Vivien Udora: Nigeria, We May Never Achieve…

Nigeria, we may never achieve…
…the day of glory if we do not actively participate in the development of our land.
Children reach out and hold their mothers for they in turn have no one to hold and look to. A father figure has become all strange to them. They went long ago to fight the war but have never returned.
Mothers and wives hold their hands against their chest, with scarves to cloak their faces and hide away from pain. As it turns out, a gory death in their darkened unstable and violent land is all they await. Yet, they want to have a glimpse of hope.

Nigeria we may never achieve….
…a day without the illiteracy that is evident from the children of school age who see books as new inventions. They flip pages with excitement yet not knowing at all what is written and what knowledge lies between those pages. No one cares to inform them. They grow up still ignorant of the world. The time of reckoning visits so often to which their hearts scream ‘Ah! they hid knowledge and cared not for us. And now they bastardise us for not contributing to their standard’. I say teach a child and leave a legacy.

Nigeria we may never achieve…
….a realistic sense of what true governance is all about, if we keep turning a blind eye to the leadership norm of the day. We have become selfish and care only for our individual existence. A man who has lived 4 decades screams at the top of his voice ‘if they don’t care, why should I?’. Governance has lost its true meaning. It has become a platform for theatrics where words are louder than any accompanying act. This performance comes with the very cliche title -Corruption and Poor Governance. Leadership of the masses has become for a select round table. Younger ones, let age or status not mar us from true and fulfilling service to our motherland.

Nigeria we may never achieve….
….a sense of collective humility which we have thrown to the dust. Nobody cares when you ask ‘Do you know who I am?!’ with a tone similar to that of a barking dog. Please, it deafens our ears. If I did not recognise you the first and second time, asking me that question would not make me come to some form of realisation of who you are and apologise for not recognising you. A lot of times, we make so much noise and aggressively clamour for recognition. If empty vessels could talk, they would say ‘we’ve found our match. We have found one louder.’

Nigeria we may never achieve….
…true sense of loyalty and collective patriotism if we keep treating our country like a pauper. Even paupers get better treatment!. If we treat our land with such indifference, how dare we expect others from around the world to respect it. They come with trucks and equipment. The earth is struck time and time again without pity, ignoring the law. He smiles when in return he gets paper to send to his account. He destroys his environment and then runs as far as several planes can fly him. He then thrusts the responsibility of fixing the damage on his neighbour and will not return until fixed. How selfish and cruel! How dare we expect progress?

Nigeria we may never achieve…
…..a day without sub-standard thinking if we accept every situation without an attempt to change it. When one makes a bold move and tries to reveal the problem, she is mocked, told to stay in line and mind her business. The Nigerian mentality has weakened and delayed our progress. Issues, matters and procedure is swept under the carpet. We forget merit and accept the hands that come bearing gifts. The tables with matters to be dealt with ooze of bureaucracy. On a sunny day, you dare not because of your existence, annoy some civil servants. For when you seek information, she might just question your question. She is frustrated so you must be too.

Nigeria, just like business ideas still harboured in minds of young men and women, change might never come to fruition if we wish it but do not act it.

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