Thomas Abi Jr|29 September 2015|4:20am
As Nigeria turns 55, I have asked myself so many questions and have not been able to get an answer. How did corruption eat into us like a wild cancer? How did we allow greed and selfishness enter our DNA? How did deceit and lack of patriotism become our attitude and way of life? Who is responsible for Nigeria's problem? How did we arrive at this mess where we are ranked back ward and a 3rd world nation after 55 years of freedom?
When Nigeria gained independence 55 years ago, my late father was just 10 years of age and he birthed children who now have their own children. So why at 55 years, Nigeria is still called a 3rd world nation? Why is everything crumbling? Why are we deconsolidating instead of consolidating? The truth is, we are all corrupt. We think less of our nation and struggle towards amassing for our stomachs and pockets. We can not grow if we think less of our country. Nigeria can not progress when a few are only thinking how to steal, loot and defraud the over 170 million Nigerians.
It is rather unfortunate that corruption has become the signpost of Nigeria's image, globally we are known as a corrupt nation. A nation where stealing is not corruption. A nation where corrupt men and women are revered as elder statesmen, a country where looters of our common patrimony are celebrated. A nation where people are not recognized for their intelligence or their content and character, but a nation where people are celebrated by the number of cars or houses they have without asking questions how they arrived at the sudden ill gotten wealth. That is the country I have grown to know and the country that has being in existence in the last 55 years.
As Nigeria marks 55 years, for me there is nothing to cheer and merry about. Are we going to celebrate the number of our country men and women that are constantly slaughtered by Boko Haram. Are we going to celebrate the endless Bomb Blast that has taken over our nation. Are we celebrating the over 200 Chibok girls that have not been seen? I think we need to mourn and not celebrate. We need to have a clear reflection of where we want to be in the next decade.
In 55 years of independence, poverty is still spread all over our nation like a wild fire. Our educational system is in comatose. Education can now be seen as the exclusive reserve of the rich in society. And even those who can afford to go to school end up coming out as half baked graduates due to lack of equipments, lack of passion by teachers and lecturers towards impacting knowledge on our students due to irregular payment of their salaries.
The leaders of this great country have gotten it all wrong. How have they been able to deliver the dividends of democracy to the electorate? How have they impacted on the poor masses? Rather we hear on the media daily how cults groups are fighting. Who are the persons financing these cult groups? Our leaders are the ones sponsoring these unholy groups. We must understand that the same young men armed with dreaded weapons will someday go after the sponsors due to unemployment and hunger.
What are we celebrating in 55 years? Are we celebrating our young men and women who are unemployed as a result of corruption that has eaten deep into our system like cancer? Are we celebrating poor power supply? Lack of good roads or we are cheering that our citizens have constantly died on our highways as a result of the poor state of our roads.
Is Nigeria celebrating the many plane crash that has killed our fine men and women. Is Nigeria, celebrating electoral malpractices that is usually occasioned during elections? Or is Nigeria celebrating our young men and women who have taken to all manner of social vices due to the unavailability of jobs? We are not there yet.
It is unfortunate that at 55, Nigeria is yet to stand ,on its feet. All over the globe, younger nations are faring better than Nigeria. The United Arab Emirate is doing better than Nigeria and yet we pride ourselves as the giant of Africa. It is total hogwash that we still boast of being the giant of Africa when we can not meet the yearnings of our people. We can not provide security for our people, clean drinking water, good roads, proper health care, electricity, standard education, employment and yet we pride ourselves as the giant of Africa. Who is gianting who?
In 55 years as a sovereign nation, Nigeria's growth has moved like that of a millipede. We keeping lying to ourselves that we are the largest economy in the African continent when we can not provide the basic amenities of life for our people. Who is fooling who?
In my assessment of Nigeria in the past 55 years, I will say we have failed . We have suffered bad leadership for 55 years. In all sectors of our economy we are still crawling after 55 years. What a shame!
It is the responsibility of every Nigerian to work towards putting Nigeria on the world map. We must live a life of content and character. Nigerians must purge out corruption. We must be patriotic and protect our image as a nation.
Nobody will build Nigeria. You and I have the task of building Nigeria. If we do not ,we will keep asking what Nigeria is celebrating.
Prince Thomas Abi Jr.
Is a Public Affairs Analyst/Social Commentator
