The Nigeria nation: Are we not ashamed?

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.--- John Ruskin

True, I have always tried to ask myself why Nigeria the most populous rich black nation on earth has still remained like this, despite our unquantifiable human and natural resources. Sometimes I ponder, wondering if all the intellectual capital and mineral resources at our disposal are real or mere imaginary assumption.  But my eyes over the decades I know have not been deceiving me with what I have been seeing, hearing and witnessing over the years since I found myself as a citizen of this great diversified country. To be honest, I sometimes feel mortified whenever I look round me and I see the wastage of both human and natural wealth littering everywhere. I am more embarrassed by the wasteful attitudes of some of past and present leaders, especially our current politicians who despite all the mother luck that has   smiled on them in terms of modernization and globalization are still finding it difficult to steer the wheels of this capable rich nation towards one of the most developed nations in the world. We boast of anything you can ever imagine on earth, both in human and natural endeavors. We have some of the world richest concentration of natural resources from natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, bitumen, lead, zinc and  arable land, where some of the world richest agricultural products are produced; is it cocoa, groundnut, cassava, yam, palm kernel, millet, rice, maize ,beans, tomatoes, sugarcane, and other body nourishing food scattered everywhere yanfu-yanfu? But upon all these the Nigeria nation is still credited with some of the worst roads and hungry homes in the world with malnourished citizens.Our death trap roads are daily trampled upon by expensive deceptive automobiles, from end of discussion, discussion  continues, Infinity Jeep, Hummers, BMWs, Rolls Royce, Bentleys, Jaguar, Limousines and the other illusive luxurious  man made road machines, while most of the roads are a sorry sites to see.  Are we not really ashamed that despite the large concentration of luxurious cars in our country, we are yet to create a made in Nigeria car? Is it not really a big embarrassment to our present generation of big men and politicians that in spite of their purported wealth and collection they   have nothing to show the world or leave behind like their predecessors did? Thanks to our past leaders; they brought us and left behind Peugeot, Volkswagen, Fiat and Lada assembling factories; a legacy our present leaders are still chopping from.  And the fact that they have privatized this heritage to themselves and their cronies, these legacies today are sadly a ghost of their past glory.        We boast and have the record of  being the African nation with the highest rate of schools, from public to private primary and secondary schools, government  and private universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and the rest, yet our educational sector is so prejudiced and lagging behind disgracefully. No wonder, none of our strike indulged universities was chosen among the 300 best in the world recently.  Are we not truly ashamed that despite the full concentration of battalions of professors, teachers, lecturers, intellectual capital and other intellectual and education stakeholders in the country,  rich Nigerians still annually globe throt across the world with huge capital flight in search of knowledge and other sundry educational materials. Is it not a big embracement and shame on our leaders and some unpatriotic Nigerians that in spite of our status as one of the world richest oil producing nations, our mothers, wives, concubines, mistresses, and other struggling citizens are still finding it difficult to afford a gallon of kerosene? is it not part of the shame that most Nigerian homes have never seen or witnessed how gas is used for cooking, while the government and our big men export some of the highest quantity in the world to other nation; even though some of the communities where this gas is flared are yet to enjoy the blue flame of cooking gas in their homes.I don’t know about you, but I am ashamed that we are still witnessing ethno-religious, tribal and political crises in this 21st century. I am sad that despite our large concentration of mosques and churches, with world acclaimed imams and pastors, reverend fathers and sheiks, many innocent Nigerians are still daily maimed and killed in the name of religion. Come, is it not a big shame that given the high number of different traditional institutions made up of different class of emirs, obas and chiefs, we are still fighting senseless hostilities about settlers and indigene, breeding discrimination and nepotism among our various tribe and people.Shouldn’t we cover ourselves with the thickest blanket in shame, as we watch our previously energetic sporting activities degenerate into a shamble and have continued to wobble in disgrace, despite all the abundant talents that are scattered in all corners of this country and the huge financial expenditure constantly funneled into the moribund sector? Are we not abashed that almost twenty years since our new democratic dispensation our politicians across the states are still finding it difficult to execute one meaningful national project that could stand the test of time?  Should our representatives not cover their face in shame as they daily fight over monetary gains and political positions? Are they not embarrassed that the prices of almost everything in our markets have risen to the highest price since their takeover of our hitherto vibrant economy?  Is it not an amazing phenomenon that for more than fifty years after independence the Nigeria nation is still wobbling in darkness as a result of epileptic power supply and our farmers are still crying for fertilizer and other farming inputs every farming season, while our railways are more of a boju-boju on our rails.? Is not  scandalous that our hitherto peace loving and easy going nation is now more identified with corruption, drug trafficking, 419, terrorism, incompetency, maladministration, militancy and ritualists? What has really happened to that Nigeria nation that has produced some of the world acclaimed writers, journalists, technocrats, administrators, soldiers, policemen and women,  great sportsmen and women, musicians, actors and actress, artists and all other world class human beings in all human endeavors?   Are we not really ashamed with all the present man-made wahala that are bedeviling this great nation which could be fix and should be fixed in order for posterity not to laugh at us, especially those whose responsibility it is to fix them?

