Today is known for the independence of Nigeria, October 1st, 1960 Nigeria got her independence from the British colonial and became an independent country which today marks the 62nd year of Nigeria's independence.
WHAT CAN WE SAY SINCE NIGERIA GOT HER INDEPENDENCE?
I guess this is the question many Nigerians will be asking themselves today, a question we have no answer to all these years, a question our leaders cannot provide an answer to, a question many Nigerians didn't understand, a question that had left many Nigerians dumbfounded but let us reason together what we can say for the past sixty-two (62) years. Nigeria is a country blessed with lots of mineral resources, a country blessed with talented individuals, and one of the most powerful countries in West Africa, that is all we can say but despite all these listed qualities Nigeria is still considered a developing country that is a country that still needs tutelage to do things, a country that still needs spoon feeding but why is it so?
WHY IS IT SO?
A question begotten another question, we will say Nigeria is a well-populated country, yes she is, Nigeria has lots of educated citizens, of course, yes, Nigeria also has lots of entrepreneurs oh yes she does why then is she still considered as a developing country? Nigeria is a developing country because we fail to maximize the opportunities of the great resources we are endowed with, we fail to live in unity, peace, and harmony and we fail to realize that the government alone cannot successfully rule the country if there is no support from its citizens. Most of the problems we face in Nigeria today are not 100 percent the government's fault, we as citizens also contributed to the problems, people will ask me how?
HOW?
As citizens, we contributed to the problems by selling our votes for a meager amount of money, we sell our future for two modules of rice, and we are ruining and soiling our dignity for t-shirts, face caps, and Ankara clothes. We voted into power those we know mean no good to us and still we supported them for the present forgetting the future which is the most important. Year after year the politicians come out with different manifestos just to entice the citizens and what do we do? we jumped at the offer not knowing it's a game and at the end of it we get punished for being foolish enough to have voted them into power. For 62 years Nigeria has been battling insecurity and up til this moment no positive result has been attained on how to fight and conquer insecurity, for 62 years Nigeria has been struggling economically yet no good report on our system it is still as worst as you can imagine, the education standards have been bastardized and no solution to it yet. The academic union are on strike for more than seven (7) months now and we don't know the result their next meeting will yield, what then are we celebrating?
WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING?
For now, I can't say we are celebrating any worthy achievement as an independent country rather we are celebrating years of slavery because a country still regarded as developing at 62 years is under slavery. In a country that produces millions of graduates every year and there is a massive lack of employment for the graduate which later results in truancy. We are celebrating the carelessness of our leaders versus the laziness of the citizens not all but 60 percent of the citizens. I remembered October 20, 2020, a day that will always be remembered by every genuine citizen and lover of Nigeria, that is the day of the end sars protest. A day where many lives were lost, a day where countless families were turned into mourning over the loss of their children, a day we were shocked as a nation, a day we were clearly shown we didn't have good leaders, a day that left a large number of people into life trauma but at the end, our voices were heard. We were able to put an end to sars, thieves under the disguise of police. We are celebrating insecurity, poverty, and lack of good governance over the past 62 years.
The end sars protest was one of its kind in Nigeria, it left no one behind both young and old came out to say no to police brutality. We all came out with one accord in all the states in Nigeria, many were killed in Lagos at the lekki toll gate in collaboration with the government we heard which was not supposed to be, that the government told us that they do not care about the lives of the citizens how can a government command an open fire against its citizens? How can the president of a country give 7minutes speech over such a disturbing matter? Yet the citizens succumb to their commands but we make sure we put an end to sars brutality in the country.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
We all cannot be in power but we can make a change right from the grassroots level we are, don't sell your votes, do not get involved in political apathy, and don't wait for the government to do the little things you can come together and do as citizens. Don't wait for the government to provide job opportunities create jobs yourselves, don't rely so much on the government for social amenities you need create one and you will see that little by little the good change will begin with you and everyone will help the government in making Nigeria into a developed country and we will all see the Nigeria we dreamt of over the years.
