Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Nigeria @ 50- Day 7: Truth Or Dare!

"Nigeria at 50, Day 6 - Tomi http://www.olaoluwatomi.blogspot.com/

Lot of times I have sat down and ponder on the situation in our once Great country Nigeria and mostly it’s usually about how we got to where we are.

When I have discussions with my friends and family about the situation, I get different perspectives about our where we are and where we are going in the country. I think the major issue we have in the country is that people don’t tell it as it is as long as they or their family is in Government, making money, living comfortably (Nigeria Standard) or collecting contracts and kickbacks from the government. We need to start by telling it as it is which is by accepting that nothing is getting better. We Nigerians, am sorry to say are hypocrites and I won’t say I am not guilty as well.

When I ask people how things are getting better in Nigeria, well they come up with statements like a lot of technology development has been achieved in the country and also a lot of foreign investors are in Nigeria now and yeah not really Nigeria but Lagos is better and the Lagos state Governor is doing great things and sooner or later the other states will take a cue from him. What are the great things he is doing that are making Lagos better will always be my next question. He did “some” roads, he is privatizing infrastructures so that they can be implemented etc.
So people are trying to tell me that a whole state government cannot fix and maintain a stretch of road but all they can do is lease it to an individual for 30yrs to make his money back from it.Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been leased to the an individual for the past 2yrs and he has not done anything on the road because he said he does not have money yet to fix it."Go figure" “Folks also come up with this excuse that actually pisses the pants off me that we always expect the government to do everything for us in Nigeria”

The first question I ask then is - Since majority of us are educated, it is very simple, “What is the definition of a Government?” gathering from all sources “A Government of a country, State etc is an entity comprising of people entrusted by the people to regulate the law, provide security and provide basic amenities (Health System, Education System, Electricity, Good Water & Good Roads) for the people that entrusted them there”. So looking at the Government of Nigeria, I really don’t see why we have one.

We have a lot of groups coming up that they are for the emancipation of the country from our failed leaders but the motives of the people in charge and interacting with the people in power cannot be determine. All we can do is urge and move along with them and see where the agenda lead us to. I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to a prominent woman whom I believe has enough wisdom to be able to advice about what is really happening in our country and she actually gave me a reality check about the situation.

She said and I quote “The generation leading us right now is very corrupt to its bones, and our generation (referring to my generation) is worse than the generation leading us now. Then the generation after us is worse than our generation”.

I sat down and thought about what she said and at a point I realized that she is right. The generation after our generation is the ones in primary and high school now and their drive and ambitions to be rich by any means is scary.

This same woman also said the greatest mistake we made in our country is that we allowed poverty to get to a level that to get back from that level will be a miracle and that at a point in time we stopped making the people we entrusted to lead us accountable but started making excuses for them.

Nigeria is a unique country on its own and I think we should stop trying to compare Nigeria to any other country. I always hear people comparing Nigeria to Ghana to which there is no basis of comparison in any aspect.

Accepting and telling how the situation is in the country is one of the major step for us to move forward as a nation.We have people in diaspora moving back to the country and talking about going back to help build the country,but none of these people move back to the country to go and serve and help build the already broken government.Nobody wants to serve as a civil servant right now but we expect the government to develop and move forward.

We already established that we don't have a maintenance culture in the country, so a lot of developed and repaired structures always end up the same way.Establishing a new technology in the country without the backbone to support this technology is not a way to develop or move the country forward.We always fail to build the foundation to support any new infrastructures that is being implemented because the government,people,foreign investor or entity that is implementing the infrastructure is just trying to make a quick buck as much as they can within a certain period of time.We always want to walk without crawling in Nigeria and this always set us back at the end of the day. Most of the time we as the citizens of the country get out priorities misplaced due to us trying to compete or meet up with the oppression from the other folks.

I am very sure some people reading this piece will be thinking that all I wrote about are just negatives about Nigeria, but the write-up is suppose to show how and what you feel about the situation in our country.Wish I could keep writing but I have to put up this post immediately.

The people of my country Nigeria is blessed in anyway you can ever imagine and that is the only reason we are still standing as far as I am concern and God has blessed the land with everything you can ever imagine.

"Nigeria at 50, Day 8 - Isha http://www.ishashotgist.blogspot.com

19 Comments:

At Thursday, October 07, 2010 6:32:00 AM, Blogger Spesh said...

Indeed,my people are blessed...powerful post :)
may we move forward in the next 50 years..

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 8:30:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"...stopped making.... (our leaders) ...accountable but started making excuses for them." the very reason why we have (& always demand) specifics that prospective leaders intend to achieve. Thereafter, hold them to it. How???

"...the only reason we are still standing...God...." and that is the very reason we need not lose hope.

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 8:35:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

***the very reason why we have to always demand specifics from our prospective leaders as well as what they intend to achieve.

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 8:44:00 AM, Blogger lamikayty said...

