Once upon a time in Nigeria

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, Nigerians were able to travel overseas without a visa and 1 dollar was equivalent to 1 naira. 53 years down the line it is a different ball game all together. In fact we don’t only apply for visas; we have to pay a bond of 3000 pounds to enter the UK. What went wrong? What happened to the platform that was set by our colonial masters? We must have learnt something from them, at what point did we drop that lesson? For us to have gotten independence I believe that’s because we were mature enough to take care of ourselves.

I would like to paint a scenario with a family. Children who are declared to be independent adults at the age of 18, can move out of their parents’ home and begin the journey of self-discovery and fulfilment. What really can we say is the role of the parents in the lives of these children at this point? Let me try to answer that; it is prayer, giving them guidelines and monitoring them from a distance. But can they force them to follow those guidelines? No! Will the parents be blamed when the children fail in life? Yes! But is it solely the fault of the parents? NO! As a matter of fact children with the worse parents can turn out the best citizens. There are lots of instances that will attest to that.

I look at Nigeria (and by that I mean we the citizens who make Nigeria) as the child, and our leaders are the parents. I am yet to be a parent but I know it is the toughest job in the world. We may not have had the best upbringing, given the best education, provided with the necessary resources and basic amenities by our parents (leaders) but we can decide to use the little we have to bring about the change we desire. Why do we keep pushing blames then? That is because it is easier to do.

Please I urge you not to misunderstand the point of this article. I am well aware of what is going on in the country; and that it makes us feel better to curse and swear. Someone said earlier today that cursing Nigeria at 53 for its lack of achievements is like cursing your father on his 53rd birthday for not being as rich as Dangote and the likes. My point here is that if they can’t do anything about it, let us join our hands together to bring about the change we seek after all Love, Peace and Unity start from the individual. I wish you all a Happy Independence day celebration