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Nigeria nears her make or break point. Back then when the soldiers were in power, everyone wanted the return of a democratic government. No one would have thought we will be where we are now today but that's the way life is.
Nigeria has to be one of the most unfortunate countries, not because her people are not intelligent. Nigerians are creative and innovative. Unlucky Nigeria has never had the right leaders. Probably the right-thinking Nigerians are not interested in politics, maybe they are trying but the touts are too dominant, or the right-thinking Nigerians change after all. The worst scenario is if no Nigerian actually has a good mind ( I doubt but its not impossible considering the experiences we have had).
We should be more concerned about the future than about the present or the past. The mind of almost every youth, of almost every little kid out there already works like that of a typical Nigerian politician.
I had an experience back in secondary school that signifies the extent corruption has infiltrated the young Nigerian's mind.
French wasn't a popular subject in school, many of us used to refer to French in Yoruba as "Ede kede ti iya mi ati baba mi ko gbo ti won fi ipa ko mi" meaning "French is the nonsensical language none of my parents understands but I'm being forced to learn in school". The Principal wanted us to understand French so she stylishly got us a young French teacher with great flair for teaching to encourage us to like the subject. Not like we didn't have French teachers already, just that they could not get us to like the subject.
On arrival, the new French teacher started what he called French Students' Association to grab our attention. It did work, everyone was talking about it for weeks. Two students (a boy and a girl) volunteered to be President, so an election was to take place.
Only French students were allowed to vote, loads of students joined the French classes again then left after the election(Typical of Nigerians). I opted not to go back to French classes so was resigned to role of a spectator until...
The male presidential candidate came to me and asked me to be his campaign manager. I accepted his offer, it was the perfect chance to be a part of the fun that was unfolding. I don't know what made me think like that but I did. I told the guy to buy biscuits,sweets and and give students. The strategy was effective because most voters were on his side before the election.
The girl didn't give gifts to students so had very few supporters. I thought she was going to resign. But her few supporters shocked everyone at the time of election. After voting took place, my candidate was announced the winner. A section of the voters (J.S.S 1 students) tried to cheat. It was impossible to submit more than one tiny sheet with the name of your choice candidate on it, the young students allegedly folded more than one tiny sheet inside a bigger one.
I think I should be ashamed of the role I played in that story but at least I know better now. I'm sure most people have had similar experience.
Just how many Nigerian youths and kids stand a chance to be useful to the country tomorrow. Statistics revealed that about 10.5 million Nigerian kids are out of school(the world has 57 million kids out of school). You can see how much Nigeria is responsible for illiteracy in the universe. Most of the out-of-school children are from Northern Nigeria.
No country builds her future in this manner. You can't have at least one out of every four kids roaming the streets and expect a better tomorrow. So much pain inflicted on the children, do you call that building the future? The insensitivity of the Government to matters like this has already yielded fruits (Terrorism). Nobody has ever cared about the many children in the North roaming the streets. Some of them have grown over the years into terrorists. When no one cares for the children on the streets, their parents have no source of livelihood, some get low wages so what do you expect? Engineers? Doctors? Who takes the blame?
Instead of the Government to make significant efforts to correct the situation the presidency has opted to waste all their time on issues that do not concern the masses. I will save my rants for the future as Mr. Fakuade's tweets have done a bit for me.
Optimistic Nigerians still believe Nigeria will be great one day while the pessimists have ruled out Nigeria's slightest chance to be a success story. Nigeria, a nation whose growth has been hampered by corruption and tribal and religious differences. Nigeria, the nation that refused to resist the rogues from moulding her, so weak, so vulnerable. Nigeria, where the sun sets in the morning, whose people have learnt to endure whatever hardship. Nigeria is a nation anxiously and practically waiting for her dying day.
This is the time to start thinking of the future. I refuse to be pessimistic about the future of my country. I will never admit Nigeria's future is dead but I've to admit the future is dying. Nigerians have to wake up! Be sensitive to national issues! Voice out against bad governance!
Things are bad now... but we need to fear more for our future!!!
Nigeria has to be one of the most unfortunate countries, not because her people are not intelligent. Nigerians are creative and innovative. Unlucky Nigeria has never had the right leaders. Probably the right-thinking Nigerians are not interested in politics, maybe they are trying but the touts are too dominant, or the right-thinking Nigerians change after all. The worst scenario is if no Nigerian actually has a good mind ( I doubt but its not impossible considering the experiences we have had).
