What You Get is What You Sign, What You See is What You Get
Sign Carelessly, Sign Your Poverty – Ignore The Red Flags, Inherited Their Chaos
By Preye V. Tambou
10th September, 2025
In politics, business, professions, and our daily lives, two truths stand taller than excuses: what you get is what you sign, and what you see is what you get. You cannot escape the agreements you make, and you cannot deny the reality you face. Life does not give you what you wish for, it gives you what you agreed to and what you refused to ignore. They are the laws of accountability and until we begin to respect them, nations will remain poor, businesses will collapse, professions will be ridiculed, and individuals will live in cycles of regret.
Again, in boardroom, marriage, contract, and leadership agreement, there are two principles that never fail: what you get is what you sign, and what you see is what you get. These principles may sound simple, but they define the difference between success and regret, between empowerment and exploitation, between nations that rise and those that collapse.
Every decision, dotted line, agreement, and commitment carries consequences. Too often people rush into partnerships, contracts, marriages, and even friendships without carefully weighing the terms. Later, when reality strikes, they cry foul. Truth is: you signed it literally or figuratively. Silence is a signature. Indifference is consent. If you fail to define the terms of your future, someone else will, and you will still be bound by it.
Life rarely lies. Red flags, warning signals, cracks in the wall are not decorations. Human beings are masters at ignoring what is inconvenient to accept. When you see corruption, dishonesty, carelessness, and mediocrity and you choose to ignore it, don’t be surprised when the outcome reflects exactly what was in plain sight. Many leaders pretend problems are invisible; many individuals convince themselves they can “change” what is clearly broken but ignoring reality is not wisdom, it is self-deception.
We see dishonesty in a leader, yet we convince ourselves that power will “change him.” We see irresponsibility in a partner, but we pretend love will “fix it.” We see inefficiency in a system, but we whisper that “it will get better with time.” No, it won’t. What you see is what you get.
A corrupt politician in campaign season will be a corrupt politician in office. A careless business partner before profit will be a careless business partner after profit. A friend who disrespects you in private will humiliate you in public. Do not expect mangoes from a thorn tree.
Reality does not disguise itself; we disguise it. When the outcome arrives, we call it “betrayal” but in truth, it is simply the harvest of what we refused to see.
Together, these truths remind us:
Choices today determine results tomorrow.
Agreements are not just papers, they are destinies.
Denial never changes reality; it only postpones the consequences.
A nation that signs bad policies will inherit poverty. A business that signs unfair deals will inherit exploitation. A person who signs toxic relationships will inherit heartbreak. When people combine careless signatures with deliberate blindness, destruction is inevitable. When societies consistently repeat this cycle, they sink into chaos, blaming everyone but themselves.
Governance: The Ballot is a Signature
Citizens often cry out against bad governance, corruption, hyperinflation, a naira in free fall, epileptic power supply, insecurity, failed systems, personal frustration, and leaders who live like kings while citizens starve, as though these evils fell from the sky. The truth is simple: what you get is what you sign. Elections are signatures. Silence in the face of rigging is a signature. Selling your vote for rice, wrappers, souvenirs, tokenistic gestures, and promises you know cannot stand is a signature.
When a corrupt man campaigns with arrogance, an incompetent woman waves slogans instead of policies, and you still sign your approval on the ballot, what exactly did you expect? Good governance from bad soil? Progress from leaders who cannot manage their own homes, let alone a country? What you see is what you get.
The signs are always there yet citizens pretend blindness. Then four years later, they weep as if deceived. Nobody deceived them. They saw, signed, and got.
Yes we sign with our votes, sometimes freely, sometimes sold for a bag of rice, N5,000, or a promise of “youth empowerment.” We sign with apathy when we say “politics is dirty” and refuse to participate.
The result? We elect leaders who never had a plan, who see government as a money-sharing scheme, who remove fuel subsidy overnight without cushioning measures, and then ask citizens to “tighten their belts” while they expand their convoys. Nigerians saw these things during campaigns: the arrogance, recycled promises, and empty manifestos but they signed anyway, and now the people cry foul. What you see is what you get.
Corruption: The Contract We All Sign
Corruption thrives not just because of politicians but because of professionals and citizens who sign it into existence daily. The engineer who certifies a collapsing bridge, lawyer who twists the law to free the guilty, doctor who abandons patients for private gain; these are signatures.
