Will Nigeria Ever Get Better Again?

We have come a long way in this country. Its very shameful to know that a country of 58yrs still has little or nothing to show for it. All the titles the country has are audio titles. We only hear of them but see nothing to show for it. For example, our economy is referred to as the best and biggest economy in Africa. Yet, we remain the poverty hub of the continent. A country with the biggest economy still has a poverty rate of more than 50%. What a shame.

In football, we are referred to as the giants of Africa. But to what extent have we defended that title. Yes we perform well when it has to do with African leagues. But when it is time for global leagues, we are no where to be found. 

Nigeria is the largest country in terms of population in Africa. Yet it is a training ground for corruption. Just imagine if Nigeria was a human being. At 58yrs and he is still like this. Of course everyone will give up on him. Of course his parents will see him as a wasted effort. It will be said that all the investments made into his life was a total waste. If at 58yrs, a man is not useful and organized, when will he then be?

The story of our country Nigeria is a sad one that we cannot just but keep asking if Nigeria will ever get better. What is the possibility of Nigeria getting better? What is the hope of our great country Nigeria? What is the hope of a country of more than 180million people which has been high jacked by less than 1% of the population?

The leadership of the country keeps decaying because leaders are been recycled. Since we moved into the so called democracy, it has still been the same set of people that controls the affairs of the country. It is very disheartening to know of the shameful state of our dear country. The same set of people who destroyed our country are the same set of people we kill ourselves for just to still put them into power.

Where we got it all wrong 

No long term plan

It is very saddening to know that our country does not have any long term plan. The leaders of the country only plan within the confines of their administration duration. Without a long term plan, we can never make any sustainable achievement as a country. Recently, china commissioned the worldlongest bridge which will last for about 120yrs. This is a product of a long term goal. Africa in general is not counted as a world economy. The matter of the world economy could be fully discussed without including Africa. With this, we find out that we will be short sighted. 

If our leaders plan for only 4 or 8yrs, what will happen in the next 20yrs? What will happen in the next generation? If we must get it right, we must draw a blueprint for our country which will span for decades. the planlessness of our country is the root cause of the reason why a particular leader will embark on a project which he might not complete. The next leader comes in and totally abandons the project, not considering the billions that has been invested already. Every information that we hear that has to do with the future of Nigeria is just based on predictions and nothing more.

     Non sensible youths

    In my opinion, the youths are the greatest problem we have in this country. The old ones has taken our rights from us and we are quarreling amongst ourselves in a bid to defend these same people who has taken our right. The president of France and North Korea are still in their thirties. Meanwhile Nigerians in their thirties are planning how to steal away with the ballot box in favour of a man who is in his 70s. 

     Look at the leaders who currently preside over the affairs of our country. They started off in their 20s and 30s. how come now that it is our turn, they still has refused to retire and yet we keep singing their praise. Oh how foolish we are. How I wish that we will be delivered from this stupidity. Many years ago, we were told that youths are the leaders of tomorrow. How come now that the tomorrow has come we have not seen leadership? We must stand up for our right or else we will be doomed. The old ones now use the youths (who are supposed to be in power) as thugs and the youths are happily doing that. What a shame!

Insecurity

The problem of insecurity has become a serious threat to the nation. Nigeria has become a country where the value of a cow is much more than that of a human being. Normally, when a man dies, the people kill cow to bury him. But now when a cow dies, human beings are killed. Worse of it all is that the leadership of the country does nothing about it. It is worth suspecting that the leadership of this country sponsors terrorists. If not, why is it that nothing serious has been done about that herdsmen and their incessant killings. How is it that the book haram are more equipped than the military. 

The security condition of our country is so alarming. No wonder when someone has the chance of leaving the country, he will not misuse it. Many foreign companies has left our country just because of insecurity problem. If this issue is not addressed, then I doubt if Nigeria will ever get better. Few months ago, when the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) came up with series of peaceful protest, the federal government through the Nigerian army launched operation python dance. This was targeted at eliminating the peaceful protesters. But unfortunately, the government has refused to act in the same manner against the herdsmen and book haram. Indeed, this is worth suspecting. 
   

Corruption

    The issue of corruption cannot be overemphasized. Corruption has made our country full but empty. We have all we need to become what we want. But corruption has taken them away. With the kind of leaders we have in the country, you do not need to search the dictionary to find out the meaning of corruption. Our leaders are corruption personified. Everything about them is corruption. They could deceive themselves that they are fighting corruption. But how can a man fight against himself? How can corruption fight against corruption? Why will our leaders choose to continually deceive the people that elected them into power? 

