Jessica Paul
YOU ARE YOUR NATION
(NIGERIA)
Like a surname, the name of your nation CANNOT be dis-attached whenever your nationality is required. Your nationality is part of your identity. Whether it is perceived to be good or not, you are included. Just as you are expected to honor your parents, we were nurtured by them, so are you expected to honour your nationality. we have been groomed and brought up in the confines of your nation. we've been fed and developed in the land of our heritage. Like a Fathers name carries the status of the children, so does our nation imprint its status upon its citizens.
Who then is Nigeria?
You and I. The rich and the poor. The hungry and the well fed. The youths and the aged. Those with connections and those without connections. The carpenter, the trader, the hawker, the judges, the lawyers, the teachers, the doctors, the entertainers, the musician, the caterer, the author, the prostitute, the pastor, the president etc.
Why should Nigeria care for itself?
Like stated above, you and I are Nigeria(your nationality). Mr. Minister of Education, why bother yourself to send your children to the United Kingdom to study because of the better system of education when you are not sure if your children will still amount to anything useful? Mr. Governor and President, why seek medical services abroad while other Nigerians suffer same ailment and die due to poor medical setup in the country? Mrs Fashion Designer, why patronize foreign materials for your products while we have more raw materials screaming for attention?
Oh Nigeria, why can't we make our fathers land comfortable for all? Why do we try to bring out our best and give it away to show what we have while other human and material resources are screaming for attention?
Oh Nigeria, why do we do everything within our power to hurt ourselves? Oh thief, why waste your energy to take the harvest of your own blood when same energy would have produced your daily meal? Oh miss prostitute, must you distribute your diseases and infections to everyone instead of retracing the wrong steps?
Oh contractors, you assign contracts to the same persons who have benefitted from the dividends already?
Oh Nigeria, why waste your time giving that vote to someone who will only give to you the first and the last time at the campaign?
Oh Nigeria, when will you start having the right motive? As families strive to fend for their own, forgetting that their own will leave them one day for another man's own. What if they are leaving to another whom you denied their rightful employment? How long will we keep saving the children of the rich for themselves and the poor for themselves forgetting that it is what we avoid that comes to us?
Oh Nigeria, why should some of us be offered more opportunities than others, more access than others, more comfort than others and more praise than others? Is it because we are not from the same parents? But don't you know that the name of your nation is more recognized than the name of our parents?
Oh Nigeria, why do we trust strangers more than one another? Why do we prefer to eat what is killing the foreigners than eat what we have that can heal us?
When can we make amends?
The answer to this is NOW.
HOW do we start?
By going back to where we missed it.
Just as the gene of parents are inherent in their children, irrespective of whether they are good or bad, that's how the good and ills of a nation rubs off on its citizens. We all seem to be interested in those that have made it rather than focusing on how we can right our wrongs.
Just because we seem to be large, multilingual with differing behavioural characteristics, does not mean that we don't share one common identity. We are Nigerians , why kill one another?
Mr. Minister of finance, why hoard the money while Nigeria is malnourished, naked and unsheltered?
Mr. President, why seek for comfort of your 'relatives' and loved ones when Nigeria is uncomfortable? If Nigeria is comfortable, so will your loved ones and relatives. This applies to all who are privileged to serve this great nation through leadership. Feed Nigeria, make Nigeria happy, make Nigeria comfortable, make Nigeria able to feel loved and give love. Nigeria is like a woman, whatsoever you give to her and she would multiply it. This is what has brought us to this state. Let us right our wrongs.
What kind of power are you looking for o aspirant, that you are destroying lives to get? Of course your tools will target you next if you refuse to do their bidding.
It's emotionally and societally hazardous to have teaming population of energy filled youths wasting time trying to figure out what to do with their life. Lets be frank, let us not deceive ourselves and complain when the energy is invested wrongly due to lack of support and guidance from the experienced and successful in the nation.
You and I are Nigerians, you and I will save Nigeria. No nation will do that for us, without any intention of gaining 100 per cent from our ignorance. Your state is Nigeria, your Local Government is Nigeria, your village is Nigeria, so is your tribe and dialect Nigerian. The Nation deserves some degree of honour than a man who can die at any given time. We have late Presidents and remember what they have done while alive. No matter how good or evil they were, they could take nothing to the grave. Rather, they left us with the impact of the decisions they made. We are alive now. We can only work now. The power is not in the leader. The power is in the people as the people are to appoint who their leader is.
Nigeria will remain with our children and generations. It would be linked and traced in their genealogy either maternal or paternal. For this reason, lets give one another a helping hand. Making things difficult does not help us, it weakens our body and mind as a nation. Cheating one another exposes us to the plots of the enemies. We have sold our peace of coexistence in the name of maintaining foreign relevance. The truth is if we can't be relevant to ourselves, there's no nation that would appreciate your relevance.
Yes we have Nigerians abroad, they go through so much to meet up just because of a little orderliness. We have oil, can't produce its by products and youths are unemployed who can go into research on how to get this done. You close your eyes and turn your back to such who ends up being swaddled into another country to do the same thing you refused employing him to do. O wake up, Nigeria. We have moved past the primitive state. Who is making the nation unconducive for those with good intentions? What goes around comes around and you are next in line. You and your generation. Our political elites, why not strategise, rearrange, reconstruct and remake policies to meet our present need and challenge? Which constitution are we following? Now is the time to get it done before you leave office so your children will have what it takes to cater for you when you can't fend for yourself.
