Nigeria having broken the jinx of colonization in 1960 by her
nationalists who fought selflessly to give their people better government where
all and sundry would be participant-contributors. But so hurriedly after
independent, the dream of unity in diversity became a nightmare with various
antecedent challenges that divide the nation rather than unite it.
Nigeria, being blessed with human and material-resources has
been working extensively to make sure that her neighboring states survive
through its foreign-policies which had benefited a lot of nations through being
membership to many international-organizations. A good example is the apartheid-regime
of South-Africa, Liberia-civil war, Sudan-unrest, and other memorable ones that
have defined the stand of the most populous black nation on earth.
According to Fasua, who opines in the ideas of Martin Luther
king Jr that “Nigeria, a self-styled giant of Africa with feet of clay, has an
innate capacity of self-destruction”.
Many nations applaud Nigeria, some even mock, but none is
ready to trail the path of her governance where citizens suffer in the face of
many with the spirit of suffering and smiling (what a nation)!. History had
given evidences of nations that start footing with Nigeria, but have incredibly
surpasses it in terms of development, better standard of living, reduce
unemployment-rate and delivery of services to humanity and recognize the rule of
law services with exemplary qualities from their various leaders.
A nation like Nigeria believed to be a land of hope for the
hopeless, voice for the voiceless turn to be the shadow of itself in many
sectors of its existence. A land where dreams of yesteryears, fissile away like
smoke with no destination. Women watch their spouses been killed in a broad day
light and their children been enslave in the modern style of lottery and
rampant insecurity of lives and properties.
Thousand fresh graduates are churned out annually to face the
reality of survival of the fittest with the common slogan of unemployment even
before graduation, for the few jobs available which the better part of these
jobs are exclusively reserved for the highest bidder.
The 54years old nation of ours, where thousands of its
workforce seek for greener-pasture even to places like Togo, Benin, Tunisia,
Ghana, Burkina-Faso with inhumane treatment meted to its citizens with little
or no action from its authority. Can we truly be defined as giant of Africa in
the face of abject, epileptic-power supply and majority of its people live less
than one dollar a day?
Let’s put on our thinking cap before nations that view us as
big-brother in Africa redefines us rather than the so called “Giant of Africa”
but ass the “Snail of Africa”.
God bless my dream land, and milk and honey shall flow in our
cities. It’s possible. I know it is.
By OSENI YUSUF
No comments:
Post a Comment