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Nigeria: A Country with Little to Celebrate By Abiola Falayajo
As Charles Dickens once said, it was the best of time, it was the worst of time, it was the age of wisdom, and it was the age of foolishness. Ciao 2007, Pronto 2008.
In my bequeathed, yet beloved country, the more things change, the more they stay the same, but New Year is always a good time to summon positive thoughts and again view the world around us through a Nigerian perspective.
For a start, we remain a primitive people who refused to settle their political differences at the ballot box, an unhealthy situation unworthy of any civilized rationale which puts us on the same level with the very worst countries on the planet.
As a people, we appear or pretend not to value ideas, the most zealots amongst us are frightened by independent thought. Our rulers, under the camouflage of leadership are so scared of relinquishing power to anyone but their stooges and cronies. They stoop to deadly violence and all form of corrupt practices as easily as the civilized world cast a vote in resolving ideological differences.
Having just experienced an election as fraudulently and dishonest as politics can possible not be, we should be ashamed of our brand of democracy, judging its virtues as embodiment of corruption in all its ramification- yet the Yar'Adua led government with its deceptive muse of law shamelessly carry on with people’s stolen mandate, shielding his co looters from prosecution. And those whose barawo-ism can not be wished away were given a slap on the wrist a-la the former Inspector General of Police Tafa Balogun, impeached Governor of Bayelsa state Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and former Military Administrator of Lagos state Buba Marwa just to mention a few.
Similarly, we have a legal system that wanted to break away from its inglorious past to be the hope of the cheated and an economy that wanted to sing a song favoured by the majority of hard working Nigerians, both getting frustrated by an unwilling government which the majority of citizenry does not trust to deliver the right outcome at any time.
Think of Singapore where poverty is an issue of the past, or United Arab Emirates where development is going on round the clock, and try to celebrate what could have been in our beloved Nigeria.
While Dickens wrote of an epoch of belief and incredulity rolled into one, we have more reasons to have doubt in the Yar'Adua government than faith in 2008. There is evidence that the government would not provide any meaningful and realistic hope for the poor people of Nigeria, putting hollow party loyalty before practical health, sound education, infrastructural and industrial development programs and unfairness in the distribution of the country’s resources.
This is a country held hostage by its minority elites, a country not driving its own destiny.
With all the cacophony of complaints about petrol prices, high cost of living, bad roads, unemployment, energy debacle, corruption at the highest level and the ever rising crime rate in the country, the underlying current is very weak and is not leading us in the right direction if the posture of the Yar'Adua government is anything to go by.
May be we should be pondering whether Nigeria is an unlucky country? Very correct, it is. The way to change it to a lucky one is to stop, think big and think smart, as Bill Clinton said, nothing good comes of thinking small.
STOP PRESS
The action of the imposed Go-mina of Oyo state Alao Akala in replacing the status of a known people soldier in the person of Chief Obafemi Awolowo with an unknown military soldier is an affront to the collective intelligence of both the Yoruba people and Nigerians generally. It is a matter of time before this unpopular, poverty of historical knowledge, yet idiotic action of a former corrupt police officer turned usurper would be reversed by a progressive thinking administration.
When the time comes, Alao Akala and his gang of terror should be made to return to the government treasury the so called 17 million naira spent in erecting the Unknown Soldier’s status which obviously would not stand the test of time.
Is there anything left to celebrate in Oyo state? Perhaps Adedibu’s amala and gbegiri!
Abiola Falayajo
Abiola Falayajo is the President of Yoruba Renaissance Group. He lives in Melbourne, Australia and maintains residence in Lagos & Ipetu-Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria. |