Is there Hope for Nigeria? - Chinedu Opara

By Chinedu Opara - There is no doubt that many Nigerians have wondered and are still wondering where the nation is heading to and if there is any hope for recovering from the present problems. Any nation weighed down the way we are by the enormity of problems confronting us should worry for its future! Nigerians follow the politically correct nuance of referring to problems as challenges. Good! But where challenges are not confronted and dealt with, they remain problems! These challenges could be seen as: issues of security of life and property, political stability, economic development, degraded infrastructure of power, transportation, educational and health facilities; all pervasive corruption and excessive greed and self-seeking amongst the three tiers of government, unresponsive governance and growing pessimism amongst the vast majority of the country’s population. Yes I am Young, But since I was born and come of age to know right and wrong, I have continuously been hearing of Nigeria’s glory in the past! I can’t help but wonder where it all went wrong. Was Nigeria ever really the giant of Africa? What really happened? Given the level of individual and group self-seeking, and pessimism about our country, the real questions to ask today are: Are there true Nigerians left out there? Are there believers in Nigeria out there? What are the values on which this country is rooted? Are there people standing up for such values? Corruption and infrastructural deficit, failure of educational and health institutions and the prevalent insecurity are symptoms of a citizenry that has turned its back on the nation. The problems confronting us today are symptoms of lack of belief in any value and indeed, a resistance to all laws that protect our common citizenship while we pursue self and group aggrandizement. Young people only care about their stomach. No jobs for the Youth. Maybe things has worked before now, But it is not accurate Nigerians have abandoned merit, law and order, and is aggressively pursuing obsessive tribal, religious, sectional and regional interest. This is even more prevalent among our Youths. Leaving me to wonder what the future of Nigeria will be. The Nigeria I see today is no more than a goat owned by all but no one takes responsibility to feed it. Everybody wants to milk the public goat for self-enrichment. It is, therefore, unrealistic to expect that the economy would not collapse under such mindless rapacity that has unleashed on us politics of do-or-die. Thus, yesterday’s champions of nationalism are today’s strident ethnic champions. People I looked up to are now Fans of individuals just cause of politics. These ethnic champions are proud of their role. Some are celebrated and bestowed with our national honours for being ethnic nationalists while the young tow that line to achieve likewise! Can you feel the shame? Any nation where a few or any group places its interest above everybody else’s or above the nation, any nation where the operating philosophy is everyone to himself, nothing can work. And so it has not worked for us and even that which worked in the past if at all it did have been lost to selfishness and excessive greed. It is unrealistic, in fact, a pretence, to think that once our self or group interest is taken care of, Nigeria will be okay. That has not happened; that cannot happen. The Nigeria that will work for any individual or group is a Nigeria that works for all! Man is the only agent of change for good or bad. The economy of a nation can collapse and the citizens take collective responsibility and rebuild it. But any nation where the citizenry is destroyed by excessive greed, self-seeking, loses the capacity for self renewal. That is the reason why Nigeria is reeling from crisis to crisis. That is why we have gone from a strong economy to a weak economy. Our oil resources, notwithstanding. That is why all the fine documents, from Vision 2010 to 20:2020, have failed to transform our economy. That is why every aspect of our national life has collapsed. That is why we have gone from being the giant of Africa to a whimpering mouse. Just yesterday We topped Africa’s Economy, today President Buhari is crying of empty treasury with Billions of dollars deficit. Nigeria is being shot to pieces and we are sitting, hoping for a miracle to stop it. No people have paid so much lip service to their country like Nigerians. Whatever Nigeria is today is what we made of it. Whatever Nigeria is not today is what we have failed to make of it. It is absolutely in our hands. Can President Buhari make the difference? Can he rise above himself, to put Nigerians to work for Nigeria? Can President Buhari reinvent the Nigerian citizenship that is patriotic and passionate about our country? I believe in Nigeria