By Adetunji Solomon
LIKE A CHILD that refuses to grow, there’s need to weep for Nigeria. Sadly, there’s no strength to weep. There is absence of appetite to wail for a nation whose heroes are old folks, whose future is mortgaged by the old folks within the corridor of power. Aiyew Krumah was right in his timeless literature: The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born, pitiful enough, the ugly ones refuse to die!
THE STORY about Nigeria, is a narrative beyond the themes in his narrative. Her existence in the last decade has been a reflection of mysteries least expected. Nigeria is a paradox that is full of riddles. There is no doubt about it that Nigeria is a giant of Africa, based on her past glory. She has been overtaken and left behind by other serious-minded nations among the comity of nations.
IT IS not only a sad tale that at 62 years of age Nigeria is yet to be committed to a meaning future, but continues to have a journey in a cycle. One of her chronic situations has defied logic and saner analyses. It is not only laughable that her universities have been shut for more than seven months. The bulk of Nigerian leaders are ungrateful for being able to sip from knowledge the universities had offered in the past.
THEY ARE beneficiaries of various Federal Government scholarships home and abroad between the 1960s to late 1990s. They climbed the ladder of success and chosen to keep it away from others. Like a series of folly, they have created anarchy in the coming years. They live on hope , but hope has a slim body.
NIGERIA IS a nation whose belly of her land is an abyss of mineral resources. Yet, her citizens are among the wretched of the earth. Apology to Frantz Fanon. Unlike The Wailers of the blessed memories which Bob Nesta Marley led, the agony of Nigerians is shrouded in hopelessness.
THE TINY thread of survival remains faith that is rooted in various religions that litter her six-geopolitical space. She is a nation that lacks leaders like Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Thomas Sankara. Her founding fathers must be weeping in their graves. They have laboured in vain. Their success in building a new Nigeria was not sustained beyond the 1960s. The national anthem has little or no mean: “Arise O Compatriots…”
LIKE A SEASON in its full gear, the following years after the independence, were scenes of tragedy that announced and kept the relics of the Civil War that lasted for 40 months and other days, 1967-1970. That was the beginning of her psychological cracks that eventually bred more secession stories as the fall-out of the war which Yakubu Gowon declared No Victor. No Vanquish; Olusegun Obasanjo called the episodes of War, My Story; yet; only Major General Victor Asamah, brought out the reality of the war in his own account of the war he title: The Tragedy of Victory.
THE CLIMAX of the Civil War was packaged in the forest of doom, through the late sage: Chinua Achebe; who coined a controversial yet insightful prediction of extinction for a promising nation that has huged a fate it cannot define; which made Achebe to write his last famous literature, with a cynical title: There Was A Country. In a saner clime, such a titled calls for a national conference, national debate and national discourse every year.
ACHEBE HAD his reason: there were no indices that show prospect of a better tomorrow. Sadly, the opportunists have grabbed the nation by the throat. They don’t have time to read literatures, let alone examine their themes. The masses are choked with harmful economic policies that have made them poorer than before. Living standard has nose dived. The social amenities are just being revived. Many fleets of national airways are moribund and reminders of past relevance and their faded glory.
WITHIN THE SPORT cycle, there was a breath of fresh air through good performance of Nigerian contingent to Commonwealth Games 2022. Thanks to Tobi Amusan for writing her name in gold and shared glory NIGERIA. Firstly at the Diamond League hosted by Oregon 2022; United States; where she won 100 Meters Hurdle with lofty 12:12 record.
Before the Birmingham 2022, where Tobi and other Nigerian team shone brighter than halogen. Our football teams only remind us about the glorious years. Their present form and attitude bring to fore the national malaise.
WHAT IS working in Nigeria? What is meaningful in Nigeria? What can be predicted in Nigeria and one will definitely be accurate? A lot is wrong in Nigeria. A lot is missing about a nation whose citizens are highly resilient! A lot is missing about a future that was once bright but dimmed by political class and their cronies. Only the common man on the streets is not guilty about the sorry state of Nigeria. Nigeria got independence from Britain, but Nigeria is yet to be free from Nigerian leaders.
NIGERIA AT 62 years old reminds this writer about many hungry men and women who lack access to social basic needs. They didn’t have the opportunity to watch the heroes of our independence struggles on national television. They didn’t know that today is Independence Day. Your citizens have forgotten the day you were born! They look forward to a future they can identify with, when a new Nigeria would be born!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Nigeria!
Happy independence day celebration.
There is little to celebrate about. Only few Nigerians could see that little. Because more grief, less glory has been your lot in recent years! He that remembers the pleasure of the past, does not enjoy the present.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE day celebration!
Culled from:
The GUEST COLUMNISTS,
October 1, 2022/
Adetunji Solomon
