NIGERIANS...STAND UP!

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”…Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) was a British politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.

What is Nigeria all about…really?

Or maybe we should just simply ask, what is it about Nigeria? And with her constant negative scores, failing and falling face down for the entire world to see, why even bother her if she has yet to muster the required resolution to stand back up?

Think about it though, Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world with about 180 million intelligent and resilient people naturally spread within about 911 square kilometers inside a geographical terrain, which is the gulf of Guinea of West Africa, trust me when I concur with the intellectual gatherings that have superficially predicted that the next emerging ‘Einstein’ of Africa will be the one that can effectively capture Africa’s long lost historical chronicles.

“There’s something magical about putting yourself into life. You’ve got to stand up and take responsibility for your own life and cannot abandon that.”…Bill Kurtis (1940 - ….) American television journalist, producer, narrator and news anchor.

Potential Prospects

Nigeria is a prominent member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This inclusion only arose due to natural providence, which of course has the affinity to make a people complacent, and also creates a window that can make it more of a jinx than a blessing especially when the glaring potential is not maximized.

Currently, the Nigerian economy is in shambles due to her long dependency on US Dollar monitored oil. Corruption, non-diversification, lack of transparency and inaccurate accountability have proved that the proceeds were grossly squandered, stolen and mismanaged with massive cover-ups that have led to huge and nationally embarrassing scandals, leaving the leaders of tomorrow stunned and hopeless, bewildered of what the future holds.

“Nobody in Africa loves to be a beggar or a recipient of aid. Everywhere I go in Africa, people say, ‘when are we going to stand up on our feet?’”…Mo Ibrahim (1946 - ….) A Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire.

Apparent Future

Nigeria has a reputation for being corrupt and lacking basic infrastructure such as good roads, power, premium medical care, competitive education and lots more even with all the money she has.

The Nigerian society has also been massively criticized for accepting mediocrity over acumen, letting tribe and religion dictate her vision over the divinely set principles that govern the earth.

Little wonder there isn’t much left to admire of a great people as such even in the 21^st century.

How bleak can a future be, with an exponentially increasing population of unpowered and disempowered people that haven’t quite figured out an actual direction worth heading?

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”…H.G. Wells (1866 - 1946) Herbert George Wells was an English writer.

Incumbency

Yes you guessed it, Nigeria is broke and broken because we do not love her, and this is a clarion call to every Nigerian to pick up not just the broken pieces, we also must pick up ourselves, and then our work gear in order to really get to work and make Nigeria actually work.

We keep admiring America and all want to migrate there because the people are great, but we fail to realize that America is what it is because her citizens love their country and themselves.

Look at the recent Hurricane Harvey that caused huge flooding in Texas for instance, in response to the disaster, lots of volunteers have gone out of their comfort zones to help affected people, even risking their lives in the process.

Back in Nigeria, perhaps due to fear, police harassment, low self-esteem and apparent poverty, chances are we won’t go the extra mile to help the needy, we’ll only condemn them from afar, or even blame the poor victims for being unfortunate. 
Where is the love? That is really all that matters.

As usual, we just try to analyze the trends and share our view, and we do know that we definitely cannot thrash it all in one piece, else we'll have to write several books and start our own think tank. So till we meet again, happy sallah celebration to my Muslim friends.

Thank you and be awesome, because you are.

Akin Abimbola.

(akinzogee@yahoo.com, akinzogee@gmail.com)

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Sources: Brainy Quote, Britannica, Google, Good reads, Punch, Wikipedia,

This article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable opinion and a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.