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Today bear with me, we will do a little
maths. I know many Nigerians hate addition and subtraction
that does not involve the Naira sign. If Nigeria were to be
a 50 year old woman, she would have had a grandchild by now.
From 1960-1990 she would have been 30 and married(pre 1970
girls married at early age) with over 6 years experience and
fruits of the womb (all things being equal) and this child
would have been old enough at 2009 to further reproduce.
But the Nigerian Nation which is 96 years (1914-2010) still
lives in denial about her true age and takes bearing from
when her “abusive husband” divorced her in 1960. From
whichever side of the divide you look at it Nigeria is too
old for her organs not to function well or at least to an
acceptable standard.
The first infrastructure in Nigeria that
has gone dead is the power sector, represented by the
almighty Power Holding Company, Never Expect Power Always
(NEPA) as it then was. Despite the billions of money voted
to give it a cosmetic surgery, the power situation in
Nigeria has gone progressively bad. Successive
administrations have been oiling this dead organ of mother
Nigeria with open deceit that with a little more money all
will be well. For over four months, most satellite towns in
Abuja had resulted to moon generated visibility to conduct
businesses and prepare for exams. Let no one tell me we
need time. 50 years after the near annihilation of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki by the first nuclear bomb, Japan celebrated 50
years of non interruption of power. If you think Japan is
too advanced, how about Ghana?
It is very crucial to get the power
situation right otherwise we will spend another 50 years
perambulating wondering where to find the match stick and
why the candle wax does not last all night. Let us pretend
to forget that millions of quality lives had been lost to
explosion of second hand generator sets and some of the
would be best brains had been charred by candle induced
inferno.
My generation-those below 50 and
dangerously close to 40, should stop asking questions about
situations in Nigeria and proffer solutions. Our fathers had
asked the questions, it is now a dare necessity that we must
find how post 50 year Nigeria can have Nuclear plant that
will generate power. Instead of planting trees to serve as
wind breakers, we should partner with nature and get her to
work for us. Where are those book worms that went abroad on
scholarship at tax payers’ money? Where are our scientists?
Where are those brilliant chaps shown on numerous NTA Kids
program? At this flash back, my heart weeps for my country.
We had and still have the ingredients for greatness; why are
we still haggard, malnourished while less blessed countries
are on the runway?
Although power sector is the super
structure of failures in Nigeria, another collapsed sector
of Nigeria, is the Health sector. Mother nature reminded us
of this when few weeks to the foolery called golden jubilee
celebration, cholera struck and took bright and promising
fruits for post 50 year Nigeria (enough grounds to cancel
the celebration) .The number of body bags of politicians
from hospitals abroad shows that the leadership of this
country has given up on restoring our health sector. We are
left to the mercy of divinations from herbalists who would
have developed the way GLND, Forever Living Product and all
roots imported from Asia if our leadership had gotten it
right.
The most comatose of Nigeria’s
infrastructures is Education. Nigerian leaders, who
benefitted from quality public school and even rioted over
shearing of chicken at meal times, are making sure that our
generation does not get an education that would liberate us.
They send their children abroad and operate a business
outfit called private schools and universities. Is there no
decade that the universities were not close down? Year in
year out Nigerian Universities are outstanding from the rear
on the list of top 100 Universities in the world. As they
celebrate 50 years, South-East Universities are grounded yet
our leaders are not shedding tears at their ineptitude.
Another failure after 50 years is the
inability of the country to forge into a nation. Our
ethnicity that would have united us had at every turn been
used by our leaders to divide us. When push comes to shove,
our leaders reminds us that you are either from the North or
South and that the deity you worship, is not the one
accepted by the majority, hence we are at war with our
brothers over the god of Ishmael and Isaac. The recourse to
this is because our leadership class, apart from those of
1960-1983 had not been able to produce a charismatic leader
that will fire our imaginations, galvanize us into one
indivisible and nation where although tribe and tongue must
differ but our brotherhood and faith in Nigeria will see us
through.
As we project into post 50 Nigeria, the
leadership class should tell us in what direction they are
navigating the affairs of this country and in no better way
would they do this other than a short term program. We are
tired of shifting the goal post for the availability of
basic amenities from 1990 to 2000 to 2010 to 2015 and now
2020. We are in a hurry to catch up, as our contemporaries
have left us behind.
©Che
Oyinatumba
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Published
September 23rd, 2010
