NIGERIA: Putting the past
behind us.
by Babatunde Oyeniyan
By the 1st of
October, this country will be 46 years old. Majority of the Nigerian
population today did not witness the independence. Those who were born
in the fifties will be toddlers when the Union Jack was lowered for
the green-white-green. They will probably be in elementary schools
when Balewa, Azikiwe and Awolowo were the ones calling the shots. They
will probably be entering into work life in the late seventies when
the present President was then the head of state. They will not even
be able to make any significant contribution to state or national
governance until the early nineties…………… that is if they are allowed
to make at all.
By the nineties, those who
were born in the fifties and sixties will probably be making some
impact or even have a say in what happened in this country. They were
then in their thirties and some forty. Then, corruption had already
eaten deeply into the very fabrics of this nation.
This is not without the
popular settlement culture of the self acclaimed “evil genius” that
ruled for eight years, and the extremely brutal and taciturn
“dark-goggled maniac” who effectively took over from him and took
corruption and terrorism to greater heights even before the whole
world saw 9-11. They are not really in isolation as they had
precedence in the un-uniformed but prodigal son of the caliphate that
was an elementary school teacher and the young soldier who proclaimed
that spending money was a problem for our beloved nation.
Nevertheless, none of these
rulers nor anyone of their cohorts then was less than twenty years old
when the noble task of running the affairs of this country was
unfortunately passed on to or forcefully taken by them.
We are now in 2006. It is
just at the turn of the millennium, we started having people that are
in their thirties make some little contribution into how the affairs
of this country is being managed. I’m sure; just as more than eighty
million Nigerians are that the people who have taken this country into
its present corrupt state are all above 40 years of age.
This is not an attempt to
put the blame of corrupt youth on the elders, but the elders can not
be completely exonerated, especially when words fly all over and the
youth are being continually reminded that the coming generation is not
as good as the last one, their values are wretched and still
deteriorating. Some supposed elders even wonder what will become of
Nigeria when this generation takes over this country. They wonder who
could beat the last generation of Nigerians in vices and devising
unwholesome practices to make money………..who trained the coming
generation?
Well, one thing that is
obvious is that the present set of Nigerians below the age of forty
are desperately in need of good examples-someone to emulate, someone
that is a real role model – “who I’ll like to be when I grow up”.
Surely, there is no shortage of bad precedence in our blessed country;
those who lay these unimpressive examples also want to have a next
generation that is better than them………… how do that add up? Yorubas
will say “Eni to ba ta oja erupe, a gba owo okuta.” (He who sows
wickedness will always reap tears.) One will always
wonder what magic will be performed to remove the spots of a leopard’s
cubs. Fortunately, they always breed according to their species.
Unfortunately, so also do the bad human eggs.
The
Nigerian youth is now engaged in various vices that are sickening and
saddening. So much unrest in the Niger delta, militia made up of
people in their prime and developed by myopic elders to protect
individual interests. The “yahoo boys” using prolific mental abilities
to defraud unsuspecting people. Not to talk of the “Agbero” that has
become a profession in Lagos. The unharvested productive work force of
this country that has been turned to a life of anarchy, diverting the
potent youthful vigor that could have been used for nation building
into evil.
It is only God that can
change the youth. We have to be ready to make the necessary changes in
ourselves!
The people of this country
have wallowed in poverty for too long, the brain drain has persisted
for too long, simple, curable diseases are killing in hundreds and
thousands on a weekly basis. The epidemic has lasted for too long. We
need to curb the spread; we need to tell each other some very vital
truths. We need to reverse the trend, to make Nigeria better and we
need to start acting now!
This country is getting
older, growing old is mandatory, but growing up is by choice. Let us
all make that choice today, let us all grow up. If we want a better
country, we have to believe in it, we have to act it and live it out
every day of our lives. We, the coming generation must make the
difference, we must remove the power and the right to determine our
own future from those that have been destroying this country and put
it in it’s rightful place – The hand of the Almighty GOD. We must
change, it is a sacrifice that must be made and I believe we are up
to it.
Let us dig deep a little
and see the main issues we must face to see this lofty and seemingly
impossible idea of making this country a better place for the unborn
generation and of course, ourselves.
From simple observation of
available facts, the
difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age
of the country as this can be shown by countries like India and Egypt,
which are more than 2000 years old and are still poor. On the other
hand, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, that 150 years ago were
inexpressive, today are developed countries and are rich.
The
difference between poor and rich countries does not reside in the
available natural resources. Geographically, Japan has a limited
territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture and cattle
raising, but it is the second biggest world economy. The country is
like an immense floating factory, importing raw materials from the
whole world and exporting manufactured products. Another example is
Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa (as Nigeria does) but has the
best chocolate of the world. In its little territory they raise
animals and plant the soil only 4 months of the year. Not enough, they
produce dairy products of the best quality. It is a small country that
transmits an image of security, order and labor, which made it the
world’s strong safe. Our befuddled leaders take the ill-gotten wealth
there to keep.
Experience has shown that there is no significant intellectual
difference, race or skin colors are also not important: immigrants
labeled lazy in Nigeria are the productive power in rich European
countries and the United States.
The
difference my good people of Nigeria, is the attitude of the people,
framed along the years by the education and the culture and this
include:
-
Ethics, as a
basic principle.
-
Integrity.
-
Responsibility.
-
Respect for laws
& rules.
-
Respect of the
rights of other citizens.
-
Work loving.
-
Strive for saving
& investment.
-
Will of super
action – The supremacy of the corporate will over individual
interests.
-
Punctuality –
Timeliness and regard for other people’s time.
Nigeria
is not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature is
cruel to us. We are poor because we lack the right attitude – the
citizenry and our leaders. This is what we must strive to build in
ourselves if we are moving forward corporately. No doubt there will be
some good flashes here or there once in a while, but if we do not
change our attitude, it will never be sustained.
We the
young people of this country need to change; we owe it a duty to the
coming generations to leave for them a better Nigeria than the last
generation left for us. We must change our attitude, there is a need
for a moral revival in Nigeria, and there are no other people that God
will use besides us!
We will
teach ourselves this new attitude; we will always try our best to do
it right all the time. At first it may be difficult, we may stumble
along the very rough road, filled with pebbles and thorns. Especially
when we have no encouragement, no one to look up to. But let us not
look for praises or encouragement for in the end we will win. The
truth will always triumph over lies; light will always eliminate
darkness, good will always overcome evil.
We will
try! We will try!! For then and only then will these simple principles
endure in our lives.