   The leaders of our country at all level from federal to state down to the local government are not innocent of corruption. Nigerian politicians are known as one of the richest people in the world. This is not because they build business empires. Rather, it is because they stole and drained the treasury while they were in power. A politician in his 4yrs tenure can steal the kind of money that if he were to spend a million naira daily, he might not finish the money in 10yrs. How then do we expect money to circulate within the economy? What belongs to the entire state could be share by less than 1% of the people. Politicians collect money to execute project and in turn do nothing. In a situation where they try, they spend less than 40% of the money they collected, thereby pocketing the remaining. It’s a shame that at 58yrs, corruption is still a matter in this country. Many countries that gained their independence long after us are now flying, yet we still find to difficult to crawl. 

        Recycling of old and quarter to die men

    Nigeria is a country were humans are recycled. Prior to this time, I thought that it is only waste products that are recycled. But Nigeria has proven me wrong. Yet, I refuse to be totally wrong. I could believe that most of our leaders are waste product. Imagine 2 people running for the office of a president. One is aged 72yrs and the other one has refused to be sincere with his age because he is more than 80yrs. Yet, the same country retires civil servants at age 70. A man got the governorship ticket of a particular state at the age of 75yrs. This happened after he had retired form public service. What a shameless country we find ourselves in. we keep recycling quarter-to-die men to be our leaders. The same set of people who kept Nigeria in this kind of ugly situations are the same set of people who are leading us. 

   

    Decayed education system

    The education sector cannot be ignored. If not for private schools, our education system would have been entirely finished. Year by year, the country chunks out thousands of unemployable graduates. All they know is that we are graduates and nothing more. Examination malpractice has become the order of the day and nobody is saying anything about it. Meanwhile, in the constitution of Nigeria, examination malpractice is a highly punishable offense. It is in Nigeria where you will see the children of the minister of education schooling abroad. The children of senators and governors are schooling abroad and yet we think that the education system can ever be better. This is why those who are supposed to rise and defend our education system are totally unaffected and hence, unconcerned. 

    While the Association of StaffUnion of Universities (ASUU) were on strike, the son of the shameless chairman of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) graduated from a university outside the country. Primary and secondary school system has been killed by the government. Yet the tertiary education system is seriously under attack. No facilities are provided. Students graduate from the school, knowing the names of almost every equipment in their field but unfortunately, they might not be able to identify those same equipments when they see it. If they are able to identify them, they will surely not be able to use them. Yet many of these students graduate with first class and second class upper division. They could jubilate, yet they are not able to defend their result.

    Unemployment

    Thousands of graduates year but no jobs. Government and organisations spend millions on scholarship yearly. They spend so much in training people who will not be employed at the end of it all. the truth is that we have all it take to build as many companies as will employ all the graduates in this country. But unfortunately, corruption has left us the way we are now. Some people try their best to start up something, but unfortunately, they government policies becomes their greatest challenge. If it is only one thing I know about Nigeria, it is the fact that the welfare of they people is of no concern to our leaders. Ibeto cement which is a massive employer of labour in the country has been shut down for whatsoever reasons. Some other companies has also suffered the same fate. Meanwhile, there are many other countries that give out incentive to the startups so as to encourage them. Where exactly did we get it wrong as a country. Can Nigeria still be better  
  

     Poor Infrastructure

     Look at the kind of infrastructure we have in our country. At 58yrs, politicians still use bad roads to campaign. Truth be spoken, it is too shameful and there are certain things that should not even be thought of, talk more of mentioning them. They promise to build road and at the end there is still nothing substantial we can say that they did. When it comes to infrastructure, ignorant politicians only talk about road. How about pipe borne water? How about constant power supply? How about building standard structures? I am tired of Nigeria. How do we want to ever get better with this kind of trash? United nations finding says that any government that provide standard infrastructure for her people has contributed less than 15% to the nation. So think about it, if it is only road the leaders pay attention to, it then means that they have solved far less than 10% of our problems.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, if not for the fact that I believe in God with Whom all things are possible, I would have given up on Nigeria. Truth is that many people has given up on Nigeria saying that it can never be better. Anyways lets not fold our hands and watch things play out. Rather we must be involve in various role to see if things will be better. You have your part to play and I have mine. Do yours while I do mine. Then we will see the outcome.