“There is no
country in the world with the diversity, confidence and talent and black pride
like Nigeria”…Binyavanga Wainaina (19 - ) Kenyan author and Journalist. 2002
winner of the Caine prize for African writing.
Our Dear
Nigeria!
Lets kindly take a minute to close your eyes,
firstly to pray for the countless, innocent souls that have passed away as a
result of the (avoidable) unnatural disasters that have plagued Nigeria for as
long as we can remember, especially due to apparent organizational sloppiness
and obvious (deliberate) ignorance. Secondly, please lets shut our eyes in
order to visualize the prevailing Nigerian scenarios both historically and
systematically, so that as humans, we can actually understand and appreciate
where we stand.
Historically, the very foundation of the
great country called Nigeria has been controversial on many fronts. Some say
her 1914 amalgamation was a ‘forced marriage’ and was always destined to fail
because a certain group of people simply put her together with an unwavering
ulterior motive in their minds.
Well, I think it’s a little too late to cry
over mistakes of the past, the point now is what does the future of Nigeria
hold?
Asides being the most populous African
country and the most populated dark skinned (Negro) nation, Nigeria is the most
culturally diverse country in the world, with over 200 languages, tribes and
thousands of cuisines that spread proportionately across the country. It will
indeed be such a shame if Nigeria cannot take advantage of the world acclaimed
situation and make the most of her peculiar position of superficial strength,
which is undeniably rare.
“Employment is
world slavery”…Sunday Adelaja (1967 - ) Founder and senior pastor of Embassy of
the blessed kingdom of God for all nations.
Mental Slavery
International news constantly paint negative
pictures about Nigeria and Africa in general, citing poverty, illiteracy and
corruption as the bane of her development and the content of her heart, whereas
they are the ones that imperiled her to slavery, and also massively exploited
her land, people and valuable mineral resources.
The minds of the elders and the leaders have
been literally poisoned and their heads turned against each other. Africa has
been strategically confused with religion, and her brains stirred with dirty
politics and clandestine missions.
Have you not thought about it? Maybe it is a
stigma or a reversed psychology of sort, or perhaps Africa just needs a radical
paradigm shift.
When the westerners come to Africa, they come
to strike deals, invest capital, build businesses in a bid to cash out big time,
possibly exploiting the system, and we refer to them as expatriates. Meanwhile,
when Africans go to western countries, after scaling the hurdle of acquiring
visas and unfriendly immigration processes, they are being referred to as
immigrants and are usually been explicitly shown racial bias first hand before
eventually been deported, what irony.
“No
economy can tolerate the level of corruption seen in Nigeria without
consequences”…Yemi Osinbajo (1957 - ) Nigerian lawyer and politician who is
currently the Vice President of Nigeria.
Corruption!
No doubt this topic truly holds Nigeria and
by extension, Africa by the throat or even by the jugular if you may, but the
question we should be asking is why? Why would a country of around 200 million
people have such a massive population of poor and illiterate people, consisting
of misguided adults, restive youths, handicapped kids, sick multitudes,
disadvantaged and abandoned old people, while on the other side we have a hand
full of privileged so called elites that are not only greedy and ignorant in
their shallow minded quest for vanity ridden material acquisitions that stink
of corruption, they really don’t care what happens to the masses, unbeknownst
to them, the masses hold the secret power to the future.
Well, the answer is simple, basic amenities.
Nigeria has been deprived of good roads, hospitals, power, quality education
and all aspects of the public sector because there are loopholes that have
sparked huge corruption.
If basic amenities are available, crime will reduce
and the country can move to the next level of development and civilization.
“I am
convinced Nigeria would have been a more highly developed country without the
oil. I wished we’d never smelled the fumes of petroleum”…Wole Soyinka (1934 - )
Nigerian playwright, poet and essayist. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize for
literature, the first African to be honoured in that category.
Virtue of
Initiative!
Are we going to continue being the same old Nigeria that the whole world
knows as corrupt and misguided people and also disparages, or are we ready to evolve into a much greater
version of ourselves? The kind that the whole world will regard and admire.
It is imperative, and really up to us, for the sake of the future generation,
and so that our names and legacies will not be dragged in mud, but rather be
held up high with pride, and remembered as a model of inspiration destined to
achieve higher feats.
Well, my school of thought is that the power
is really in our hands, and it is up to us to constructively criticize the
situation and find actionable solutions for our emergency situation. We say the
responsibility lies in the hands of the government, but we are the government.
If our will power is strong enough, coupled with true knowledge and honest
intentions to tackle the difficulty, we simply need to chart a properly defined
course, and victory starts to manifest.
Arise and shine, new Naija.
God bless Nigeria, Africa and the world!
Thank you, and be awesome because you truly are.
Akin Abimbola.
Twitter:
@akinzogee
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Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola
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Sources: Biographical, Brainy Quote, Google, Good reads,
Nobelprize.org, 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 fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely
co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.
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