Nigeria at 56: The titanic in trouble?

 

Today, Saturday, October 1, Nigeria turns 56.  I want someone to please direct me to towns and villages where the confetti of celebration will be rocking the atmosphere.  I will need an approximated headcount of Nigerians who will put on some dancing shoes singing “Kumbayah”. This will be tasking. There won’t be too many excited because human beings dance and rejoice only when they are happy. They foot-it and hoof-it when their needs are met. But this time, hearts of men are weary.

Over many years, the country has been garnitured with strifes, struggles and jarring discordance. The status quo of misery, mess and dystopia remains what it was when she became Independent of the British fiefdom. Is the tunnel before Nigeria dark or lucent?Nigeria is growing old, but not growing up. The reasons are etched in the past as they are in the present. It’s always more profitable looking forward than glancing backwards.The past has passed, the present and future are all Nigerians have to figure things out.

 A nation that dwells in the past will grow old but never grow up. A country that dwells in the past will continue to have a blast dwelling in misery. But sometimes when we glance over our shoulders into yesterday, we are just trying to put history in perspective. In the days of boom and abundance, Nigerians had testimonies of doom and scarcity. The throes which have always come in droves will not let up because those who are captains of the Titanic called Nigeria have let us down. Anytime we glance backwards into history, it helps us pave a course towards the future.

What truly is Nigeria’s future? It depends on who you ask. Some Nigerians from a particular region will enthusiastically respond that the future is when their territory is freed from the shackle called Nigeria. They feel no sense of belonging in the laggard Lord Lugard arrangement. They believe that their continued consociation is a soulless, cold-blooded callous coercion. Are they right? That’s not the question. Are they wrong? Must anyone be forced into a marital relationship against their wishes?  Must a woman be forced into intimacy in a bed of discomfort, delinquency and nonfeasance? In the law of God and Man, this is called RAPE.

The cry against RAPE is not just from one region. A woman from another thinks Nigeria has hijacked her breastmilk and fed it to children of Belial. Maybe, on the grounds of compassion, other people’s children deserve a bit; but not the big proportion now on the resource allocation touchstone where strangers have the biggest portion. Worst of all, she is daily taunted and tortured with her own breastmilk. The woman from that region is not the only one who feels taunted and tortured; unemployed and hungry men from other regions do too. Only politicians and their cronies who have always been in power and have always stacked up on stolen money will be popping the champagne bottle tomorrow.

To safety and salvation Nigeria is presently crawling. The pace, however, is not reassuring enough to 120 million people who are still locked up in the closet of poverty and hopelessness. It is not reassuring enough that the N8.5tn in domestic debt will not be rolled over as a burden to generations not yet conceived in the womb. The speed does not affirm that Nigeria’s decaying infrastructure that require about N1tn injection will be refurbished. The strides don’t guarantee that ethnic hate and religious snafu will abate. The sing-song of “One Nigeria” is looking more like a lingering lie from la-di-da land. 170 million people are in self-deception about One Love.The Nigerian trumpeted love is not one. It is worn out! I hope I am not missing something.

When I was younger, the jingle: “I love my country I no go lie; na inside am I go live and die”, was a sort of jingo we chanted without end. But now decades after, those who should be LIVING‘inside am’ are LEAVING the shores. Those who should sacrifice for her are running away from being “murdered” by the same country they are supposed to die for. RES IPSA LOQUITUR- the thing speaks for itself.

“It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man that makes us believe the oath”, said Aeschylus in 446 BC. Where are men with character and integrity who once swore to an oath to let selfless service trump selfishness, greed and avarice in Nigeria?

President Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian administration earned N17tn from crude oil sales within eight years in office. His successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, earned N9tn from crude oil sales within the short period he was in power. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration earned N51tn within a period of five years.  From October 2014, Nigeria started borrowing money to pay workers’ salaries. Muhammadu Buhari’s administration will soon go cap-in-hand to money-men to obtain loans for capital projects. We all know great nations of the world also borrow money to fund projects and run government.  America owes about $21tn today. But all of these nations were not just transparent with their incomes, they embarked on projects that that made sense and that touched lives of ordinary citizens. If I attempt unearthing what transpired during the military misrule in Nigeria, some people will be so angry while others will go into depression. I don’t want to be the cause of any man’s bodily sickness. The figures I gave above are just from crude oil alone, not incomes from Customs, Nigeria Ports Authority, and other taxes and levies.  Nigeria is making money but making no progress. Do you wonder why many Nigerians are angry and want out of Nigeria? When men are hungry, they are understandably angry. Don’t tell me this TITANIC called Nigeria is not in deep trouble.

Our politicians built big hospitals running into billions of dollars, but when they have a migraine headache, they run to London for a splash of Mentholatum. They designed a free education programme, but ask them where their children attend elementary school. Some leaders came to steal valuables; and some came to sell assets. Between thieves and auctioneers, the orphan called NIGERIA has always been left to gasp for breath. Is Nigeria the TITANIC not in trouble?

Truth does not cry for justice nor beg for help.You can cage it if you want to; but you cannot break it even if you tried. Don’t think you are super-dominant when you suppress it; don’t sleep with both eyes closed when you repress it. When truth breaks out, it signals the daybreak; when the day breaks with TRUTH, it breaks the back of its suppressor.If you are a specialist in UNTRUTH, understand that TRUTH is irrepressible and unsurpassable.  At the appropriate time and season, it will jump out of the cage and defend itself.

Nigeria is nearing that time when TRUTH will loom large over falsity and falsehood. And all false prophets and their myrmidons will drop off the scene like dead fleas. Nigeria must face the truth of regional restructuring and reconfiguration NOW, yes now. Nigerians have nowhere else they can call home. The affluent and influential among them also know this to be true. Even if you have houses all over the world, there can only be one place called home. Nigeria is home to many. She is our Garden of Eden. And just like the instructions given to the biblical Adam by the Designer of the Universe, we must “dress it and keep it”. If we don’t, we will be undressed in the public market of ridicule.Can I still give a HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout-out to Naija? Yes, I will. It’s one right I can’t be denied. May God bless Nigeria!