Our farmers, why sell products at prices that will come back to hunt us? Our trade policy need to be regulated. Why use product prices to cause difficulty, scarcity and hardship in the nation? Our greed will get back at us.
How long will we wait for things to get better? Is the problem from the leaders, the subordinates or the masses? If we see a problem with Nigeria, it is from you and I. How am I the problem, you might ask? We seem to criticize those who are striving to help while we withhold our quota due to selfishness in knowledge or lack of it.
Fortunately, the problems can and should be remedied by you and I, citizens of this great nation. The most important things in life are offered freely to mankind without monetary interests. Let us clean up our nation as we would our homes in order to make it more conducive.
Therefore, let us reprioritize our priorities since the former order of things seem to be futile. It is better to make effort by trying in order to raise our heads high, than not try at all.
What can we do to right the wrongs?
At this point, it would be wise to say we should learn from the mistakes of other countries, but this is not the case. We have made enough mistakes ourselves to be able to learn from them. For instance, providing means of power generation for other countries when we have not fully benefitted from it.
Raising the price of petroleum products like fuel, diesel, and kerosene for citizens to buy while negotiating with foreigners. If they have the knowledge we need to construct our electrical appliances, why was the deal not made in such a way that they would provide what we lack while we give them what we have. Or are we operating with love, if so, we are to love our neighbours as we love our selves. Self love comes first. We haven't loved ourselves enough to love neighbouring countries.
We have to sit up and be smart. Open our eyes and sharpen our reasoning skills. Asking ourselves vital questions is necessary. Why must their source of income be more expensive than ours? Is it because of our natural resources? What they have developed doesn't come cheaply, then why should ours? Do you know that the price is different for tuition fees for foreigners abroad? You have to decide why you should establish and maintain international relationships that seem to be of benefit of just your immediate family and keeping every other citizen in jeopardy. That is unfair.
How about our currency? Is it not supposed to carry high value due to the natural resources we have? You might claim we are not advanced technologically but we buy phones, laptops, cars, and many other foreign products irrespective of their exorbitant prices which could have been manufactured by us if serious. Why are our products bought for peanuts? If we are to supply oil for 2,000,000 people worth of use in the UK/USA, within five years, then 2,000,000 Nigerians should be able to afford cars in the given span of time. We get to pay exorbitant prices in the name of exchange rate. Why's that? Our mistakes can make us great if we are wise enough to learn from them.
Don't we just love to use the latest foreign products and brands (made in china, Italy, Japan, USA) sidelining our own. We prefer running around with those who have international prominence than seeking value from within. Why then won't they claim superiority over us with exorbitant prices? When will original Nigerian products be admired, appreciated and given the value for its worth when we can't promote ourselves? It makes us look like we have misplaced our identity. Can't we see that we are being exploited? Why? Because at age 18 in New York, a teenager is permitted to leave home and work and can easily afford his needs. In Nigeria, which average Nigerian would be able to afford a car due to the job he or she has? Even the government begin arresting such because it knows that it is impossible without fraud in our nation.
In the medical sector, a doctor would suggest flying patients abroad due to lack of required equipment. This is just because we've not pushed ourselves to be able to develop machines that would be beneficial to us.
We have played the fools for long. When is the right time to make amends? We have sufficient persons amongst us who would not make as much mistakes as those who are famous by their inventions. Bring out the best in me while I bring out the best in you to make a more confident Nigeria.
The immigration aspect should not be ignored. Why is it so easy for foreigners to come in and make it while the average Nigerian will encounter some challenges before embarking on such trips.
What is the purpose of foreign agencies? Is it to speak with the whites and claim we are in collaboration or having international relationship with them or to seek the best interest of Nigerians? This relationship whatsoever is supposed to help us learn from what they are doing right and do it, avoid what they are doing wrong, learn principles that are unspoken and read in-between the lines of their theoretical teachings in terms of education, courses or lectures. We claim they have made it, what do they do, how do they do it and what strategies do they employ?
It is pertinent to note that they are not as innovative as we think but are smart enough to seek talented and innovative people from different nations, equipping them and providing adequate resources for the innovations that would scale through. But Nigeria in the other hand, would not even create such enabling environment for such to strive.
I was privilege to work in a Chinese company in Nigeria, and this was what I discovered. The Chinese employees and Nigerian employees are to work together. The Chinese carry out supervisory roles resulting in them earning higher irrespective of their skill, qualifications and experience. The money the Chinese are given is for their upkeep and immediate expenses in form of allowances while the bulk of their money being earned as salary is sent to their Chinese account. Support themselves and would work hand in hand to frustrate anyone that stands against anyone of them. They see themselves as superior no matter which class the Nigerian is in. If you are seen to be a threat, they sack you. They have become so accustomed to the Nigerian system of bribery and corruption and believe they can get away with anything including murder. Talking about their international passport, 3 Chinese can use one international passport, afterall, the passport is not bearing their original names, how would Nigerian immigration detect this? Do they have employees with the necessary knowledge to know that this people are fraudulent as well? But of course, they can still bribe their way through. They make the money in Nigeria and send it to China to grow their GDP.
The reverse is the case in Nigeria. We travel out, make money in other nations, pay taxes to other nations, build other nations, buy properties in other nations and grow the GDP of other nations.
Just as we can foresee the consequences of taking wrong personal decisions, so should we foresee the consequence of taking wrong national and international decisions. Our leaders and policy makers should not take decisions that would jeopardise the peace and progress of the nation. Don't risk other lives for your own and yours won't be put at risk because of money, fame and power. If you harm me, you harm your nation, if I harm you, I harm my nation, myself and my loved ones.
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