How can you say something as awful
as that? That was the response I got when I declared to my friends, what I
believed then to be true, that Nigeria is on the highway to state failure. It
was on a typical “idle” afternoon in Angola hall, OAU and we were involved in
the universal pastime of Angola boys – “blind, directionless and intense
debate. I was a fresher, like my “co-brawlers” but I was clearly the youngest
and maybe a little too green when it comes to life experiences. This obviously
implies that my views were simplistic, idealistic and just plain naïve. (If by chance, you
are/were a resident of Angola hall, please take note of the last sentence in this
paragraph)
The problem was not because of what
I said. Rather, it was the fact that I had the guts to say it aloud....i think!. I pray “the
angel that grants prayers” (angeli ti n se amin! amin!) was not around
that day. History has taught us (at least I have learnt) that no political
contraption, regardless of its might, is eternal. Except what we believe
happened with Rome, Greece, Arabia, Persia and the other great empires/states
all through human history were all lies, I can say boldly that even the United
States of America has a countdown timer on its existence. Don’t ask me for the
time limit, only God knows. At least there are people alive who knew when China
was just a nation filled with short, white people with slit eyes who speak
funny, now they are a full fledged world power
What I really should have said that
day is that Nigerians are busy at work fast tracking our countdown to the ‘D-day’.
Having a president who appears unable to distinguish his left from right but is
still able to hold on to power seems to me a guaranteed promise of state
failure. A myopic national Labour union that only responds to fuel price hike
but has turned a blind eye to an industrial action which has, in all
appearances, paralysed the nation’s university education. Lecturers have now
taken to the streets partaking in “Aluta” like undergraduate students. The NYSC
just released another batch of graduates of which a good number of them will
increase the ranks of unemployed and under-employed citizens. A political class
who are unable or unwilling to make forward thinking decisions and make
progressive decisions.
I’m no doom watcher; it’s just that
as time goes by, it becomes more difficult for me to see the dim flicker at the
end of Nigeria’s present tunnel. I am well aware of the positive developments
that raise the banner of hope and fly the flag of faith in Nigeria’s brighter
future. A question I’d like each of us to answer and ask others is “how have I made
improvements in my immediate society and how can I make further improvements?” I
frimly believe that the moment we (Nigerians)get the right answer to this
question, that moment is the moment we start making real and solid progress
towards the ‘promised land’
N.B- I don’t
have an exact idea of what our promised land should be but it must include the
following:- free fair and credible elections that will bring in people of
integrity who have the brains and commitment to lead well; affordable quality
education; plenty of food; properly industrialized economy; poverty being
defined as inability to afford luxuries e.g. >1 cars and not inability to
afford necessities e.g. food; Nigeria being a real leader on the international
scene.