The fact remains: corruption in Nigeria is not just at Aso Rock but everywhere. Corruption is national Co-Signature. The uniform men who receives and the pilots who gives bribe en-route. The contractor who collects billions for roads but delivers potholes. The teacher who sells grades. The student who offer greek-gift for grades. The comrade who monetises activism and unionist who turns pressure groups into their cartel and personal aggrandisement. The doctor who abandons public hospitals for private gain. The civil servant who inflates contracts and the customs officer who takes bribes at the border. Again, these are all signatures.
We see the rot and call it “normal.” We see the looting daily: we see stolen billions dressed in agbada, paraded as philanthropy and call it “smartness.” We see criminals celebrated at our weddings and call them “big men” and convicted criminals welcomed back with chieftaincy titles. We see corruption, clap for it, dance with it, and even defend it on social media. Then tomorrow, we cry about bad roads, collapsed hospitals, and poor schools. Let’s not pretend: we are not victims, we are co-signatories. We signed these things into existence. The harvest of this negligence is everywhere: unsafe roads, poor drainages, abandon borehole waters, failed hospitals, collapsed buildings, underdeveloped communities, and universities reduced to glorified secondary schools.
Business and Profession: The Fine Print Never Lies
In business, too many professionals sign contracts without reading the fine print, only to scream exploitation later. We cut corners, sign blind contracts, and then cry about being cheated. Entrepreneurs partner with people whose greed is already written on their foreheads. Civil servants and professionals inflate invoices, deliver trash, and call it “managing.” Clergyman turns prayer house into house of thieves and profit-making enterprise. Employees ignore the terms of service but complain about “oppression.” What follows? Failed businesses, mistrust in Nigerian products, and capital flight as investors flee to saner climes.
If you signed carelessly, you signed your poverty. If you ignored the red flags in a partner, you inherited their chaos. Business is not charity; it is law. You get what you sign. You get what you see.
Personal Negligence: Silence is Consent
In our personal lives, we see red flags every day but ignore them. Negligence is a signature too. You see dishonesty or questionable character in a spouse-to-be but convince yourself “marriage will change them.” You see laziness in yourself but hope “time will fix it” and you keep waiting for human promises and praying for breakthrough instead of working. You see injustice on the streets but keep quiet, saying “e no concern me” and thinking silence makes you safe.
It does not. That negligence is a contract. Nigeria pays for it collectively. Insecurity thrives because communities keep quiet. Inflation persists because we tolerate abuse of power. Our destiny is not stolen, it is signed away, by each silence, compromise, and shrug of the shoulders.
Our silence is a signature and signatures have consequences. A people who sign away their rights will get oppression. A man who signs away his self-respect will get abuse. A woman who signs away her standards will get heartbreak.
The Hard Truth
Nations do not fail by accident. Businesses do not collapse out of nowhere. Lives do not fall apart by magic. They fail, collapse, and fall apart because people saw the truth, ignored it, and still signed the lie.
Nigeria is not cursed. Nigeria is not doomed. Nigeria is a mirror. What we see is what we get. What we sign is what we inherit.
When we elect corrupt leaders, we inherit corruption. When we celebrate thieves, we inherit poverty. When we ignore injustice, we inherit oppression. When we compromise in business and profession, we inherit failure.
The truth is bitter but clear: Nigeria is a product of Nigerian signatures.
So the next time you want to complain about your leader, business partner, profession, community underdevelopment, constituents abandonment. and even your personal misery, look closely at your own signature. Did you sign it? Did you see it? Then stop pretending you were ambushed by fate.
Straight on, it is time to stop pretending. The ballot is a signature. The contract is a signature. Silence is a signature. What you see is always what you get.
If nations want change, citizens must sign wisely. If businesses want sustainability, professionals must sign responsibly. If individuals want peace, they must stop signing lies and ignoring red flags.
If Nigeria must change, we must first change our signatures. We must stop signing away our votes for crumbs. Stop signing silence in the face of injustice. Stop signing mediocrity in our professions. Stop ignoring the red flags that are always there.
Life is not a mystery. It gives you exactly what you signed for and shows you exactly what you chose to see. Nothing more, nothing less.