Your post is not negative but telling it as it is. If people could attend family meetings and instead of bowing obsequiously to people everyone knows has 'stolen' money, they instead stood up to them and told them to their face "We know the source of your wealth and we are not proud you are a family member" things would definitely get better.

Thank you for this slant to the golden tale!

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 8:46:00 AM, Blogger NaijaBloke said...

...at a point we started celebrating people with riches even if the source of the riches is by embezzling public funds instead of admonishing them...in our society today you are a nobody if you ain't loaded and I can say categorically that the loaded people in our society today got their loads from having something to do with public funds.

The norm today is that the easiest way to arrive(make quick money) is to hold a public post.

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 9:39:00 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I am sorry
But i am going to say it
You are so so negative

I'm sorry, i am a part of this generation
and i can proudly say i am not corrupt
That is 1
so your precious friend is wrong.

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 11:03:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

SPOT ON!!!. This is just accurate, what you wrote are the exact thoughts that run through my mind everyday. And just like the comment made above mine, a lot of Nigerians will say what you wrote is false and that we are making "progress". And your comments about Gov. Fashola are so true, the question I pose to all his die-hard supporters is "Can you build a house that will last a 100 years without first drawing the blueprints and building the foundation?"
I am almost writing an essay here, anyways the few of us that have not allowed the demise of Nigeria to allow us to accept mediocre bullshit as progress are the key.
Two words that every Nigerian needs to learn are STRATEGY and SUSTAINABILITY.

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 11:32:00 AM, Blogger HexyDre said...

You call this post negative? Haha, wait till you see what I think about the present Nigeria.
SPOT ON my brother, you hit the nail on the head with this one. I just got to realize how deluded a large number of Nigerians are of recent (October 1 to be precise), we are so insincere...even to ourselves.
We have a VERY LONG way to go but I have faith in Nigeria, I have so many things I would like to share and add but now is not the time, and here is not the place.
Once again, good one.

 
At Thursday, October 07, 2010 12:26:00 PM, Blogger isha said...

The woman you quoted may have to rephrase her statement. That is not entirely
True.

Nevertheless, we hold onto hope. It's Nigeria's lifeline.

Good work.

 
At Friday, October 08, 2010 4:20:00 AM, Blogger doll (retired blogger) said...

the lekki stretch... a very sore topic for me

 
At Friday, October 08, 2010 7:48:00 AM, Blogger Nonye said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At Friday, October 08, 2010 9:30:00 AM, Blogger Nonye said...

t would indeed take a miracle to get us out of the pit we are in and that miracle is you and I put together.

 
At Saturday, October 09, 2010 1:25:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"We need to start by telling it as it is which is by accepting that nothing is getting better." I totally disagree with this. What's your proof?
If you are living in Nigeria and you are saying this, then I don't think it's a fair statement. You aren't saying it as it is.
Yes I agree there are serious challenges, why? Because we don't have strong institutions and we've lost our value system. However, the institutions are improving..the courts are prosecuting. Cecilia Ibru was just convicted for fraud, Bode George has been in jail, Ibori is in soup, people's mandate are being restored by the election tribunals or so, journalists are talking, you can blog without being afraid, private universities are coming up, reforms are taking place in the banks albeit controversial, we have had transitions from one democratic government to another, people are getting jobs(yes) though there's still unemployment, entrepreneurs are springing up here and there albeit insignificant to you (the phone call girl in the street), mtn is declaring billions, the GDP figures improved, economic indicators improved, the naira is improving....growth and development take time especially when we don't have a strategic national plan in place... Do you live in Nigeria and you don't see these things? Then we are not talking it as it is.
Just my honest opinion.

 
At Monday, October 11, 2010 6:18:00 AM, Blogger Nutty J. said...

//The people of my country Nigeria is blessed in anyway you can ever imagine and that is the only reason we are still standing //

We are 50 and we are still standing...

Good one...

 
At Tuesday, October 12, 2010 8:36:00 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Everyone's got their opinions about what is progress. I believe in calling a spade, a spade. That one says Nigeria could defintely do better than the current state of affairs is not a negative comment. It is reality. It also does not mean that one has totally lost hope.

In order to move forward, we must first acknowledge where Nigeria is going wrong. Well done for putting forward the truth from your perspective.

 
At Friday, October 29, 2010 8:11:00 AM, Blogger The Activist said...

This post is very right on the tract! Negative, no way! If we cannot identify our problems, how do we intend to solve them?

 
At Friday, May 06, 2011 1:17:00 PM, Anonymous Mcjameh Money Transfer said...

Nigeria really has and is everything it needs. If the country can begin with using the technology that it already has-then establishing new technology can be implemented.

Most Nigerians who own business don't even understand the importance of having a website for their business; yet they have a facebook account!

 
At Saturday, June 04, 2011 11:36:00 AM, Anonymous bennie efemena ben-iriri said...

Truly a blessed land; just wished we were blessed with good leaders as well.

 
At Sunday, October 02, 2011 10:25:00 PM, Blogger Anya Posh said...

it's been a year since we saw you here. I hope you're doing alright. come back to us.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home