19/12/2025
We Block the Drainage, Then Blame the Government
Every rainy season in Nigeria comes with the same routine: flooded streets, stalled vehicles, ruined shops, angry citizens—and one familiar conclusion. “The government has failed us.”
That conclusion is lazy. And dishonest.
Yes, government has responsibilities. But so do citizens. And on the issue of blocked drainage, Nigerians are not victims. We are accomplices.
Walk through any street after rainfall. You’ll see gutters packed with sachet water nylons, food wrappers, plastic bottles, nylon bags, even household waste. None of these fell from the sky. Human beings put them there deliberately.
The irony is painful:
The same person who throws a sachet of water into the gutter is often the first to curse the government when flood enters their compound.
This isn’t ignorance. It’s attitude.
The rules are simple. Do not dump waste in drainage.
Not complex. Not colonial. Not oppressive.
Yet someone will finish drinking pure water and without shame drop the sachet into the gutter. Not because there’s no bin nearby. Not because they don’t know better. But because they don’t care.
And when that same person is fined or punished, suddenly it becomes “wicked government,” “harassment,” “this country is hard.”
We want order without discipline.
Development without responsibility.
Clean cities without personal sacrifice.
That is not how societies work.
We praise foreign countries for their clean streets, their functioning systems, their discipline. But we ignore the truth: those systems work because citizens obey basic rules even when no one is watching.
In many of those countries, you don’t need a policeman to stop you from littering. Shame, culture, and consequence already do the job.
In Nigeria, we resist all three.
We complain about flooding, yet we block water pathways.
We complain about poor sanitation, yet we throw waste anywhere.
We complain about enforcement, yet we break rul