The Nigeria nation: Are we not ashamed?

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.--- John Ruskin

True, I have always tried to ask myself why Nigeria the most populous rich black nation on earth has still remained like this, despite our unquantifiable human and natural resources. Sometimes I ponder, wondering if all the intellectual capital and mineral resources at our disposal are real or mere imaginary assumption.  But my eyes over the decades I know have not been deceiving me with what I have been seeing, hearing and witnessing over the years since I found myself as a citizen of this great diversified country. To be honest, I sometimes feel mortified whenever I look round me and I see the wastage of both human and natural wealth littering everywhere. I am more embarrassed by the wasteful attitudes of some of past and present leaders, especially our current politicians who despite all the mother luck that has   smiled on them in terms of modernization and globalization are still finding it difficult to steer the wheels of this capable rich nation towards one of the most developed nations in the world. We boast of anything you can ever imagine on earth, both in human and natural endeavors. We have some of the world richest concentration of natural resources from natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, bitumen, lead, zinc and  arable land, where some of the world richest agricultural products are produced; is it cocoa, groundnut, cassava, yam, palm kernel, millet, rice, maize ,beans, tomatoes, sugarcane, and other body nourishing food scattered everywhere yanfu-yanfu? But upon all these the Nigeria nation is still credited with some of the worst roads and hungry homes in the world with malnourished citizens.Our death trap roads are daily trampled upon by expensive deceptive automobiles, from end of discussion, discussion  continues, Infinity Jeep, Hummers, BMWs, Rolls Royce, Bentleys, Jaguar, Limousines and the other illusive luxurious  man made road machines, while most of the roads are a sorry sites to see.  Are we not really ashamed that despite the large concentration of luxurious cars in our country, we are yet to create a made in Nigeria car? Is it not really a big embarrassment to our present generation of big men and politicians that in spite of their purported wealth and collection they   have nothing to show the world or leave behind like their predecessors did? Thanks to our past leaders; they brought us and left behind Peugeot, Volkswagen, Fiat and Lada assembling factories; a legacy our present leaders are still chopping from.  And the fact that they have privatized this heritage to themselves and their cronies, these legacies today are sadly a ghost of their past glory.        We boast and have the record of  being the African nation with the highest rate of schools, from public to private primary and secondary schools, government  and private universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and the rest, yet our educational sector is so prejudiced and lagging behind disgracefully. No wonder, none of our strike indulged universities was chosen among the 300 best in the world recently.  Are we not truly ashamed that despite the full concentration of battalions of professors, teachers, lecturers, intellectual capital and other intellectual and education stakeholders in the country,  rich Nigerians still annually globe throt across the world with huge capital flight in search of knowledge and other sundry educational materials. Is it not a big embracement and shame on our leaders and some unpatriotic Nigerians that in spite of our status as one of the world richest oil producing nations, our mothers, wives, concubines, mistresses, and other struggling citizens are still finding it difficult to afford a gallon of kerosene? is it not part of the shame that most Nigerian homes have never seen or witnessed how gas is used for cooking, while the government and our big men export some of the highest quantity in the world to other nation; even though some of the communities where this gas is flared are yet to enjoy the blue flame of cooking gas in their homes.I don’t know about you, but I am ashamed that we are still witnessing ethno-religious, tribal and political crises in this 21st century. I am sad that despite our large concentration of mosques and churches, with world acclaimed imams and pastors, reverend fathers and sheiks, many innocent Nigerians are still daily maimed and killed in the name of religion. Come, is it not a big shame that given the high number of different traditional institutions made up of different class of emirs, obas and chiefs, we are still fighting senseless hostilities about settlers and indigene, breeding discrimination and nepotism among our various tribe and people.Shouldn’t we cover ourselves with the thickest blanket in shame, as we watch our previously energetic sporting activities degenerate into a shamble and have continued to wobble in disgrace, despite all the abundant talents that are scattered in all corners of this country and the huge financial expenditure constantly funneled into the moribund sector? Are we not abashed that almost twenty years since our new democratic dispensation our politicians across the states are still finding it difficult to execute one meaningful national project that could stand the test of time?  Should our representatives not cover their face in shame as they daily fight over monetary gains and political positions? Are they not embarrassed that the prices of almost everything in our markets have risen to the highest price since their takeover of our hitherto vibrant economy?  Is it not an amazing phenomenon that for more than fifty years after independence the Nigeria nation is still wobbling in darkness as a result of epileptic power supply and our farmers are still crying for fertilizer and other farming inputs every farming season, while our railways are more of a boju-boju on our rails.? Is not  scandalous that our hitherto peace loving and easy going nation is now more identified with corruption, drug trafficking, 419, terrorism, incompetency, maladministration, militancy and ritualists? What has really happened to that Nigeria nation that has produced some of the world acclaimed writers, journalists, technocrats, administrators, soldiers, policemen and women,  great sportsmen and women, musicians, actors and actress, artists and all other world class human beings in all human endeavors?   Are we not really ashamed with all the present man-made wahala that are bedeviling this great nation which could be fix and should be fixed in order for posterity not to laugh at us, especially those whose responsibility it is to fix them?

