Nigeria has clocked 57, but what is there to celebrate? At
Independence in 1960, who would have thought that liars, criminals, crooks and
charlatans would have been the ones running the affairs of the country. It is
harmful and dangerous that Nigeria has been led by leaders without vision and
conviction.
Are their
cogent views for celebrating Nigeria at 57?
Nigeria's existence has been faced by the crass and almost
irredeemable foolishness of her leaders. I know Rome was not built in a day,
but there was a systematic, sincere and conscious effort to build Rome.
Malaysia, Cyprus, Singapore have by far surpassed Nigeria when it comes to
political, economic, educational, technological, institutional indices, where
are we today? Be the judge.
Nigerians go to bed without food. Ask me what we are
celebrating, and I say it is sheer-mediocrity. Why should I celebrate when
people go to bed with one eye widely-opened? Why should I celebrate when the
poor are getting poorer and the rich richer? Why should I celebrate when our
hospitals are death traps? Why should I celebrate when we are more divided than
ever? Why should I celebrate when corruption is a way of life? Why should I
celebrate when strike has remained a national convention? Why should I
celebrate when people are killed and kidnapped with reckless abandon?
So far, it has been a tortuous journey. Many analysts have
described Nigeria as a big contract up for grabs. For me, I am not happy and
cannot say "Happy Independence" to you, rather it is a time to pause and
ponder, pray for the state of things to change in Nigeria.
Nigeria at 57 is a nation bedeviled by a plethora of
challenges. Despite the abundance of human,
material and natural resources, Nigerians are still suffering.
Nigeria at 57 and I say that the country has lost her moral
compass. A country enmeshed with wrong doings. If we keep eulogising wrong doings,
we would create a cloudy environment that would make it extremely difficult for
the next set of generation leaders. Bad leadership bordering on ethnicity,
religion have been the deceptive problem of this country and we should not
allow it to continue. The country is 57, but we have failed as a people to lay
the necessary foundation for the country's developmental progress. The country
in yearning for change needs political integrity coupled with effective
leadership style and to ensure that anyone in the corridor of power has a clean
state of selflessness and integrity to run the affairs of the country.
Nigeria at 57, the country has been raped, bruised and
sapped. We are just drifting like a balloon in the ocean without an anchor
chain. For me, I am not in any way carried away by the chants of change. Indeed,
it is all sound and fury, signifying nothing - apologies to Shakespeare. True
change will come when we have fresh brains, fresh ideas and for now, we have to
wait for a true change. The promoters of change can only shout change to pay
lip service to the attitudinal change required to bring about the real and
enduring change. They sold dummy to Nigerians and we need the true face of
change to move forward. Since our return to democracy, to us it is still nascent;
we have continued to move at the speed of millipedes while the rest of the world
has gone supersonic.
Today, economic and social lives are decrepit and a larger
percentage of the populace are faced with grinding and excruciating poverty. A
school of thought believes that 57 years is but a short time in the life of a
nation. Do you agree?
We have to move forward because sycophancy rules the public
space in Nigeria. It is obvious that Nigeria remains a hopeless orphan with no
one to salvage her from the jaws of killer whales called politicians.
Whether we restructure, re-strategise, redirect, re-process
or rearrange the country, we can't look away from the fact Nigeria is today
suffering from the symptoms of misrule of bad breeds, deficient in moral and
good characters.
Conclusively, Nigeria is living dangerously with the state of
her affairs and the auguries for the future are not in any way encouraging.
Just saying it the way it is. GOD Bless Nigeria!
*Chris Uruakpa contributed this from Lagos
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