Introduction
Oh Beloved Nigeria! The land I love so well; The land simply for ordinary people with simple life but with great potentials; the land of so many faces, voices and presence; the famous black nation of Africa and a big model to other African countries; the land of many possibilities and opportunities but punctured by greed, bribery and corruption; the land with people inwardly groaning and moaning over their woes as life gets tougher and harsher; the land rich with diversity of magnificent cultures, faiths and traditions; the land of lovable religious people but surrounded by crimes and many contradictions; the land with so many little children and youth with a great need for care and empowerment; the land where widows and orphans are traumatized and suffer deeply from grief and loss; and also suffer depression and anxiety with some physically and sexually abused; the land where too often widows become impoverished at the death of their husbands; the land of many hopes and promises but dotted with uncertainties.
Oh beloved Nigeria! Blessed and endowed with abundant natural and human resources but where these resources are plundered to serve the affluent lifestyle of few; blessed with rich and generous soil. Oh beloved Nigeria! The giant of Africa and the hope of the future and yet with many disfigured people, poverty, hardship, insecurity and now terrorism. Oh beloved Nigeria! the land of political turmoil and confusion; the land with so many brilliant projects haphazardly executed and where public funds are not monitored; the land with beautiful young people crying for peace, justice and security. Oh beloved Nigeria! Collectively struggling to obtain and defend its rights to wealth, power, and knowledge and to adhere to the rule of law; the land with cultural silence and taboo around sexuality leading to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS, and the difficulty of encouraging behavioral and attitudinal change; the land with great potentials for agriculture but where many farmers are not encouraged enough to diversify crops; the land with plenty of food but where children are undernourished with high infant mortality; the land where military spending is high but health care spending is proportionately low; and the land sadly brought to its knees recently by reckless suicide bomb attacks, grenades and guns through violent militant and terrorist activities. Yet, even under these prevailing adverse circumstances, I love Nigeria and will continue to pray for Nigeria, a land of great promise and hope.
The many needs of Nigeria
Nigeria has many needs and we cannot claim to address them all. The great global pressures dominated by the industrial and economic forces have put serious demands on our families and communities. The impact of HIV and AIDS continue to challenge us as nation and put a strain on our human and financial resources. The declining education and moral standards among our young people is a huge challenge. Without education, fear prevent our people from questioning the causes of their poverty, and are unable to criticize government policies and traditions which keep them perpetually oppressed; without quality education, our people are unable to contribute to the development of their country in a way that enhances the dignity of every person. Internal conflicts, violence, and militant terrorism have led to economic collapse, human rights abuses, increasing numbers of refugees, disabled people, orphans and internally displaced persons.
Decades of political freedom and struggles so far
Nigeria occupies the most important place in the affairs of Africa. For even after decades of political freedom, Nigeria is still trying and struggling to achieve stability and progress with her new found democracy still under experiment for about twelve years now, after a long period of despotic military dictatorship. We have witnessed even in our post Independence era, the absence of deep conviction in our common goals, the unity of our country, and a necessity for peace. The absence of love and mutual trust among the citizens of Nigeria have caused us lots of problems – geography of enmity, discriminatory deprivation based on ethnicity, hatred among peoples, classes and ethnic groups, mutual opposition, non-cooperation, ethnic rivalries, dissension, widespread unrest, hostilities and lack of harmony; communal clashes, militant insurgency, revolts and guerrilla warfare.
Unfortunately, religious hatred have also given rise to incessant riots and blood lust leading to killing of our innocent citizens and destruction of property. The result of all these have been increasing violence, chaos and blind prejudices; growing insecurity and pervasive sense of frustration. We need to stand united under our democratic government to conquer tribal prejudice and ethnic segregation because it continues to breed hate, intolerance, fear and violence in our country, leading to fatal polarization of our people. In fact, because of past historical antecedents, we unfortunately see ourselves as problems, a group against a group; a section against a section; a region against a region, and Muslims against Christians.