Why we must not leave our fate to Jonathan alone

“Let it be said of us that we, too, did not fail. That we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this Chamber as we are meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty-this last, best hope of man on Earth.” ---- Ronald Reagan

 the I don’t really know about you, but for me I have long decided never to leave my fate in the hands of our politicians alone. Like Chinua Achebe, I have decided not to make myself available for any national award unless the presidency and the other arms of government find an effective lasting solution to the various wahala bedeviling my dear country Nigeria.

I think it is important and paramount that we all join hands together to save our one and only country from these man-made problems that are fast tearing us apart and robbing us of our shine. This is the time for the oppositions and opponents of the various political policies in this country to sheath their swords and contribute to the peaceful coexistence of this resilient nation. We must set aside our political, religious and tribal differences to confront the menace of bombings, kidnappings, robbery, ritualists, economic depression and ethno-religious bigotry now shaking our hitherto solid foundation.

We should not close our minds and senses and leave our fate to the ruling People Democratic Party and its candidates to continue to drive us at their leisure towards our destiny. We must continue to boldly tell them the truth and criticize them constructively for the good of all of us. It is important that we comprehend that this great rich nation does not belong to Mr. President and Co alone but to all of us and at such we must protect our land and rights from both internal and external threats.

We must not succumb easily to some of the political promises of our politicians and always be ready to scrutinize and find out the reality about their promises and policies.  It is our right to know and also part of our freedom to see how and what they do with our collective wealth. This country I tell you does not belong to Mr.Jonathan alone, including the vast reserved of oil and other rich mineral resources abounded everywhere. So, we must be courageous to resist his planned oil subsidy removal if we are certain and sure that it will never favour the majority.

This is actually the ripe  time for our religious, tribal and elder statesmen and women to stand up to defend this nation that sheltered and gave them a ray of life. The land that has in its belly their ancestors and hopefully one day retail them too. I just hope they will understand that this big country from the north, the south, east  and west should not be left to Mr. Jonathan and his cabinet  alone, neither should they sit down look  as our villages, towns and cities are daily held under siege by terrorists, kidnappers, armed robbers, ritualists and ethno-religious fundamentalists.

Perhaps some troubling questions we should ask our conscience are: should we keep silent while our country is constantly under threat which could affect anyone, anywhere? Should we just look at the Jonathan administration from the surface and view it as a mere government by a clique that should be allowed to come and go, while our roads are getting worst and our citizens are daily dying from different diseases and hunger? Should we leave the country alone to the politicians while our refineries are moribund and the price of Kerosene fast flying away from our homes? Or maybe  it is better that we keep silent and watch as some ungodly people  continue to maimed  and killed innocents people in the name of religion and tribe?

Presidents come and presidents go, this country and Aso Rock does not belong to Jonathan alone, so, we must never fold our hands and close our eyes while our cities are burning, our hospitals are dying and the rate of unemployment across the nation is becoming alarming. We must not leave our educational sector to Jonathan’s ministers alone, unless our large concentration of professors and other gurus in the education sector have accepted defeat and have succumbed to be led by mediocrities.

