutting down all road transport nationwide
🥢 Market Associations - closing markets and halting all commercial activity
🥢 Teachers’ Unions - suspending classes across public schools
🥢 Civil Society Groups - organizing street-level pressure and advocacy
Until Nigerians collectively refuse to normalize their pain; until solidarity moves beyond hashtags and skits into real, coordinated action; governments will continue to operate without consequence.
🤔Silence, no matter how creatively expressed, is still silence - it has never yield any positive results so far than to add to the pains.
OLAMILEKAN; Yoruba Conservationist 😷
