Dear Nigeria,
I remember when I first realized something wasn’t right. I had just started my first year in the university and I had stopped by the ATM. The queues were so long. I stood there for a good number of hours and still didn’t get to withdraw any money. Resources lost: Time, energy and more.
I’m not quite sure what is it that makes us adjust to the never-ending suffering you dish out. Maybe it’s how used to being in the dark we are or perhaps maybe it’s because we’ve heard a lot of “things will never change”, “nothing works in this country” or the most popular “it is well”. That one really irks me. It is not that we are confessing positively. It is that we have resigned to the faith that is being created by the humans you have allowed to rule.
So, as a child you automatically become ‘cool’ with the no power supply, bad roads and the depletion of the economy as if to say that was okay. I mean that’s all our mind has been trained to know. How could we ever grasp that there was a world that things actually worked?
I would like to ask, was I in error to believe that you will be better? Was I in out of my mind to ever stand up to defend you? Were your children deceiving themselves to fight for you? To die for you?
The results of the #endSARS protest woke a number of us up. It wasn’t just about putting a stop to the harassment of your youth. It was the pain, the hunger, the suffering, the injustice. Alas, it was decided that we waited for the ’23 elections. And though coming from the hurt of opening fire on your children, we did wait…
I remember waking up on the day of the elections with so much hope. I remember doing everything I could to make sure I would make my vote count. Get my voters card (no matter how difficult they made it), preach the ‘gospel’ to ensure people voted and of course say my prayers. In the end, I remember how that hope slowly seeped away. How I woke up to the news the following days later that a man who we clearly did not want, who we clearly did not vote for was to be the new President.
I have to ask, now what? Do we just continue to sweep things under the carpet? Act like nothing is wrong? Do we just accept this madness? Do we just, adjust?
I don’t know how to put into words the feelings that have come up in the past couple of months. I write this because I honestly do not know. If I were given a magic wand to actually fix the problems of you. Where do I start from? The people who know what is right but act in the negation? The ones that have promised us the world but give us something close to hell? Or do I just take up Thanos’ strategy and wipe out half of your people? I do not know.
Dearest Nigeria, you have proven to be way bigger than me. You have managed to come into the small world I have created for myself and destroyed that too. I am not exactly sure what you want. I am finding it hard to understand your purpose. To understand why you and why the ones you chose to be here with you.
The change starts with you and I but afterwards, what next? What do we do with the million others? What do we do with those that have sworn to be our arch nemesis yet go free? What do we do with those that think you were created for them and the rest of us can burn? What do we do?
Which way Nigeria? Which way?
“”There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.
-Chinua Achebe
2 Comments
This is such a good read!
I’m sure so many of us have found ourselves asking the same questions you asked in recent times. From which way Nigeria to why are we even here? It’s like every ounce of hope is constantly being drained from our beings and even those of us who know that we can rise above our environment still can’t help getting sucked into it…
I would say it is well to end this but who am I kidding. It really isn’t well right now and comfort blanket promises have lost their comfort. Nigeria does feel like a pressure cooker about to pop…
I only pray that this pressure will eventually birth diamonds because as a wise man said “sometimes it is through pain that we grow..” but we have been through so much pain as a nation so I really wonder how much pain would be enough to eventually cause a change…
May God help us all.
Nicely said. May God help us all. Thank you for always stopping by.❤️