“You realize that our mistrust
of the future makes it hard to give up the past”…Chuck Palahniuk (1962 - ) American Novelist and Freelance Journalist
Through a looking glass
If you
are privileged to hear what Nigerians are saying on the streets and local
gatherings, you may overhear random people say things like ‘I don’t like talking about Nigeria, because nothing is working’, nothing
works…really?
Actually,
nothing seems to work, and the system is in shambles literally, but we fail to
ask why, especially in creative ways.
Why?
Hmm, maybe its because our illiteracy level is at its all time high, perhaps we
don’t have enough exposure, maybe we’re generally not nice and we care less, or
possibly we just don’t see the bigger picture enough to realize that our
initiative is meant to align with virtue, realizing that although it is
important to be smart, but we need to look out more for emotional intelligence,
this gives room for our attitude also to play a big role in our relative
success types.
The future is there… looking
back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we would have become”…William
Gibson (1948) American fiction Writer and Essayist.
Breaking the glass
Poverty,
illiteracy, corruption, diseases and various man-made disasters massively
plague Nigeria and Africa by extension. Interestingly, the reasons, causes and
effects are not far fetched, meaning that they have visible and sustainable
solutions, but unfortunately there is either absence of the will power to
correct the anomaly, or a handful of highly placed people that are very corrupt
massively benefit from the rot.
Think
about it, Nigeria has bad roads, poor power, derelict hospitals, obsolete
housing, frail education and even the electoral body is not water tight, in
summary the institutions are weak and compromised, yet the rest of the world
gracefully approaches the next industrial revolution with poise and assuring
clairvoyance.
Look
at China for instance; they are already warming up to take over the world, if
they haven’t already, they even have the United States’ attention and are able
to threaten a trade war.
To
climb to the top in this new dispensation, one will have to step on toes and
heads, also causing massive economic casualties. The coast looks perfectly
clear for China to walk all over Africa, why? Africans have not equipped
themselves with enough knowledge to compete at the world stage, which has obviously
robbed them of their confidence and self-esteem, and to top it up, Africans are
massively corrupt, a perfect weak spot for China to leverage upon to become the
new colonial masters of Africa.
“The future depends on what
you do today”…Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Was an Indian activists who led Indian to independence against British rule.
Looking in the glass crystal
The
future is clearly in our hands, and for all that its worth, we might as well
say that the future is here and now, for what the future brings is what we set
our hands to do right now. So what is Nigeria doing asides wasting the time and
lives of her youth?
African
leaders have missed it by miles, all they want is money to acquire luxurious
material things to show off high class and separate themselves as elites from
the less privileged people, which of course shows to the world how much they
aren’t financially intelligent, guess what though, they haven’t realized that idea is the new currency.
Successful
nations all over are now run by young people with the ideologies of fortune 500
companies’ executives, realizing that a leader does not rule but rather becomes
a broker of knowledge, creating platforms and infrastructure for the citizens
of the country to bring their talents to the fore and blossom with the support
of the country’s resources.
Nigerian
youths are currently the highest users of the Internet, but most of the time is
used for profanity
While
the educated citizens copy the western world to predict their electoral future
through online polls, they fail to realize that the people that participate in
the polls abroad actually vote conveniently online in their comfort which may
be at home, in the office or the actual polling units, but back here in Nigeria
where the polling units are compromised without alternative voting systems,
decent people who want to vote will be afraid of intimidation or harm. It is
the fearless touts that actually vote and determine the future of the country, and politicians know that, which is why they
support them.
Education is our passport to
the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”…Malcom
X (1925-1965) American Muslim minister and human rights activist.
Beyond the glass ceiling
The
level at which women are being disregarded in Africa due to the lack of
acknowledgement of their enormous strength and will power is surprising,
demeaning and is ultimately counterproductive to our shared goals.
Women
in other parts of the world have shattered the virtual glass ceiling with their
amazing prowess and have perhaps inadvertently saved the menfolk from the brink
of annihilation through their top notch inventions, relevant discoveries and
their natural inkling to show the world what love and care is all about.
So, does Nigeria and by extension, Africa have
a glassy future or any future at all? Well, its not a yes or no answer, it
relies on a series of principles.
Women
and children must be recognized as major stakeholders in the society, new laws
must be enacted, the institutions must be restructured, education must be made
compulsory, accurate database of the citizens must be put together, nobody
should be above the law, goods must be produced and traded locally,
infrastructure must be provided (How hard can it be?) and Agriculture must be
made top priority to help diversify the economy, because as soon as we run out
of oil, Nigeria will be worse than Somalia. In the absence of all these, Nigeria
is ready to self-destruct.
Happy New
Year everyone, and do remember that the truth is out there, let it flow for
it’s the only shining light we need to tread in the darkness that surrounds us.
God
bless Nigeria, Africa and the World.
Thank
you, and be awesome because you
truly are.
Akin
Abimbola.
Twitter: @akinzogee
Facebook: Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola
Instagram: Akinzogee
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Sources: Brainy Quote, Google, Good
reads, Pattern Recognition, Survivor, 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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