I'm a medical student. I have been for 7 years now. Health care in Africa is one of the worse in the world. The second worse maybe South America. From what I've read in books about maternal mortality, the standard of care in the '60s. It must have been terrible then. Currently, maternal mortality rates are equivalent to European values in the '60s. This isn't a praise to our system of government or our healthcare system. It's just a statement to stress my point...that the world is getting better.
I'm not allowed to make my point in this post with world indices because if I do then people say the data in this matter is wrong. I'll still use the data but...just read.
When Chinua Achebe was in secondary school, he wrote WAEC and was the best student whether in the commonwealth countries or was it Nigeria. This is a reflection of the literacy rates in the country. There were only 2 universities in the whole country I think. Today (and correct me if I'm wrong) every state has a state university. That's without counting all the federal universities and private ones. Literacy rates are up. I would never applaud our government because they haven't provided basic amenities. But all this still stresses my point.
Corruption is a big issue in Nigeria today and it is more common for people to steal now than before. But to me, the biggest act of corruption wasn't done in this century. It was done in the '70s when the land use degree was put out by Gowon. One huge act of corruption aimed at enriching a few and suffering the people in Niger Delta till today still holds the country captive. Today if the president even tries to cough "no hate speech"...he has to swallow that mucus...I have God to thank for that... definitely not the government.
I will continue by saying that over the span of time...so many politicians and government officials grew with this same victim mentality that grips our country. I don't feel it does anybody any good to think this way.
Of course, there are evil people in power and we should work on getting them out. But what is more important is to start looking for traits that are more representative of the kind of leader we want.
Oh, also to add.... according to world indices... sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest-growing region in the world...it's not based on where we are but where we use to be compared to where we are.
World hunger is at an all-time low. In this day and age obesity is more likely to kill you than starvation.
But hey...if it makes it easier to read this post...I really don't think the government has anything to do with it. I strongly feel it has been the liberals in the country doing their best to keep the country accountable. People will say they haven’t done much and we deserve better. But, no one deserves anything unless it is demanded. Look at something as basic as human rights for example. The blacks in America had to fight to be seen as human beings in the land where they were born and raised. We deserve social amenities but saying we deserve it is not enough…closed mouths do not get fed.
But what do I know?
PEACE.