We must patriotically not leave this country to Jonathan alone and continue to shout out loud on the present security situation in the country. We should be wise enough to remind him that we are more interested in his administration tackling this scary situation instead of wasting time and resources on subsidy removal and other not so important projects. It is left for us to comprehend that the Nigerian army, the police, the navy the air force, civil defense and all the other security apparatus of this big country does not belong to our politicians alone and that we are all entitled to the security of our lives and property.

I want to believe Mr. Jonathan as a human being would not claim to know everything and at such know how majority of us downstairs really feel on the issue of insecurity, hunger, ethno-religious violence and all the other wahala that daily confronts the common man down the ladder. So, it is now left for us to keep raising our voices louder against these biting policies that hardly pinch those upstairs, like Mr. President.

 True, it is our duty and not only Mr Jonathan’s responsibility alone to eradicate those oppressed alamajiris on our streets. It is a constitutionally duty upon our raining politicians and leaders, both elected and selected to metamorphose our slums into modern cities and safeguard us from the calamity of man.

This country is bigger and broader than a single individual and it is our responsibility to protect it from invaders unless we are willing to let go the rights of our children and future Nigerians. It should be our collective duty to preserve this rich nation as those before us safeguard it for us.

It is the constitutionally liability of our elected representatives to sit up boldly on their seats and stop playing politics with our hopes, fate and lives. The right of every Nigerian to an efficient health care system, secured roads, modernized schools, economic freedom and security should never be seen and used as political tools. This country belongs to all of us irrespective of where we are standing in the ladder of life.  Change, which is inevitable, has this naturally way of changing the course of this temporary ladder and those upstairs sometimes come crashing downstairs.

 Every particle and atom that makes up Nigeria is part of every Nigerian and not for Mr. Jonathan alone.  So, we must and should never leave it for good luck unaided.

Why we must not leave our fate to Jonathan alone

Why we must not leave our fate to Jonathan alone

“Let it be said of us that we, too, did not fail. That we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this Chamber as we are meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty-this last, best hope of man on Earth.” ---- Ronald Reagan

I don’t really know about you, but for me I have long decided never to leave my fate in the hands of our politicians alone. Like Chinua Achebe, I have decided not to make myself available for any national award unless the presidency and the other arms of government find an effective lasting solution to the various wahala bedeviling my dear country Nigeria.

I think it is important and paramount that we all join hands together to save our one and only country from these man-made problems that are fast tearing us apart and robbing us of our shine. This is the time for the oppositions and opponents of the various political policies in this country to sheath their swords and contribute to the peaceful coexistence of this resilient nation. We must set aside our political, religious and tribal differences to confront the menace of bombings, kidnappings, robbery, ritualists, economic depression and ethno-religious bigotry now shaking our hitherto solid foundation.

We should not close our minds and senses and leave our fate to the ruling People Democratic Party and its candidates to continue to drive us at their leisure towards our destiny. We must continue to boldly tell them the truth and criticize them constructively for the good of all of us. It is important that we comprehend that this great rich nation does not belong to Mr. President and Co alone but to all of us and at such we must protect our land and rights from both internal and external threats.

We must not succumb easily to some of the political promises of our politicians and always be ready to scrutinize and find out the reality about their promises and policies.  It is our right to know and also part of our freedom to see how and what they do with our collective wealth. This country I tell you does not belong to Mr.Jonathan alone, including the vast reserved of oil and other rich mineral resources abounded everywhere. So, we must be courageous to resist his planned oil subsidy removal if we are certain and sure that it will never favour the majority.

This is actually the ripe  time for our religious, tribal and elder statesmen and women to stand up to defend this nation that sheltered and gave them a ray of life. The land that has in its belly their ancestors and hopefully one day retail them too. I just hope they will understand that this big country from the north, the south, east  and west should not be left to Mr. Jonathan and his cabinet  alone, neither should they sit down look  as our villages, towns and cities are daily held under siege by terrorists, kidnappers, armed robbers, ritualists and ethno-religious fundamentalists.

Perhaps some troubling questions we should ask our conscience are: should we keep silent while our country is constantly under threat which could affect anyone, anywhere? Should we just look at the Jonathan administration from the surface and view it as a mere government by a clique that should be allowed to come and go, while our roads are getting worst and our citizens are daily dying from different diseases and hunger? Should we leave the country alone to the politicians while our refineries are moribund and the price of Kerosene fast flying away from our homes? Or maybe  it is better that we keep silent and watch as some ungodly people  continue to maimed  and killed innocents people in the name of religion and tribe?

