Where did we go wrong?
Life they say is not a bed of roses. It was for a lot of people in Nigeria after the colonial masters left. All our thoughts were freedom to do our will. Little did we know about governing we were maybe overexcited that we started to derail.
Oil I would say blinded us with its black color, though we were a little into agriculture but we failed to see the effect of diverting to oil. Though, it was good for the economy but bad for our morals the way we traded at that time. I think that was where we went wrong… now to the present day, we are now a bunch of comedians that other nations ridicule and take less serious. The giant of Africa is power is now in a whole load of debts. A pity good people who had good dreams for us were not given opportunity to transform us. The country that was predicted to be a world to be a world power now begs for favors from the powers of the world. A place where animals now swallow raw cash and a place where the messenger is killed and the message he carries is ignored.
What happened to this beautiful country? We all have faults but it varies according to the role you played in bringing us where we are. Do we blame the government alone? Or the citizens who elect and follow their lead?
Corruption has eaten deeply into the soul of this country that we no longer see it as a big thing. A research was done sometimes ago on some children, one is a citizen of the United States of America and a citizen of Nigeria. The reporter asked the child in the US what he would do if he became the president for a day. The child said he would make sure he helps poor countries and make some brilliant laws but on asking a Nigerian child back here, he started talking of how he would build massive houses and take a lot of money to sustain himself and his family.
His priority has been misguided. Though, not his fault but the fault of everyone around him. How?
- He has a government that does not provide basic amenities for him
- Parents who sing in his ears every day how they hear officials who steal from public funds and tells him he would also get there.
- The society shows him in order to survive, he needs to outsmart others. And lastly
- The things he sees happening around him. Maybe a pickpocket at a market place or a bus driver bribing a police officer.
Government and their allies have made the country so ridiculous we don’t know where we are heading anymore. The rich becoming rich , and the poor still being poor.
A lot of immoralities that people now see as normal due to the fact that there are no longer strong rules that guide against them. The country now has her government putting blames on each other so as to save their faces and not be held responsible for disasters and mistakes. What is the solution everyone is asking but we forget that we need to trace the problem and correct it right from the root so we would not just be moving in circles.
A lot of our leaders have misguided priorities due to the vast expectations of the party members and selfish interests they have had natured in their mind. Imagine a country predicted to be a world power still is a developing country with a poor economy. A country facing serious terrorism attacks yet has no serious solution towards it but knows how to mourn and arrange a burial for the citizens who died due to her negligence.
It’s so bad that they always have resources to provide emergency aids for the victims of these terrorist attacks but have no resources to actually put it to a stop. A place full of great hope and believe by the citizens for her government now turned to a place no one trusts anyone, a place where we cheat each other no matter how little just to meet our needs. Things don’t always go as we plan and Nigeria is a typical example. Our own plan got dented because of greed, misguided priorities, and wrong decisions.
We have a failing educational system too. A place for learning turned to an environment for scandals, politics, and strikes by various bodies fighting for their denied rights. It’s just unfortunate how we all close our eyes and see everything as normal. Even when serious cases are voiced out, they get covered up by influential people who do not want their names tarnished .We are left in darkness by the power sector who still bring outrageous bills to be settled by poor citizens. A country that suffered recession for two years and is not yet better yet her government is focusing on the coming elections neglecting the current state of the economy. A place where our foreign exchange rates are high yet no significant thing has been done, the only solution we get is on paper. No one is executing them.
We are now a country where our health sector is poor so rich citizens and top government officials travel abroad to get medical treatment. Yet we say we want to make our country great again. Our roads are nothing to be proud about and yet we have the resources to make ourselves comfortable but prefer to allow greed take over the better part of us.
There might be a lot of issues in the country, but the people are still surviving and doing a lot to try to make it better. I believe there are still steps that could be taken that would bring back the lost glory of this great nation if we can all just work together and find our way back to the innocent beginning.
