I remember when Abdulkareem Adisa (he was works minister then), visited Nnewi. He was at a particular street which wasn't tarred - and these were his remarks;

"Look at all their big big houses, they are waiting for Adisa to do their roads".

This happened more than 20 years ago, and it revealed to me that even those in positions in authority in Nigeria fundamentally misunderstand the concept of a "social contract".

The more you do cover for government's incompetence, the less responsible government becomes.

People say we should "build a community, independent of the state" - but they forget that doing that, just leads to even more irresponsible public servants.

Imo State people contributed money to build an airport, did that result in a more responsive government? No.

I live in an estate, I pay a certain amount each month in estate dues. This runs the estate and pays for security. I can see my money at work.

I have absolutely no idea what the local government chairman does, or how he adds value to my life.

We often forget that the collapse of the local government system in Nigeria is a major (not the only) contributor to the emergence of militant/terrorist groups like Boko Haram.

As I type, IPoB is taking advantage of the lack of local government to build a movement.

Some say we "should continue doing what we are doing";

I.e. continue to pay out of pocket for public goods, while paying tax to a government that essentially does nothing for citizens.

Let me warn, we aren't "building a nation", we are building several nations.

To bring this home;

All sorts of actors are involved in "community building" in Nigeria.

As government retreats from provision of public goods, this space will be occupied by variety of actors - some motivated by religion, others focused on separatism.

We will continue to pay for public goods, out of pocket - out of necessity.

But let us not fool ourselves, we are not "building a nation", we are merely hastening the demise of one.