Presidents come and presidents go, this country and Aso Rock does not belong to Jonathan alone, so, we must never fold our hands and close our eyes while our cities are burning, our hospitals are dying and the rate of unemployment across the nation is becoming alarming. We must not leave our educational sector to Jonathan’s ministers alone, unless our large concentration of professors and other gurus in the education sector have accepted defeat and have succumbed to be led by mediocrities.

We must patriotically not leave this country to Jonathan alone and continue to shout out loud on the present security situation in country. We should be wise enough to remind him that we are more interested in his administration tackling this scary situation instead of wasting time and resources on subsidy removal and other not so important projects. It is left for us to comprehend that the Nigerian army, the police, the navy the air force, civil defense and all the other security apparatus of this big country does not belong to our politicians alone and that we are all entitled to the security of our lives and property.

I want to believe Mr. Jonathan as a human being would not claim to know everything and at such know how majority of us downstairs really feel on the issue of insecurity, hunger, ethno-religious violence and all the other wahala that daily confronts the common man down the ladder. So, it is now left for us to keep raising our voices louder against these biting policies that hardly pinch those upstairs, like Mr. President.

 True, it is our duty and not only Mr Jonathan’s responsibility alone to eradicate those oppressed alamajiris on our streets. It is a constitutionally duty upon our raining politicians and leaders, both elected and selected to metamorphose our slums into modern cities and safeguard us from the calamity of man.

This country is bigger and broader than a single individual and it is our responsibility to protect it from invaders unless we are willing to let go the rights of our children and future Nigerians. It should be our collective duty to preserve this rich nation as those before us safeguard it for us.

It is the constitutionally liability of our elected representatives to sit up boldly on their seats and stop playing politics with our hopes, fate and lives. The right of every Nigerian to an efficient health care system, secured roads, modernized schools, economic freedom and security should never be seen and used as political tools. This country belongs to all of us irrespective of where we are standing in the ladder of life.  Change, which is inevitable, has this naturally way of changing the course of this temporary ladder and those upstairs sometimes come crashing downstairs.

 Every particle and atom that makes up Nigeria is part of every Nigerian and not for Mr. Jonathan alone.  So, we must and should never leave it for good luck unaided.

Please Spare Us From this Same Sex Madness

“Homosexuality is a psychological and psychiatric disorder; there is no question about it. It is a purple menace that is threatening the proper design of gender distinctions in society.”

——-Dr. Charles Socarides, Former NARTH President

Our selected legislators to be honest are some of the most amazing bunch of representatives in the world. They are unpredictable and sometimes very funny in their legislative duties. And over the years since the lucky break from military regime almost twelve years ago, the Nigerian citizenry have been subjected to different bills and funny law making by our lawmakers at the states and national assemblies. 

One of the amazing parts of our legislators is the fact that since 1999 when the country regained its democratic freedom, the Nigerian legislators are yet to sign into law one significant bill or law that is visible and has affect the lives of the ordinary Nigerians. 

Still fresh in our minds are some unimportant bills like the repatriation of Nigerian prisoners in America, the controversial Health bill, the bill to further enriched some of our past head of states, and the rumored bill on prostitution. We have been unfortunate to see a proposed bill from the presidency on single tenure or tenure elongation as many sees it, including the raging controversial oppressive bill on fuel subsidy removal; and now another bombshell the same sex bill.

Honestly, perhaps the most shocking and embarrassing of all these bill is the shameless bill on same sex marriage currently being advocated by some shameless group and brazenly deliberated and debated upon by our expensive legislators, as if there are no more important and urgent issues to be discuss and visionary bills to be legislate upon any longer in the country.

Our flamboyant lawmakers are wasting our needed resources to jaw-jaw on senseless and psychiatric induced subjects that every right thinking human being, especially Nigerians should be ashamed to be associated with. They feel no compulsion to their children and wives, including families and friends on the disgraceful aspect of publicly discussing this abomination in our society.  They failed to see the glaring reality that some of them are really exposing their sexual weakness to the world and truthfully portraying their own sexual disorder, especially those who for long have been rumored to be gays and lesbians in the corridors of power. Or is it true that some of our selected representatives are homosexuals and lesbians? If not why the futile need to accommodate the debate of same sex bill in our turmoil nation and create more confusion and mistrust.

Even the animals around us have so far shown their civility in their habitation and mating. I am yet to see a male dog mates another male dog, neither do female chickens nor male hen lust after each gender. Then why should a man want to marry a man and a woman lust after another? 

