Nigeria is a blessed country known for’ Unity in Diversity. We have been managing ourselves for over 50 years now with a measure of endurance and perseverance to stay as one large Country often refers to as the giant of Africa. We have recorded successes and failures over the years but still forging ahead hoping that one day we shall get it right.
This regime came to power through divisive elections, the 2015 elections which ‘sharply divided the nation along ethnic and religious lines. One would have expected that by now, there ought to have been reconciliation with the masses who brought the government into power but the reverse is the case.
The gulf of hatred, suspicion, religious disharmony/intolerance, oligarchy have been more widened that every Nigerian is afraid of his brother living in the next house or same house. We are all at the mercy of our creator!
Unemployment is on the increase despite the so-called government interventions. Graduates and school leavers are roaming around the streets in search of unavailable jobs. Those who do not want to be idle took to menial jobs –cab driving, chauffeur, ‘Okada riding’, just to put food on their tables.
A pathetic case was a young medical doctor(that I know of) who applied for a teaching job in a private Secondary School in one of the States in Nigeria! When asked whether he knew what he applied for as a medical doctor, his response was too saddened-‘’I need to earn some money to take care of my needs’’. It has degenerated to what we can call a graduate for sale.!
Inflation has come to stay with us. People are hungry and the value of the naira has been reduced to about N400.00 TO 1 Dollar. A tuber of yam(as of today) costs N500.00-N600.00 depending on the weight. Prices of staple foods have risen and the living standards have fallen. Gaari(fried Cassava) is no longer a poor man’s food but now an expensive commodity in the market ditto every other domestic material.
Nigerians are worried, perturbed, and afraid. Insecurity has taken over the country. People are saying, even if we don’t have enough to eat, if we feed inside the dustbins if we still feed our children who graduated twelve years ago without a job, at least we should have our peace. We should be able to sleep with our two eyes closed and hopeful when we wake the next day to continue hoping. People are dying like fowls. It was recorded and aired on the radio this week that 200 people were slain within one week! Kidnapping all over the country has
restricted the movement of innocent Nigerians from pursuing their legitimate businesses not to talk of people who want to visit their loved ones or their aged parents in their villages and towns. We have been turned to puny in our fatherland which was once, a land flowing with milk and honey and which foreigners were proud to visit because of its safety and plenty of opportunities. Now, even our nationals are moving their businesses out of Nigeria, not to talk of foreigners!
People are hungry. Pat Utomi, a political Economist when he was interviewed by the Tell Magazine in 2015, said, ”If people are hungry they can do many dangerous things .’’ That was many years ago and we have all sorts of dangerous things staring us in the face now in Nigeria.
In this part of the world, our leaders are too cocky and oblivious to advice and corrections at their disposal. Hardly do public officers own up to infractions and inadequacies of the law until they are caught red-handed or the situation degenerates beyond reasonableness before they’ll be crying over split milk.
We at The Interviews Nigeria.COM sees Nigeria as a country now in a dangerous descent to anarchy. A country that is in the hands of those who pay lip service to our well-being at the detriment of the future of the younger generation and the aged. This is not a blaming game but a clarion call for a real positive change devoid of nepotism, self-aggrandizement, and insecurity of lives and properties.
General Gowon in 1967 brought the best class together, the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro, and other technocrats with good conscience having seen the country heading into the precipice and we had it better then.
This is not a time talking loud and opening old wounds but a crucial period of positive decision that can bring lasting peace to the country.
Constitution eview might not work if people there are passive and keep mute indifference and later talk behind the curtains. What Nigeria desperately needs now is to ‘impanel the best class The best from all political parties(even outside parties)making use of the best brains among the patriotic youths, to save the country.
Nigeria cannot and can no longer afford to dance around the circle nor are we able to stand another civil war.
As it is practised in advanced democracies, we want our President, the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces to be on air to address its citizens constantly to give us hope and address every situation on the ground and not by proxy. This will give the masses confidence in his administration. Those spokespersons most of the time aggravate the already charged atmosphere with their unfriendly pronouncements. They need to douse tension and not fuel embers of discord the more.
Nigeria must survive but we need Godly wisdom and not boisterous outbursts.
God saves Nigeria from extinction.