NIGERIA; IS LIFE GETTING BETTER? THE WAY FORWARD

IS LIFE GETTING BETTER? THE WAY FORWARD

Hmm, Nigeria! Years ago, I know how things were; in primary school, I would be given #20 for my snacks and it was OK. At exactly 11.30am when the school bell rings for break time. My friend and I would run out of the class quickly to buy #10 orange fan milk drink and #10 puff-puffs, which then was ok for a normal person for the rest of the day. But who can be happy with that now? Is LIFE GETTING BETTER?

      Let us look back as far as 30yrs ago, making reference to Obafemi Awolowo University ile-ife. I heard the story from one of our present generation leaders, that when he was a student at OAU, he usually queue every morning in his hall (i.e. hostel hall) to receive full chicken and assorted tea as breakfast with a cheap school fee. Where is that now? Is life getting better? After, some years when a new management came in control, the full chicken was reduced to half chicken, that was when OAU had its first strike; as the years goes by it reduces to nothing not even a fish bone. Is life getting better?

Still making reference to oau, structures like Awolowo Hall, Fajuyi Hall, Moremi Hall, Amphi Theater, Oduduwa Hall, Senate Building, Spider Building are great architectural design built using accurate proportions of building materials in order for it to be strong and long lasting. Where in Nigeria now can we have such mighty, beautiful and long lasting structures? Is Life getting better?

Let us leave oau, come to Ibadan, where we have cocoa house, one of the tallest building if not the tallest in Oyo state. It was built about 30-40 yrs ago and it is still strong and magnificent. The Nigeria we have today is a Nigeria where structures built collapses after a year or two. Is Life getting better?

Let us look at our Educational sector, about 20 years ago, Nigerian universities were one of the best universities in Africa; researches were excellent, structure were strong and large, environments were beautiful and neat, the academic standard were matched with international standards. What do we have now? Imagine a university that is one of the best universities in Nigeria and in its Engineering faculty, more than half of its students do not know what it takes to be an engineer reason being that those lecturing are not engineers themselves. Where on earth, can a non-engineer train an engineer in embryo; it’s so sadden. Is Life getting better?

Still on our educational sector, we are at a point, that we have to spend extra years in school because of some nonsense and useless strikes that can be avoided or controlled. Is Life getting better? I remember when I was in secondary school; public schools were part of the best schools in the country competing with private schools even with some international schools. Even most of our so called leaders attended public school and they know how it was then. Now! Public schools are not schools at all, poor environment, lazy teachers, poor maintenance, unconcerned government, more like a day care for teenagers to avoid them roaming the streets. Is Life getting better?

Our power sector is another challenge, ever since I have been born, have not seen electrical light hold for more than 10 hours except in Obafemi Awolowo University environment. It has gotten to a stage that if there is electricity for more than 10 hours a day, we would be scared and be praying that they take the light off because we would pay by not having light for the next two or more weeks after. It is that bad! Is Life getting better?

Don’t let me bore and get you angry about our present with our past. It is obvious, that life in Nigeria is not getting better, so many articles and comments have being written concerning Nigeria and about her leadership. But still, things have not changed. CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION!! CORRUPTION!!! Nigeria was flowing with milk and honey and bathed in the light of God’s good grace, and then the greedy heart, the meaning look that demands in secret have curdled the milk and saddened the honey and turned the land to desolation. The land is now a dunghill with air filled with a smell of rot and feast of maggot in it. Things have gotten worse! Nobody can be trusted! Even if pastor Adeboye, a person I believe is the most respected personnel in Nigeria, becomes the president and comes up with a policy that he believes to make Nigeria better and that same policy makes Nigerians cry and complain without understanding how the policy can make Nigeria better. Pastor Adeboye would be very wrong to go on with the policy because the principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, nobody nor individual nor group of individuals may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation; and who is the nation? The citizens are the nation! Therefore any policy brought up by the government must be largely endorsed by the citizens of the country. If not, the policy should be null and void. The foundation of democracy is the people. No matter how brilliant an idea or policy is, if the citizens dislike it, the democratic thing to do is to set it aside or convince them that the policy is in their best interest beyond any form of doubt. Even the president of the United States of America, Barrack Obama had to go from one American city to another to sell his health policy to the people.