One would have thought that our legislators should have devoted much of their time and energy on deliberating on more important bills that would salvage us from our current security challenges, poverty, corruption, maladministration, ethno-religious conflicts, and economic recession, instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on a foreign induced bill that would never win over the majority of Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religious or political inclination. I am certain and bold to say that majority of my country men and women would continue to oppose and fight against this diabolic bill and shall resist any form of inducement or blackmail by those agitating for the passage of this psychiatric disorder bill and their western collaborators. We shall never and would never succumb to any cheap blackmail by any super power to accept what majority of us are convinced is a spite against us and our creator.

It is time we remind our legislators and those sick agitators of this dishonorable bill that the Nigeria nation has more important problems confronting it than their selfish lustful campaign.  Our streets are still daily swamping with helpless innocent almajiri children roaming around in tattered clothes in search of food to eat. Our public schools are in a shamble and a disgrace to see in this 21st century. Millions of our youth are frustrated with lack of employment and are daily turning to crime. Our mothers and wives are still finding it difficult to afford the price of a gallon of Kerosene, and most of our young girls are now more into prostitution openly or hidden , due to various failed government policies, including high rate of poverty in most homes .

Truly, it will be in their own interest if our legislators quickly discard this Sodom and Gomorrah bill, fear God and use their position and common sense to bravely fight this repugnance crime against nature and do what is right for their creator and posterity. 

Let every right thinking and God fearing Nigerian; please tell them to spare us from the calamity of this crazy same sex madness gradually eroding the world.

The Greedy Few and the Rest of Us

“A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men” - Thomas Carlyle

There has been various suggestions by different thoughtful minds on the need to eradicate a few living human species among us, particularly here in Nigeria where a few group of men and women among us have over the decades turned us into modern day slaves in our own country. These few segregated few among us have since and before independence forcefully inherited our collective national treasure.

They are those cliques of Nigerians who are the rich minority of our large populated country. They cut across all the political zones and have been enjoying the vast rich wealth of this nation to the detriment of the majority who as rightfully described by the late Afro Beat icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti are those who are daily suffering and smiling.

To be honest, it takes an animalistic feeling for one to wish his fellow human being dead or elimination, but the current situation in my dear country is quite frustrating and pathetic  which could instigate a rational thinker to not only wish for the demise of his fellow human being, but also wish he could be wiped out entirely from the surface of the earth.  The Nigerian ‘few’to be honest, are extremely greedy and sometime inhuman to their fellow citizens.

I sometimes conjecture silently if the  inventors of some of the man-made devices that has helped alleviate and revolutionized our lives like the computer, the telephone, electricity, cars , airplanes, penicillin , the ipod, TV, radio, newspapers and the rest were  these few Nigerians , I marvel and shuddered on what could have been the fate of the  rest of us. Definitely the computer would not have been affordable to an average Nigerian like in America, neither would cars have been built cheap like Henry Ford did in America, majorities of Nigerians would still be sweating it out to communicate with their loves ones as the price of owning a telephone would be compare with the price of going on a holy pilgrimage to Mecca or Jerusalem. I tell you if the Wright Brothers the inventors of the airplane were Nigerian, I am positive majorities of travelers by air would be slavering hard to fly.   Again I wonder how many Nigerian children would have died for lack of subsidize to buy a dose of penicillin if the discoverer of the universal life safer was Nigerian. Definitely many children would have lost their young innocent lives in the hands of their greedy countrymen and women who could have flooded their lives with counterfeit drugs, as currently being experienced across the country. Or is it not a greedy insane human being that would feed his fellow human being with fake drugs.

Perhaps nowhere else presently in the world has a concentration of rich ‘few’ that has been so wicked to the ‘rest’ than Nigeria.  These few men and women among us from our villages, towns and cities have also failed to assist us in climbing up the ladder of life the way someone, somewhere helped uplift them.

Ironically most of our present rich few are beneficiaries of the abundant legacies built and left behind by our past patriotic leaders.  It should baffles any reasonable thinker to what would have been the fate of this enduring nation if the past nationalistic Nigerians had been as greedy as the present ones. I am sure most of them would not have tested the four wall of western education; neither would they be in the presently monopolized wealth they are greedily holding on to.  Today in the same country, education is now being monopolized by these greedy few. Our hitherto vibrant public schools are now frightening pathetic sites to behold. Only this cabal of greedy few could now afford to send their children to expensive private schools at home and abroad, while those colonial structures that nurtured them and gave them a ray of life are left to crumble under their uncaring watch eyes.

