This morning, Nigeria turned 64, as an Independent nation state. This morning one dollar, ridiculously, equals N1,750. Basic necessities of life continues to rage. Inflation is at a near -85%. The daily common meal has become a luxury hard to find and beyond purchase. Basic salaries for our middle class are their basic transportation cost for the rides to work weekly, Cost of living has risen higher than when Moses divided the red sea.
A bag of rice soars at N120K. A bag of Garri is between N110 and N120k. These prices are subject to change by the time you finish reading this.
Its our independence day. Nigeria is a disaster stitched by a colonialist in 1914. The disaster, Nigeria, continues to happen to us. Yet we believe in the Nigerian state. We are being lied to that after 64 years, there is still hope: that Nigeria remains the greatest home, away from home. Nigeria is a journey. There is pride in how far we have journeyed.
But what have we benefited, so far, from our painful journey to true greatness?Our sacrifices to endure the pain have not yielded any benefits for all but for a few corrupt and the selfish. 64 years nor be beans. These years are longer than the 40 years Israelites’ walk to the promised land.
There is an eight month difference between my birth date and the birth of this independent nation named Nigeria. We are in the evenings of our lives. My life is stroking toward a mid and perhaps late evenings: I am tired of waiting for Nigeria to grant me basic necessities of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. How long shall we continue to wait?. What, after age 60, should I be waiting for?
My grandparents believed in Nigeria, hoped for her and waited for Nigeria’s opportunities to manifest in them. My mother and father hoped and prayed for a homeland that would offer them all things life. Hope never materialized. They died without living their Nigerian dreams. But I kept waiting, hoping and praying for that GREAT NIGERIA. I have waited for over sixty years: ” everyday Na the same thing”.
It’s time to stop lying to my children that Nigeria’s future would be greatest. It’s not. What’s in our future are frustrations, inequities, selfish sense of patriotism, greed, corruption, lawlessness, lootings and hopelessness. “E go better” syndrome, “na im make Igbo man tanda for im “Face-Me-I-Face-You” Mushin room and parlor for 30years. By the time he finally realized he’d wasted 30 years hoping for improved conditions in Nigeria, he’d fallen ill, died lonely, wretched and from a broken heart. Tufiakwa for this country!.
I believed in Nigeria. I was a damn fanatical patriot of the project. But my people, how long shall I keep sacrificing without tangible results? How long should we continue to love this Nation while a few opportunists steal our common wealth boldly, blatantly, brazenly and with reckless impunity, walk free to spend these loots buying our loyalties, thus further sinking us into our collapsed trenches? How long?
I am not a stranger to Nigeria. I suffer with millions. I cry and get frustrated with everyday people. We are the victims of years of corruption and lack of organized planning and foresight by past Military rulers and civilian leaders. I feel the pains. I see our daily struggles to feed families and to survive. Middle class Nigerians are not lazy. We do not seek handouts. We want a fare share of opportunities, evenly available. My dear country people, we are years from my hopes and dreams.
At 64, we can no longer continue to be hopeful, prayerful and accept our fates with fake faiths. Even our pastors and religious leaders torment us. They are our new feudalists. They use our sincere hopelessness, weaponize the Bible to deceive us. And we remain mugu followers. Wake up because IT IS NOT WELL with Nigeria. Stop waiting for God to save us. He will not. We are the ones to save ourselves from the looters of our common wealth.
A great nation endowed with babanla natural resources and blessed with best of intelligence, now the basket of confusion, corruption, lack of care and sacrifice. We are deceiving ourselves and our children. Nigeria has nothing for future generation. I was once a future generation. But here I am, in these times, still experiencing the same disorganized, hard life nonsense my parents experienced. My future came in Nigeria and did not bring any hope to hold onto. No jobs. No security. No electricity, no clean water, No decent roads. No affordable housing. No transportation. No functional affordable healthcare. No medicines.
Most school buildings are still in a shambles, teachers are owed months and years of salaries, and lecturers sell copyright works to students as hand outs, just to survive.
The future that I waited for patiently and hopefully brought Insecurity, kidnappings, Fulani herdsmen, grazings, recession, inflation, dysfunctional hospitals for its children, high crime rate, religious intolerance and terrorism. Nigerians get killed by common cold. Unemployment rages on . Suffering in the land.
Our politicians live affluently, get unchecked allowances for sleeping and snoring inside NASS and passing no Bills that impact our lives, receive inflated millions of naira regular salaries, confiscate our local governments’ constituent allowances from federal government , use the allowances to campaign for next election, hand out menials to get our votes and be reelected to do the same things to us. We clap and dance, follow the political rogues and even willing to die for them as they hand out, during campaigns, recharge cards, tin tomatoes, paint cans of garri, rice, beans. The things that would not bring us out of misery. So here’s a toast to Nigeria at 64 and for another 64 years that I certainly will not witness. If we do not organize to radicalize, become bold, brave and hold these bastards brutally accountable, we will continue to suffer and smile. Do not expect America or Europe to rescue us. We are the ones that must rescue us and stop our years of wounds from bleeding.
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Azukajebose
