A note from a friend……are we willing to make the change for the benefit of our children????
My dear friends, peers and colleagues in the “Project Nigeria”, Happy Golden Jubilee in advance. Please permit me the honour of writing you to share a piece of my mind. I hope you hear me out.
I am sure like me, you have heard your earful of the “Good old days” of Nigeria;of the so-called “glorious days”, when food was cheap and available, the streets cleaner, education of better quality and standard, and companies practically begged graduates to work with them, …
I am sure you have heard these tales, too many times, and you even wondered atimes, if these tales were true or just the imagination of our elders. I guess like me, that the only thing that gave credence to these tales, were probably because you heard them from your parents and other people you hold in high esteem.
Recently,I listened to a similar tale of how: Chickens were served in the cafeterias of our Universities, and how strikes either by ASUU, NASU etc. were never imagined, how students got grants for further studies easily. At some point, I just closed my ears, not out of disrespect, but the truth is I have heard these so much, that I am tired of hearing them. Not because I don’t want to day dream of the “Near- Perfect” Nigeria of yester years where everything worked, but because I am angry that I don’t have these in my days.
I am angered further by the fact those who tell these tales are our parents, who enjoyed and benefited from those “good old days”, but now leave so little for us to enjoy. They met a “Nigeria Ship” filled with so much luxury, but are bequeathing an almost sinking ship to us.
Maybe like me, you are angry too. Angered by the realization that our generation may not have so much fantastic tales to tell our children. No tales of free education, spiced with great meals, No “uninterrupted” academic years, or certainty of admission into the university or immediate employment.
Perhaps you are further angered knowing that we can only tell our children and those yet unborn, of how our systems hardly worked, of how “billions” were stolen without remorse, how elections were rigged with great impunity or how leaders abused their offices, how we had to spend “extra- years” in the university for no fault of ours, or how we sat in the wilderness, while waiting for the”almighty JAMB” or for an “offer letter”, just to have a job, no matter how demeaning.
Yes, I am angry just like you, but that’s not why I am writing you my dear friends.I am not writing to point accusing fingers at any group of persons. Rather, I am writing because I believe our “glorious days”, shouldn’t be in our past, bu tin our future. We should be able to tell our kids, how lucky they are to have a beautiful country where everything works, because in our time nothing worked.We should be able to tell them how we rescued the wayward ship called Nigeria,and got it back on the right track.
Sothis letter, isn’t about our Parents, or our present leaders. It is about “Us”,the youths, “my generation”, what are we ready to offer to re-write ou rhistory. Or are we going to continue to sit on the fence, folding our hands,and complaining of the so many things that have gone wrong.
My friends, we must rise above the tribal and religious sentiments that have held back our country for so long. The fear that have held us captive, and the mediocrity that have almost wrecked the “ship” called Nigeria. We can do more and we MUST DO MORE! Our children would not accept any excuses, lest they end disillusioned and angry like we are now.
Thefirst step is CHANGE! I am not talking about changing the nation yet, but changing ourselves. We must vow to do things right: “Take our studies right andexcel credibly, stand up for truth, fairness and justice; no more “yahoo yahoo”; make no compromises in standards, and give our best in whatever we do,especially for the growth of our nation.
Iguess some of us are already screaming, “Why must the change start from us”? After all, we are not the ones that damaged the country. That’s true, but I am thinking of the future. You can’t make a great leader, when you are elected,unless you have built a value system (of great leaders) over the years. In summary, “you cannot give, what you don’t have”. The change this nation needs is “You” and “Us” collectively. Imagine if we were all patriotic, tolerant of each other, hard working and worked for the growth of our nation. We would no longer be “Paper giants”. But the true giants of Africa.
However,before we get to leadership positions, we must in the meantime show more interest in who become our leaders, and how do they. You know I laugh, when I hear many of us say: They are not interested in politics. The Obama Presidential story may not have been possible, if so many youths had not overcome their apathy for politics, and came out to register and vote. We have so much power, we must use it. Lets come out to vote in 2011, and also stay back to ensure our votes count. No thug can take on us all! Good enough many of us who would be “corpers” then, would be fully engaged in administering the elections, I hope we live above aboard and ensure that the votes count, or would we be like our elders we complain of?
I may sound like a broken record, but the truth is like you, I want a great future for my unborn kids. I wouldn’t want to explain to them why most things aren’t working. I believe our generation must not fail. We must halt the downward slide of our nation, and stabilize the sinking ship. We must eschew those things that separate us and come together for a new and more glorious Nigeria.
So as we begin our 50th Anniversary Celebration, let’s not get carriedaway by the 10 billion naira festivities,but take out time to reflect on what we can do for our nation. Let’s ask ourselves truthfully, if given the opportunity would we be better than the current crop of leaders and parents, or are we going to enrich ourselves even more than them?
I believe we can do better even with all the negativity, so lets begin to write a new chapter of our nation’s history, that has the glory in the present, and even more glory in the future OR would you abandon the sinking ship, all because it doesn’t concern you.
Thank you friends for taking out time to read. I hope we meet on the journey to the better days of our nation.
God bless Nigeria!!!
your friend in the “New Nigeria”
ONYIDO, CHIBUZOR P.
