Nigeria: The Survivor Of Peril By: Bello Mukhtar bellomukhtar@icloud After the perceived mistake of the colonial establishment, which made it possible for hundreds of different cultural groups to be merged into one gigantic country, Nigerian was born. Unblemished gentlemen such as Alvan Ikoku, Herbert Macaulay etc, came together and demanded for the end of colonial rule from the British, these gentlemen handed over the struggle to the then younger generation whose resilience and commitment led to the relinquishment of sovereign instruments to a new born independent nation. Nigeria immediately became the leader of the African continent. The leaders of post independent Nigeria came together and formed a government of nation character and representation of all and sundry. Dignity, discipline, commitment to nation building and campaign for the emancipation of other African countries that were under the clutches of colonialism were the watch words of these leaders. Nigerias first Prime Minister, late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became a world leader, other leaders always loved to hear him speak. He had the singular opportunity of addressing a joint session of the US Congress. He awed American press with his oratory and fearlessness towards what he and his kindred believed in. This belief centred squarely towards the freedom of africa from rape by colonialists. January 15, 1966 witnessed Nigerias first bloody military coup which took the lives of certain political leaders in the country. This coup was the beginning of the woes of this great country whose reign was brief in its new found capacity as a great country. Military coups and counter military coups shaped the way we were portrayed internationally as a nation, then corruption set in to replace the labour of our heroes past, the civil service became rotten. Government workers began to register companies and commission Fronts to execute contracts for them and get paid stipends afterwards. Like a joke our country degenerated into the art of political murders, trickery and a high level of con which gave us world wide reputation. Nigerians were feared, even by the creators of computers themselves. Our citizens, guilty or not, became synonymous to 419ers or Con artists named so after the Chapter of the Nigerian Constitution that deals on Financial Crime. With its new earned negative reputation, Nigeria continued to make news for every wrong reasons. Everything negative was immediately associated with Nigeria and its citizens, other African nationals began to pay to be given Nigerian passports for them to engage in crimes outside the shores of Africa because of the ease and convenience in acquiring our international passports and in order to disappear leaving the guilt to be carried by us because of our already smeared image? Before we realised it, the whole world forgot about us as human beings, we became less dignified than zoo animals. We were simply left with our negative ways. With the return to democracy in 1999, we were all happy thinking those dark chapters of our history would be closed forever to usher in an era of globalization. Luckily for us, democracy was sustained but at a very high cost. Nigeria became stupendously rich in no time all thanks to the renewed Gulf War which saw George Bush chasing Saddam Hussain for WMDs that were never there. The richer Nigeria got, the poorer its citizens and the wealthier the political leaders became. We saw an era of privately owned aircrafts, impunity of the standards only worthy to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. Shamelessness in leadership, blatant and arrogant lies became a norm and to worsen it all, our country suddenly came face to face with a horrendous monster never before seen; Boko Haram. I shall not dwell on this. The Nigerian youths first showed a sign of resistance to the system in January of 2012 when we resisted the Subsidy scam. It was a successfully coordinated peaceful protest which lasted for days and almost brought the government of Goodluck Jonathan to its knees. The Nigeria Labour Congress succumbed to pressure, not from the government but as a result of the situation Nigerians were plunged into. Instead of the government to have seen the writings on the wall and corrected their wrongs, they thought we would forget like we always do. It seemed so until a few days after the APC Primary Elections which saw Muhammadu Buhari as the Flag Bearer of that Party to run for the office of President of Nigeria. The Nigerian youths have decided to take back their country from our mindless, ill willed leaders. The wealth of this country, which competes with any other resourceful country in the world in whatever definition leaves international observers of Nigerias affairs stunned at the stupor, callousness and sheer show of inferiority complex by these mind boggling greedy people who corner wealth that can literally sustain the whole of Great Britain for years. These funny people steal billions of US Dollars from their country for themselves and those they deem fit to share their loot with, the insult to Nigerians is, we live in a country of close to 200 million people yet our nation is held captive by less than 5000 people. These few people make up the very fabric that institutionalize corruption and make sure it is sustained over the years. It is believed Nigeria produces one of the best developmental proposals and blue prints in the world on paper, and money is actually appropriated for such brilliant proposals but, thats as far as it gets. It remains a proposal on paper but the money is taken from government coffers and shared, leaving Nigerians to continue to live with it, sometimes there are launchings of such white elephant projects where huge sums are spent for ceremonies, foundation laying, ground breaking and all sorts of fancy phrases announcing to the world and the victim community of a wanton project that will only stop at that, a ground breaking ceremony that will be added onto the list of endless lists that make up the sort of leaders they are. A certain contractor was awarded a contract to drill a local Well, the type you throw a bucket and pull water out by the aid of a rope, this guy dug a few meters and decided to stop at a particular depth even though he hadnt reached the water table yet. He paid the diggers and waited for the day of