We should be more concerned about the future than about the present or the past. The mind of almost every youth, of almost every little kid out there already works like that of a typical Nigerian politician.
French wasn't a popular subject in school, many of us used to refer to French in Yoruba as "Ede kede ti iya mi ati baba mi ko gbo ti won fi ipa ko mi" meaning "French is the nonsensical language none of my parents understands but I'm being forced to learn in school". The Principal wanted us to understand French so she stylishly got us a young French teacher with great flair for teaching to encourage us to like the subject. Not like we didn't have French teachers already, just that they could not get us to like the subject.
On arrival, the new French teacher started what he called French Students' Association to grab our attention. It did work, everyone was talking about it for weeks. Two students (a boy and a girl) volunteered to be President, so an election was to take place.
Only French students were allowed to vote, loads of students joined the French classes again then left after the election(Typical of Nigerians). I opted not to go back to French classes so was resigned to role of a spectator until...
The male presidential candidate came to me and asked me to be his campaign manager. I accepted his offer, it was the perfect chance to be a part of the fun that was unfolding. I don't know what made me think like that but I did. I told the guy to buy biscuits,sweets and and give students. The strategy was effective because most voters were on his side before the election.
The girl didn't give gifts to students so had very few supporters. I thought she was going to resign. But her few supporters shocked everyone at the time of election. After voting took place, my candidate was announced the winner. A section of the voters (J.S.S 1 students) tried to cheat. It was impossible to submit more than one tiny sheet with the name of your choice candidate on it, the young students allegedly folded more than one tiny sheet inside a bigger one.
I think I should be ashamed of the role I played in that story but at least I know better now. I'm sure most people have had similar experience.
57million people the world over are out of school; 10.6million of them are from #Nigeria. That is twice the size of Singapore. #NigeriaSeun Fakuade is a good Nigerian, the founder of The Bootcamp programme and Beacons. I opted to embed some of his tweets in my article because our opinions are the same here. I know he won't mind.
— 'Seun Fakuade (@seunfakze) July 13, 2013
Just how many Nigerian youths and kids stand a chance to be useful to the country tomorrow. Statistics revealed that about 10.5 million Nigerian kids are out of school(the world has 57 million kids out of school). You can see how much Nigeria is responsible for illiteracy in the universe. Most of the out-of-school children are from Northern Nigeria.
The implications of abandoning our children and subjecting them to sub-standard learning will haunt my generation. #Nigeria
— 'Seun Fakuade (@seunfakze) July 12, 2013
Who cares? They dont give a damn about this children, so long as their own can study abroad and are insulated from the rippling effect
— 'Seun Fakuade (@seunfakze) July 12, 2013
No country builds her future in this manner. You can't have at least one out of every four kids roaming the streets and expect a better tomorrow. So much pain inflicted on the children, do you call that building the future? The insensitivity of the Government to matters like this has already yielded fruits (Terrorism). Nobody has ever cared about the many children in the North roaming the streets. Some of them have grown over the years into terrorists. When no one cares for the children on the streets, their parents have no source of livelihood, some get low wages so what do you expect? Engineers? Doctors? Who takes the blame?
Instead of the Government to make significant efforts to correct the situation the presidency has opted to waste all their time on issues that do not concern the masses. I will save my rants for the future as Mr. Fakuade's tweets have done a bit for me.
Optimistic Nigerians still believe Nigeria will be great one day while the pessimists have ruled out Nigeria's slightest chance to be a success story. Nigeria, a nation whose growth has been hampered by corruption and tribal and religious differences. Nigeria, the nation that refused to resist the rogues from moulding her, so weak, so vulnerable. Nigeria, where the sun sets in the morning, whose people have learnt to endure whatever hardship. Nigeria is a nation anxiously and practically waiting for her dying day.
This is the time to start thinking of the future. I refuse to be pessimistic about the future of my country. I will never admit Nigeria's future is dead but I've to admit the future is dying. Nigerians have to wake up! Be sensitive to national issues! Voice out against bad governance!
Things are bad now... but we need to fear more for our future!!!
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