OPINION: "NIGERIA IS NOT A ZOO".... By Frederick Odorige.

"A zoo as a "place where many kinds of wild animals are kept for the public to see and where they are studied, bred, and protected"....The Oxford Dictionary.

"The word is neither an insult nor derogatory in itself. A zoo is a very well organized place of interaction between humans and animals".



Many times, I wonder why people erroneously refer to Nigeria as a zoo.

Why? If you had visited a zoo before, you should know that a zoo has steady electricity supply, security, water, proper administration, reliable and regular feeding. How many people feed three times a day in Nigeria?

In a zoo,  animals have their separate cages with no accommodation problem. They are never over-crowded. Go to Lagos and see 7 persons living in a room and waiting for each other to use the same toilet and bathroom.
Nigeria needs N700b to provide adequate accommodation for her citizens.

In a zoo, animals of the same specie don't kill themselves. 21 Nigerians were killed within a month by untrained security agents under the guise of enforcing the covid-19 stay at home orders. In a zoo, security officers and visitors respect animal rights.

You cannot compare the steady electricity supply in a zoo with what thrive in Nigeria. The electricity in a zoo brightens and pumps steady water for its animals and comforts visitors.

With a land mass of 923,768 km² and an estimated population of 200m citizens, Nigeria produces around 4,000 mega watts of electricity which is rationed with currents not usually high enough to pump boreholes. This is followed with provocative estimated monthly bills and a conduit for political campaigns and the siphoning of public resources. Electricity in a zoo serves all animals. In Nigeria, if you do not have a generator or solar in your house, you are on your own.

Animals do not struggle for water in a zoo. In Nigeria, if you do not have a well or borehole, you are on your own.

 In every zoo there are steady medical facilities and veterinary doctors. Animals do not pay deposits before they are treated. Bigger animals are not flown abroad for treatment. Doctors could travel long distances to treat the animals.

The European Union stated that around 6,000 Nigerians have been killed since 2015. Over 12,000 persons have been displaced and villages razed. All over the world, in which zoo have you heard that 6,000 animals were killed or displaced?

Anybody could kill in Nigeria without restraint. Boko haram, bandits, fulani militias, ritualists, Special Anti Robbery Squad, political thugs, kidnappers, etc kill at will.

Are animals killed in the zoo like that? INEC, markets, Finances offices, have been set ablaze under suspicious circumstances. How many zoos have been razed by fire?

Against court orders, pro-democracy activists and Journalists have been unlawfully arrested and detained. Such persons include Omoyele Sowore, Nnamdi Kanu, Agbo Jalingo, Tunde Bakare, etc. Are animals unlawfully detained in a zoo? The cages in a zoo are constructed according to the natural habitats of animals. They are not in detention but in separation according to species to ensure mutual communal existence.

In a zoo, their borders are not porous. They are effectively and efficiently protected. Nigeria has over 1,700 porous borders. A zoo is mostly fenced with secured entrance and exit gates. No matter the conditions, young animals do not creep out of the zoo into the streets to beg for food. No animal is almajiri.

In a zoo, animals do not protest to break away in order to form another zoo. Animals of different species stay together in a zoo.

The Oxford dictionary defines a zoo as a "place where many kinds of wild animals are kept for the public to see and where they are studied, bred, and protected." The word is neither an insult nor derogatory in itself. A zoo is a very well organized place of ineraction between humans and animals. When you add 'zoo' to Nigeria and coin words such as zoogeria, zoological republic, etc, it does not add up. It does not make logical sense. Zoo is not a metaphor for any word, situation, people or country. Words do not have new meanings by mere syntax or wrong usage.

In terms of organisation, Nigeria could better be described as a wildlife; not a zoo.

The cambridge dictionary define wildlife as " animals and plants that grow independently of people, usually in natural conditions". In terms of organisation, Nigerians do many things independent of government. We mostly produce our water, electricity, security, etc. Some communities maintain their roads by themselves. Nigeria is not a zoo!

Nnamdi Kanu was wrong. Please quote what is right. Nigeria is not a zoo; and we the beautiful people, are not animals!!

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Frederick Odorige is the Founder and Global Coordinator of Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria, GCSDN.