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1. My dear son, today I want to address a fundamental issue. It’s so fundamental it’s affecting our approach to governance. You see, we have a choice. It’s either we run a country, or we run a nation. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS 
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2. Running a country is about administrative chores – files, bureaucracies, meetings, parastatals, memos, departments, mindless directives... Running a nation on the other hand focuses attention on the people. There’s empathy. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
3. You can run a country and not a nation, and we seem to have a predilection for ablutions of governance to the detriment of concern for the people, whereas it ought to be about the people. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
4. If it’s about the people you won’t go through hoops trying to collect your passport at the passport office. If it’s about people, our universities won’t be in their current state. Our public universities are practically run down. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
5. Nigeria is no more a landmass than a corporation is a building. Subtract the people from the equation and there’s nothing left. Just stones and dust, even darkness. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
6. If we were focused on people, we won’t be at the impasse we’re in. The average young person doesn’t feel his country cares for him or her. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
7. Where’s this people problem coming from? Perhaps two sources. The first is the psychological posture of the average political office holder. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
8. He strangely sees himself as lord and master, not a servant of the people. It’s what informs the language of communication, the tone of communication. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
9. There’s so much talking at, talking down to, talking from a distance, talking from on high, even talking in the third person, like royalty, though legions of demons also talk in the third person, or even not talking at all. There’s so much condescension. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
10. When last did you have a discussion with your representative? Do you even know him, or her? And yet he’s supposed to be representing you. He doesn’t feel beholden to you because you don’t control his fate. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
11. The electoral system is gamed. He’s rather beholden to his party leadership. We don’t really run a representative democracy, we run a misrepresentative democracy. It’s why there’s a huge psychological gap between the government and the governed. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
12. The second source of this problem is the value we place on the Nigerian life. At the state level it doesn’t seem much. Perhaps because we’re so many. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
13. We have a fair idea of the value placed on lives in foreign countries. We have a fair idea of the value placed on a British life for example, or a Canadian life. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
14. It’s determined by the level of investment in social services – education, healthcare systems, etc. Look at how they negotiate with other countries when their citizens are involved. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
15. If we place value on lives there’ll be no “area boys.” Area boys are the children we left to fate. Their increasing number indicate our increasing negligence. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
16. The reason medical tourism is growing is because we have a paucity of investment in healthcare. India makes about $200m from Nigerian patients annually, may be higher. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
17. According to http://un.org"> http://un.org 40,000 Nigerians visited India in 2015, half of them for medical reasons. We don’t have 2019 figures. But what about those who can’t afford to travel abroad for treatment – what’s the value of their lives? #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
18. We executed criminals by firing squad in the 1970s and 1980s, and gleefully published the gory imageries on the front pages of our newspapers. The Bar Beach was notable for such executions. Bar Beach is now Eko Atlantic. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
19. These were public spectacles. I theorize they bastardized the psyche of a generation. We lost appreciation for the value of life. The violent snuffing out of life became entertainment. We became Romans. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
20. We need to place the people at the center of our policy design. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
21. Our underinvestment in social services is becoming too expensive for us. Look at the cost of security alone, both at the retail and wholesale level. It’s how we ended up with the SARS problem. Our defenders became our abductors. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
22. You want more evidence of the poor value we place on lives? Look at our bad roads, the poor supply of electricity, absence of potable water, poor street lighting and poor road markings. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
23. Look at our poor emergency services, open drainages, the persistent menace of malaria, life endangering road blocks, lack of due process, overcrowded awaiting trial list, ignominy of zebra crossings, open abattoirs… The list goes on and on. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
24. Our philosophy of governance is literally killing us. It’s time to rethink our policy design. It ought to be about the people, not a country. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
25. When your generation gets into government, remember the people. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
26. Your Dad, LA. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">