Our headaches and Challenges
In Nigeria, there is impoverished economy linked with bad governance; fear has invaded our hearts, hatred and the injury to others have become the rule of life; the hope and resilience of youth have dwindled and disappeared; there is institutional corruption, regionalism, tribalism, and the strong belief in the class superiorities and inferiorities often associated with class monopolies of key professions. This has given rise to a clique of wealthy powerful rulers who exert social, economic and even constitutional pressure in order to maintain their supremacy. The perpetuation of these rigid and inflexible hierarchies does not give room for comprehensive national development. We note that anyone who places regional interest, far above his national affiliation will certainly not give support to those national initiatives and activities necessary to achieve integral development. The fact that regional and sectional interest dominates many of the senior people in the key sectors can be seen from the abuse of power that followed.
Chike Orjiako in his article titled: ‘Mr President, please appoint me a cabal’ in the Sunday Sun, March 18, 2012 edition gives this interesting story to buttress this fact. In a class of young adults rounding up their high school education in Lagos, the class teacher had asked a normal routine question as to what career the graduating students would want to pursue after school. Most of the students were proclaiming the usual Engineer, Doctor, Banker etc, until it was the turn of Uche, a rather average student in the class. Teacher: Uche as you are about graduating what career would you want to pursue? Uche: Sir, I will like to be a Cabal! The young man declared. Teacher: Uche! What the hell is that please? Uche: Sir, you know; Cabals are famous. They are the richest, smartest, boldest and most influential people in the country today. Even Mr. President fears and respects them even though it appears he appoints them. As the dumbfounded teacher was still trying to gather his thoughts while other students are laughing at his choice of career, a confused Uche added that when he eventually realizes his ambition, he would see to it that most of his class mates laughing at him today will never benefit from his largesse. Cabals can’t be sacked, reprimanded or tried for any offence. They enjoy unique privileges and are virtuous beings doing powerful things without borders or restrictions.[1]
Furthermore, experts generally believe that in societies, in which tribal, sectional, regional, or family loyalties is more important than a somewhat remote ideal of national development, development effort is damaged, money is wasted, and unsuitable people are appointed. This opposing selfish tendencies are serious obstacles to social cooperation and national growth. It seems the Nigerian system has consistently rewarded mediocrity over genius; punishes the righteous and reward criminals with highest honors; marginalize the most vulnerable and defenseless and put them to the mere fringes of life without decency and dignity.[2]
Lessons we are passing on
Consequently in Nigeria, the lesson we have passed on is that violence pays and has become the legitimate weapons for geo-political, regional and national negotiation. We have also passed on the lesson that no matter how wicked, ruthless, reckless and unscrupulous we are, we can be honored and rewarded by a society that does not have a merit and value system. We hope that the revolutionary increase in the number of educated and morally sensible citizens will result in a generation of graduates, and young people with great intellectual capital to challenge the prevailing unjust structures and contribute to national growth.
Our resolves as a people
We are proud of Nigeria, its rich history and culture, its strong tradition and diversity of peoples, faiths and religions. We acknowledge that belonging to Nigeria involves rights and responsibilities. The peace of our nation cannot be secured by ignoring the conflicts and sufferings of our people; For war and violence anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere. Therefore, we must stand united towards ensuring the actualization of the Millennium Development Goals:
- Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
- achieving universal primary education
- promoting gender equality and empowering women
- reducing child mortality rates
- improving maternal health
- combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
- ensuring environmental sustainability, and
- developing a global partnership for development.
Conclusion
Oh beloved Nigeria! How I wish we will turn to each other and renew our commitment to live in peace and security, be our brothers and sisters keepers; have a decent standard of living and a fair share of resources. How I wish we can stand united to reject religious racism, discrimination, ethnic prejudice, intolerance, blame-casting and violence. In this age committed to democratic reforms, how I wish we can also create conditions and atmosphere in which peace can emerge by striving for the development of deprived communities and by working for integral human progress. We can stop fanning the embers of discord and division by inspiring a sense of nationalism and patriotism in the hearts of our people. We can also eradicate violence from the hearts of our people and create environment of safety and peace by striving to change those structures that hold our people in social, economic and psychological bondage. Now is the time for action and less talk. God bless Nigeria!
Rev Fr Michael Adefemi Adegbola, Director Media Service Centre Kaduna Nigeria, 2012
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