The State Of The Nation

Growing up, I was surrounded by people who were quite knowledgeable about the things that had happened in their time. The same applies to the history of the nation before they were born. These people including my father never hesitate to share what they know with others and I am a big benefactor of this many times. I believe that was how my love for history was birthed.

All these stories, true enough all have one major thing in common. It preaches how my country was once the best thing that could have happened to anyone or any country. And things have been going down the slope for a long time now and getting back to that track can not happen in our lifetime – if it will happen.

As they say, those who do not know history are bound to repeat it. But I tell you, even those who know it wholeheartedly deliberately want to make it happen again. The leaders are mostly concerned about their interests above that of those who they went or came to represent in government. I am not limiting that to those in the political space alone. You know how your class captain does, or your senior colleague in charge of a bunch of you up to the governor of a state.

In as much as with my little knowledge, I see how people say that our present leaders are no good, I say in my mind that these so-called leaders are just offshoots of those who had done theirs long before us. I believe it is safe to say that whatever crime, societal decay, or leadership incompetence have all happened in the past and they were not curbed or reprimanded, hence it ventured into our time here in the present. This implies if those things are left untouched, they will still exist in the future.

Infrastructure is falling apart, corruption is now the order of the day, the masses are left with little or no consideration, and our currency is being pounded by the huge fist of inflation… Oh my! The issue of security is not left out. It just seems as though all the odds are just with us. Even though in all this, we are striving. You know, adaptation is one strong ability of humans.

With the way things are going, I honestly do not see it being better but getting worse than it is. It will be better if it could even be stagnant, I mean things could just be like this and not get worse. Those who want to effect change on a large scale and publicly are cut off with incessant arrests or questioning, everyone is keeping quiet. Why won’t we? When the mighty ones are bearing the bad brunt. Who are we, the barely surviving ones? The youths in my country are trying their best to say something but not without hiding under the wings of social media from a corner of their rooms. I do underestimate the power of social media but I believe meaningful changes will occur when we start to do or change things positively in the physical space.

Nevertheless, we are not one to lose hope. Although hope could be dangerous in the long run we can still take chances. I believe things will change for the better in my country IF positive steps are taken. Starting from the leaders, a real and serious change in their hearts in the true meaning of democracy such that the welfare of those you are representing in government comes before anything. When this happens, it will stop the normal showbiz - gross disrespect - that happens just some months after the election when they come with sugar-coated mouths and still repeat what was said some years ago when they needed similar want. Also, with the citizens’ interests at heart, they will not want to do things that will hurt them. Like now, I have been home for about 5 months now due to the federal university lecturers’ strike nationwide.

In government, when there is a platform by which citizens could voice their opinion directly without fear of harassment of any sort, then we are getting ready for true business. I know humans are prone to abuse freedom. But the freedom of speech and press is not something that is not germane to the growth of a nation.

Lastly, change begins with us. There is no one person called the government. They are humans like us over there. So when there is a change of heart and attitudes to the positive sides, it will definitely remain so when they get into office. So the more lives having positive changes, the more positive participation, and subsequent nationwide growth.