Opinion

‘Na You F*ck Up!’

July 20, 2019
1:56 am

It was a simple tweet but what followed is a sad reminder of the loss of values that has made our country what it is today as we continue to build what my friend Bolaji Abdullahi described as a “nation of hustlers”. First, the tweet: “I lost my teaching job today (32K) where I teach (Maths and F/Maths), because I refused to assist the students in the exams hall (during NECO) having taught them very well…”

Aside looking for another job, the man was obviously expecting kind words and to be sure, he got not a few since Nigerians are basically good people. But he also received many negative responses and these are what interests me because of what they say about how far our country has degenerated. One of the respondents, who probably felt disappointed that a teacher would refuse to help his students to cheat in an examination, wrote: “You should have helped them though, you put yourself into this.” Another one came with a sharp rebuke: “If I had a good job waiting, I won’t employ you for this tweet.” Now wait for this ‘do-gooder’ who had a similar experience: “I remember my Account teacher also refused to do this for our WAEC then and I ended up teaching the whole students offering that subject that day.”

Of course, not all those who were critical were unsympathetic going by this response laced with a dose of ‘realism’ about the environment under which the teacher was operating: “Sorry about that but it’s your fault…it’s not a bad option assisting students. We are in Nigeria.” I bet “We are in Nigeria” says it all. That point was made even more eloquently by the next respondent: “Are you a good teacher when your students fail? I got my current job through the help of a parent I taught the ward some years back…the ward is in FUNAAB (Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta) now doing fine. My dear, don’t let us deceive ourselves. You should have pushed…”

In case there are people out there who still cannot decode what ‘pushing’ means, the next person minced no words: “You should have just assisted them. Now, what have you gained? African teachers are terrible and just love to see students fail exams.” The last response I read before I stopped was the crisp title of this piece: ‘Na you f*ck up!’