It is actually sad that our today’s leaders are so blind to the realities on the ground.  They are blind to the fact that while they globetrot across the world their own country is a public shame to see. They proudly traveled to various developed and well organized countries and come back home to gawk shamelessly at the bad roads in their communities, towns, and cities. They spend millions of looted funds on vacation to top cities and still come back home to meet the insecurity and hunger across their backyards.

The Nigerian few are excited and happy with the planned fuel subsidy after all they have always been the ones ripping from all the oil wind fall in the country. It is only here in Nigeria that a few among the majority are always happy with any plans that would further add to the hardship of its people.  This part of the amazing characters of the Nigerian greedy few which includes, depriving their  fellow citizens the rights to many good things of life through their greed and quest to loot, siphon and amass material wealth. The Nigerian  rich few are the basis why our railways don’t work, because of their vast interest in the transportation sector of the economy.  They are part of the secret oil thieves that control the price of petrol and made it impossible for the average Nigerian housewives and mothers to buy kerosene at subsidized rate across the country.  It is quite astonishing that while other rich citizens of other countries have leant how to help and assist the less privilege in their societies through various laudable developmental initiatives, our own rich few are so biased and daily swim on the cheap tide of nepotism and hypocrisy.

The Nigerian rich few see nothing shameful on the plight of our old citizens and elders. They feel no remorse or dishonor on the number of frustrated dead pensioners recorded monthly across the country. It is none of their business if our streets are jam-packed with economically frustrated Nigerians daily roaming our streets in search of an unfeasible daily bread.  The self-centeredness and lack of patriotic vision has hampered the foresight of our rich few to critically study how their counterparts in other developed nations have been able to hold on to that noble law as philosophically stated by Giovanni Cellini to his son in the classic: The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini “it is a duty incumbent on us, and the command of God Himself, that he who has property should share it with him who had none”

The few self imposed rich men among us don’t ever see it as a duty to share with us; they don’t see it as a duty to help facilitates the availabilities of good roads in their communities without having a hidden agenda. They cannot sacrifice like their counterparts in Europe, Asia, and some Africa countries around us in reviving the sorry state of our educational sector. Our rich Diaspora are scared of investing genuinely  in their  fatherland  and some who have dare to, have been shown pepe, by different  failed government policies  and arm twisting fraudulent deals.

While the world is growing globally and breaking down cultural, religious and political barriers, my dear country Nigeria is still enmeshed in regional, ethno-religious and political segregation and conflicts. Our higher institutions are now divided with prejudices, religion and regional bases. The rich few in our midst who are where they are today through our collective wealth are never ashamed to show the world the many ill-equipped hospitals across their villages and towns, including those in our flamboyant cities. They see nothing ungodly in the massive importation of fake sub-standard drugs into the country or the number of child mortality recorded yearly in our morgue- like hospitals.

Year in year out, the Nigerian oligarchy are good at fighting disgracefully over budget allocation, which region should be appointed into exclusive positions, which area should produce the next head of juicy agencies and which turn it is among them have the exclusive monopoly of selecting and producing the next sets of favored representatives that further protect and serve their interest, while the majority groan under economic, social and political wahala. The Nigerian few are excellent in organizing flamboyant commissioning of cheap projects, ceremonious celebration and other pompous wasteful spending. 

Any way the fortune of life deals us its blow, one thing that is certain is that our virtue can never be stolen away from us, and the law of nature that has always given strength to those who are oppressed shall someday sooner or later prevail against these greedy few men and women among us who over the decades have subjected us to suffering and smiling; while they continue to ride and surge towards illusive vanities that shall one day sooner or later overtake them and free us from their shackles of oppression.

Can Nigeria ever be ONE again?

I remember growing up in the bustling city of Kaduna not giving a hook and eye on the tribe or religious background of my playmates, classmates and neighbours. Like many Nigerians who lived anywhere and everywhere then around the country, north, south, east and west, I never cared or was I ever apprehensive about the culture and tradition of others around me. All I was taught and grew up with was the understanding that Nigeria was one country with so many tribes and people.

I remember that many of us Muslim kids in our neighbourhood partook in eating heavy pounded yam or rice in Emeka, Joseph, Esther, Bidemi, Segun and the other wonderful Christian friends around during Christmas and they also happily did the same in our houses during Sallah celebration. Our detribalized parents never discouraged us or bombarded our ears with segregated and hate induced upbringing instructions. We were a united bunch of happy and merry-go-round kids.

