Today
1st October, 2013 Nigeria would be 53 years. If Nigeria is to be a man in a
relatively stable country, expectedly he must have acquired the basic
certificate or vocational experience good enough to make ends meet. He must
have gotten married and given birth, he must have attain a height such that he
would be respected in the community and religious circle, above all be looked
up to as a family head capable of shouldering responsibilities and be
independent.
But as it is today, can the same be said about
a nation where strike is the only option left for union workers' to press home their demands, where
some set of people derives satisfaction in killing others at ease. Where
citizens celebrate a minute of electricity and groan for the next one month. Where
millions of school graduate roam about without gainful employment. Where
corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation, where hospitals are
mere dispensaries, where people lives in abject poverty, where roads are death
traps and high ways are steer ways to heaven’s gate, where nothing works but government
officials continue to pay lip service and assurance, where the poor are getting
poorer and the rich get richer.
I recall with great concern lyrics off one of Nigeria’s
most successful albums by Fuji maestro, Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde K1 where he sang
“Africa is my fatherland, Nigeria is my country o . . .” Can we truly call this
country ours? How come we suffer so much in a country we call ours without
control? How come we live in abject poverty without any help? How do we get to
this very precarious situation as a nation? How do we find ourselves in what
resembles a “peculiar mess”?
My
father ones told me of how his generation enjoyed a scholarship in this
country. How commodities were sold at a cheapest price, how health facilities
were accessible, how roads were constructed and bridges built, how men married
as many wives as possible, how people walked freely without fair or panic, how
salaries, wages and arrears of workers were fully paid and on time. How
employers of labour scout for final year students in higher institutions and so
on. All these in this same country NIGERIA!
What story do I tell my children about
Nigeria? If a fool at 40 is a fool forever, then a fool at 53 is what?
The few privileged individuals ruling us in
the entity call Nigeria must have a rethink and lead us well. We are getting to
a point were people will no longer obey laws and order. A situation where
people will wake up to read in dailies how billions of public fund are
transferred into private personal account is not only irritating but provoking.
Nigerians are getting pissed of been oppressed by the ruling class and revolt
may come very soon if care is not taken!
From today, my radio and TV set is going to be
permanently off because I don't want to listen to all these prepared fake
assurance speeches from Mr. President and Governors who are practically not
ready to better the lot of the people. I take exception to deceptions!
May it please God Almighty to bless Nigeria
and change the face of the country for good (Amen).
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