WHY HAVE YOUR KIDS IN NIGERIA?

I've thought about it over and over and I can't help but agree with Falz's manager's advice that people should consider having their kids abroad instead of in Nigeria. Apart from the stigma of being born in a country with a not-so-nice reputation internationally, there are many other disadvantages to giving birth to a child in Nigeria.

Let's start from the beginning. When the woman is pregnant and it's time to deliver, there is lack of good roads and even transportation to get to the hospital. When you finally manage to get to the hospital, there will be insults from the nurses to the woman while the man is sent off to hunt for white cloth, hot water, blade, etc. Then talk of the fees for delivery (let's say you were responsible enough to prepare for that, but other eventualities will surely arise). If you manage to survive all that, and then finally get home, there are mosquitos and malaria waiting for you. If you did not purchase mosquito nets (which ought to be free), then the neighborhood mosquito association will invite mosquitos from other neighborhoods to welcome your wife and the new baby. 

Let's hope that your child and wife are still alive and healthy five years later. Then your child will grow up seeing epileptic power supply, bad roads, filthy environment, madness on the roads (especially if you live in Lagos), open defecation, irresponsible government, dead economy, meager minimum wage, unqualified teachers, illiterate headmasters/headmistresses, half naked girls and women who are exercising their rights to dress the way they like, lack of potable drinking water, police brutality, military brutality, extrajudicial killings, SARS harassment, pervasive corruption, etc. etc. Let's put patriotism aside and be frank with ourselves. This country is a psychological eyesore! It is ranked the 6th most miserable country on the planet. If your child is born here, he will have a life expectancy of 55 years! That's if SARS doesn't kill him first. There's also a high probability that he will live below the poverty line. Yes, I know. God forbid, right? But heaven helps those who help themselves. If your child, when he becomes an adult, lives and works (if he ever gets a sensible job) in Lagos, he will wake up at 4am, arrive home from work at 12 midnight or 1am. He will, due to lack of sleep, become irritable. He will quarrel and fight on the road; he will breathe exhaust fumes in traffic; he will (due to the state of the hospitals) engage in self-medication i.e. he will buy medicines in a region where 30% of all pharmaceutical products are fake; he will get married to a woman who will most likely spend a lot of his money on the wrong things; he will perhaps have to fend for members of his extended family and that of his wife; he will struggle with all the things you are currently struggling with and even more; and last but not the least, he will have children who will suffer all what he has suffered all his life! 

And one day, your child will travel abroad for the first time in his life. He will see how differently things are done and how almost perfect everything is and he will feel overwhelmed and out of place. He will walk like an agric fowl and will fall prey to fraudsters, swindlers and many others who will take advantage of him. When he comes back to Nigeria, he will go back to the crazy life that he's comfortable with and if he's unlucky enough to join politics, he will most likely lead the charge to make life more miserable for his people. And yes, the cycle continues.