Our parents then I could still remember were their brothers’ keepers and sort of good Samaritans to each other in term of sorrow, joy and needs. Our markets were never segregated nor were our schools. There was nothing like private schools for the rich as we all rumbled it out in public schools, both the sons and daughters of the rich and those from poor background. The civil servants among our parents served diligently everywhere across the regions irrespective of tribe or religion. There was nothing like state of origin, religion or tribe discrimination in promotion, training or transfer. They were superb Nigerians and patriotic civil servants who served their country for God and country.

Today all that has changed across virtually all the regions in the country where we now have a segregated and self-centered leaders and parents, including some ethno-religious induced youths who have been brainwashed and constantly used as pawns in the various ethno-religious and political motivated crises that have torn the country asunder. From Jos, Bauchi, Kaduna, Maiduguri, down to Oyo, Abia, Delta and the other crises swallow up states across the country.

It is actually a shame that in this 21

What about the hitherto beautiful Plateau? Should we view the myopic utterances of some of the so-called elders and leaders as reasonable and a sign that they really want us to continue as one, when all they seem to see is a vanity land, and other materialist recycled things we must all leave behind one day. Who among them really owns this gigantic land with God? I mean both the so-called indigenes and settlers. Are we not all settlers in this free world?

Should we also outlook the recent selfish and childish expulsion of Muslims in the Niger Delta by some unpatriotic and short-sighted group? History seems to have eluded them to the fact that no man is really an island. Has it really occured to them that all across Nigerian are scattered millions of Niger Deltas in the north, west, east and south? How do they plan to accommodate, feed and employ these millions of their people if they were eventually sent packing from the other regions, especially from the north, where there seems to be a large concentration of people from the Delta? Are they certain the men and women from their regions who daily ply their goods and services and trade freely among the Muslims and northerners are in support of their lopsided stir?

Can Nigeria ever remain one again with the senseless bombings and killings of the notorious Boko Haram and its dare devil suicide bombers? Are these people really Nigerians and sincerely have the country at heart? Has it also occured to them that they cannot really bomb all corners of Nigeria while other regions and its people fold their hands and succumb in defeat to their mayhem? Has it come to their mind that they have wasted many innocent souls and turned many children to orphans and various women to widows? Would other Nigerians agree to accept them in their fold and embrace their ideology and agitations? Or has it transpired in their minds that Nigerian being a federal nation with over hundred languages and different religious view will be difficult to stamp sectionalized ideas and specific doctrine on? Maybe it has not really registered on their minds that Islam actually emphasized that there should be no compulsion in religion.

And back to our self-centered politicians who have long been using the cheap idea of divide and rule to lord it over the people. I mean those men and women who see nothing wrong in regionalizing our democracy and instigating us against each other through myopic policy and selfish agendas. How can there ever be true development in Nigeria when most of them are championing different regional and tribal groups? How do we expect to see light in our homes, industries, factories, offices and streets when the whole exercise has been subjected to narrow-mindedness and corruption? Why should there be a stable fuel price and working refineries in the country when tribal and regional sentiments have overtaken the reality? How can we have good roads and efficient transport system when tribal and sectional interests are the top identity of those in charge? Can our educational sector ever be the same again given the massive corruption, maladministration, nepotism, sectional and tribal sentiment that have taken over our education ministry, schools and classrooms?

Will Nigeria ever be one again or are we silently falling to the prediction of disintegration as predicted by the western world and other modern day soothsayers? And if we are to take into consideration the various sectional, ethno-religious and political crises that has engulfed this hitherto one nation over the years, maybe one tends to take seriously these contemporary prophecy of a divided Nigeria in the nearest future.

The veracity of our present situation as a sentimentally divided people is noticeable in our social, economic and political lives. And until we learn how to appreciate ourselves irrespective of our social, religious and political differences, we shall never progress in our developmental drive. Until our sectionalized leaders and rulers brazen up and discard their myopic vision and learn how to fix the right pegs in the right holes will our roads ever be safe and good, our refineries will bounce back to life, our epileptic electricity stable and our economy truly vibrant.

I am still in Nigeria, but not the Nigeria that I grew up knowing as a one united federal nation, where the style of my clothes, my religion and my tribe meant nothing to anybody, but rather the fact that I am a Nigerian gave me that privilege of living and working anywhere nature pushes me to. This, unlike what we now have across the country today, where narrow-minded people have taken over our hitherto one nation under the sun.

st century a governor of a state could disgracefully retrench hundreds of so-called non indigenes from his state civil service and blindly expect unity among his Ibo brothers and sisters across the other states in the south-east and south –south. In my view I think people like Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, who is where he is today as a result of the people should never be allowed to hold another high position in this country again. His cheap action has exposed him as a sectionalized leader without a nationalist view.