commissioning. The local government chairman was invited to commission the Well, this contractor called a water tanker in the dead of the night on the even of the ceremony and asked them to dump water into the well. Dignitaries were invited the next morning and the local government chairman was invited to drink. They dipped a bucket and pulled out a bucket full of water, it was poured into a crystal wine glass and was handed to the local government chairman who held it up to the cheering of the foolish on lookers and he emptied the glass down his throat. Speeches were read, cultural dances and the whole jamboree nine yards were witnessed and everyone dispersed. To the awe of the the villagers, less than an hour after the ceremony, the well was dry! Such is the extent of deceit of the Nigerian leader, it has happened and has continued to happen to this day, hospitals are equipped only to be emptied immediately after the ceremony. Schools are furnished, only for the pupils to be told to carry their new desks out and load them onto a waiting lorry even before the dignitaries that graced the Tape Cutting ceremony are still seen driving off after the grand scam. Dejected and sad the innocent children do as theyre told, return to their classes and sit on the bare and dusty floors. Is this the country we want to leave for our children? The Nigerian youth is the most used and the most fooled. You are sold a lie, you buy it and do as they ask you to. The moment theyre in office they buy vehicles with darkened windows and get too busy to either do the work you voted them for or even visit their constituencies, but the Nigerian youth would recycle the same miscreants back into office only to continue from where they stopped. We seem to know and believe differently now, the mammoth that greets the APC campaign train says it all, I have seen a united Nigeria in the making, I see renewed commitment, especially from our youth towards taking back what is rightfully ours from these wicked, thieving, blood thirsty, greedy, deceiving gang of stupefied mass of decomposed humanity. I must say, I had resigned from any thoughts that my country would one day be as developed as the Access Bank advert where a bullet train leaves a futuristic Lagos and makes stops at various state capitals, all of which are developed to perfection. I never thought the Nigerian youth can take back what is his! My reason is just that our mindset has so much been tampered with, psychologically, reducing us in stature, less to zombies! Here we are today, looking directly at that Access Bank advert, here we are staring corruption and its perpetrators square in the eyes and laughing at them! We are taking back our country, For Us, By Us (FUBU) as the brand name of the clothing line owned by African American celebrities in protest to certain statements credited, allegedly, to Tommy Hilfiger. A country destined to greatness, sabotaged by international rivalry, and local corruption pundits. We are at a cross roads, and I feel confident and strong that we the Nigerian youth have decided to chart a path that will steer our great country away from those few wicked people and their cohorts towards greatness, where we belonged all along but couldnt get there in time. Unlike Goodlucks dream of seeing a Nigeria without prisons, I see a nation that will, in the shortest time possible, boast of a functional railway system which will enable a person to wake up in his house in Maiduguri, take a bullet train to work in Tinubu Square in Lagos and eat his (Burabusko) dinner in the comfort of his house in Maiduguri at night of the same day. A juncture where our Nollywood industry would have a better name than the negative Nollywood being attributed to us by Hollywood. Nigerian tribes have a lot of folk tales, we will animate those stories like Things Fall Apart, Shaihu Umar, The Passport Of Mallam Iliya, African Nights Entertainment of Cyprian Ekwensy etc and make them into movies that will earn our nation very good foreign exchange and positive impression at the same time. Electricity, and other fuels for power generation will definitely b available and our Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill can take its place and produce Africas Steel billionaires who would compete with the Russians, the Indians and the Americans in terms of ownership of stake in the steel industry world wide. With a functional Steel Mill, no company executive will refuse to come to Nigeria to establish their plant here especially when they get juicy concessions for their companies from our country in return for jobs for our millions of youths. Agriculture, Solid Minerals, even Sunshine is wealth not to talk of the Grass that we see grow every year only to dry and get blown away by the wind. The weeds and shrubs scattered along tens of millions of square meters all over the country only grow and die annually but are a source of billions of Dollars in revenue for our jobless youths. Biomass is used to generate thermal electric power, as well, they produce ethanol after de-esterification which is used as fuel in machines and other agents are extracted for use In pharmaceutical, cosmetic, animal husbandry and loads of other industries. The technology for the achievement of these feats are cheap and readily available but our current government is not concerned with employing Nigerians, as a matter of fact its concerned only to show the absolute lack of concern for the country and its citizens. The Nigerian youth, come February 14 2015, will turn things around, take our destiny from the hands of these band of thieves and shove it right into the hands of capable and committed hands who love the country more than themselves. It will not be an easy task, every single one of us must work hand in hand with our fellow brothers and sisters and make this happen. We must redeem ourselves and #OccupyNigeria one more time till She becomes great again with the aid of those who will give their all towards the development of this great country, a country that has no reason to be poor, a country of beautiful and diverse cultural heritage, a country of limitless natural resources, the trigger of the African continent and a Survivor Of Peril. Written By: Bello Mukhtar and Zainab Mahmud Ibrahim
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 10:49:40 +0000
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