1st of October 1960 was a day of festivity in Nigeria, that day, the mood in Nigeria changed. We were free from the shackle of oppression; the albatross of colonization was removed at last. Eureka! Free at last we all mimed consciously and unconsciously. On that day the green white green flag was hoisted for the first time and the Union Jack and its hues of oppression was lowered and relegated to the annals. The national anthem was changed to “…Nigeria we hail thee” instead of “… God save our gracious Queen.”
The mood from Potiskum to Ibadan, Ogoja to Lagos where the actual fete held, was that with self governance -the arbitrary display of injustice, misuse of wealth, brandishing of superiority, and insensitivity to the plight of Nigeria (ns) – would be things of the past.
The feeling was so electrifying, the dreams, so livable and the prophecies, so believable, who would have been a doubting Thomas then, with the potpourri of intellectual property and resources in varying fields and endeavor.
What better sums up the feel and flurry at independence, than this quote from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa:
“… this is a wonderful day, and it is all the more wonderful because we have waited it with increasing patience , compelled to watch one another overtaking us on the road on the road when we had so nearly reached our goal. But now we have acquired our rightful status, and I feel sure that history will show that the building of our nation proceeded at the wisest pace: it has been thorough, and Nigeria now stands well-built upon firm foundations”.
Years later, on the 1st of October, 2010 precisely when we celebrated our missed opportunities, sorry Golden Jubilee, after 50 years of nationhood and self governance we all concurred that we had not gotten it right, the promises, unfilled; dreams, unrealized and visionaries, disillusioned. But with the characteristic, unique Nigerian mentality, we still believed that all will be well. The juggernauts, the think-tanks, the government propagandists, all felt that we had spent the first 50 years of being a sovereign state learning, making our mistakes and encountering teething troubles.
The second half would be better as we march onwards to our centennial, we will get it right. Arbitrary display of injustice, misuse of wealth, brandishing of superiority, insensitivity to the plight of Nigeria will all go into oblivion.
Eureka at last and again the beckon of hope were radiant!
Two years after that celebration, all the problems that have sired us as a nation are still rocking the boat and stirring the hornet nest. At no time in our existence as a nation has the nation been so bedeviled with problems as now, and at no time have the things we accused our colonial masters of, now being used against Nigerians by Nigerians.
Allegations call for facts to clear the air!
300 Nigerians lost their lives in a plane crash, due to negligence, profit maximization et al by some shrewd airline executives who were duly briefed of the airworthiness of the plane. A subsequent ban, and much later after the dust begin to settle, a government minister comes out to offer a technical apology to the guilty saying, “We suspended… their license in error”.
After all, 300 hundred chickens just died, and illiterate Nigerians do not have the parameters (that baloney too many except government apologist doesn’t sound like arbitrary display of power)
More evidence, New Year’s Day, government wakes up after bamboozling us for months, only to increase the price of petrol by 200%, in a nation where well over 70% of the population is enmeshed in poverty. This act leads to a peaceful protest by the oppressed and miffed, a violent Assad like crackdown on protesters by government forces led to the killing and maiming of scores. After arm-twisting labour, the benevolent government increases from a paltry N70 to a meager N97 (that sounds like loving the masses to the government and insensitivity to the plight of the populace to the ordinary citizens), in a nation where most state government have failed to implement the government approved minimum wage for civil servants.
Allegations beg for fact, cases abound in plethora!
Government policies continue to initiate more citizens into the poverty club, thank God, sensible reasoning prevailed and we were able to avert the redenomination/restructuring of the Naira, at least for now.
Playing politics with the growing cases of insecurity in the nation, turning youths and the hungry into viable and ready recruits for terrorist, kidnap gang etc. all goes to satisfy the query that we are in ‘goodluck’ with ill times.
The allegations are many, the irrefutable facts are also many, but at 52 should we just continue to whine, wobble and fumble, live in a fool’s paradise, play father Christmas when we are so poor at home, becloud our sense of judgment believing our self to be the best when even smaller African nations are getting the better of us in all spheres and are laughing at us behind our backs.
The answer is no, and the obvious step is not to count our blessings, the resources which have been misused or zillions that is being siphoned abroad in the corridors of power on a daily basis.
It’s all about getting the “unfeelable” right!
The giant step to take is so simple, let the life of the single Nigerian be worth more than all the precious stones in this world, the advice and the yearnings of the masses be craved and heeded, only then can we tackle all our seemingly insurmountable problems and then truly show our colonial masters that our own animal farm is better than theirs and then can we say bye bye to the plague of arbitrary display of injustice, misuse of wealth, brandishing of superiority, insensitivity to the plight of Nigeria.
Only then can we shout Eureka! Eureka!! Eureka at last!!!
Written by Abass Ogundipe