Nigeria Has No Future

I am not a soothsayer and my prognosis has no scientific research support, it is based on the analytical framework, a deciphering mind of what has been happening in Nigeria for the past twenty years.

When the Americans said that Nigeria would break up, it was based on concrete and concerted observation. My stand is that Nigeria has no future and she will not have one in as much as we continue our business as usual. It will be a mere foolhardy to expect a different result when we do the same thing over and over again. A simple mathematical algorithm states that input is equal to output, though in thermodynamics, it is hardly 100% efficiency due to some losses.

The major problem facing the country is the 1914 unification of different countries into one. This singular act has been a drag on the progress of the country, because we have not exploited the benefits of diversity to push the country forward. The core north has a flip side of way of life from that of the South East, South South and even South West despite the fact that South West has a greater population of Muslim faithful when compared with South East and South South. The coexistence of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria has been a another major drag for the country and the only solution, which will be a difficult political job is the state not to be involved in any matter related to religion. Government should be ready to halt any problem initiated by any group of sect in the country in a decisive manner that will send unequivocal message that religion should be a private affair. It is stupid for a disagreement between Jews and Palestine to aggravate the Muslim north to unleash mayhem on the Christian north. Stupid!! Stupid !!!! Education!!!Education!!!!!!! Education!!!!!!!!!
Why the government should prod itself in Muslim and Christian pilgrimage to Mecca and Jerusalem, is something that bothers me? We don’t learn any lesson and this has been the problem of humanity.

The peace in Nigeria is very fragile because of the coexistence of the Muslim and Christian faithful in Nigeria and just look at the Arabs and the Jews and back home, how many times have we had religious riots that has shaken the foundation of Nigeria? The last jos war episode has religious coloration but the government spin it to a point of deception to confuse the international community, but the Americans knew the real cause of the Jos mayhem in which many Christians were killed just like animals.

If I have not learnt anything in my sixteen year sojourn in American, I have learnt the beauty and utilization of diversity and the benefits of government not involving itself in the religious affairs of individuals. You can worship anything in American, but that is on you and government has nothing to do with it. There is a strong wall of separation between the state and religion. Religion and ethnicity are the two forces, including corruption that will destroy Nigeria to ashes. Sometimes I look at our leaders as stupid, uninformed and rustic.

Why should there be a mosque and a church in Aso Rock and in our universities like University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and ABU for instance?  Anytime an American president wants to worship, he usually does that with his family members outside of the White House, a church of his choice in Washington, DC area. Nigerian president should do that and our students should go to the town and worship in any mosque or church of their choices. Can we recall how many riots that led to the closure of Nigerian universities due to sectarian clashes and which originated from the universities? The Vice Chancellor of UI just averted a recent one that could have consumed the university. Where is our future?

When the North was in control, the Emirs and the Sultan were the ones in charge and they pushed all kinds of Islamic principles on the rest of the country, despite the fact that we are not all Muslim adherents. Babangida took the country, just all of us to Organization of Islamic Conference, OIC which nearly tore the country into shreds. This idea of where the power will swing to, is nothing other than the grip and sharing of the peoples’ commonwealth to the advantage of the few, and the lordship of religious tenets over others.

A country where few powerful religious zealots hold the country on the jugular, to play politics with the survival of that country will never witness any progress. Nigeria is yet to be free, free from the divisive tendencies of the few, who think of what they will gain to the expense of the majority and we as people of the Republic of Nigeria are sitting on a time bomb. They give different homilies on how they desire the unity of the country, but under their bellies lies deceit of dangerous proportion.
Can somebody tell me what evil man like Banbangida, who once ruined the future of Nigeria, is still doing in the political space of the country? What is the relevance of Atiku in today’s politics of Nigeria? Why is it that Obasanjo, who had uninterrupted eight years to steer Nigeria in the right direction, but bungled that opportunity, still making noise on who to endorse or not to endorse? Why the so called elders’ corporation of Nigeria (ECN) not shut up their mouths and allows the rebirth of a new Nigeria. We don’t need their ideas, because they are all spent forces and their ideas are stunted and of no use to us. Tribalism still resides in these elders and somebody like Edwin Clark who hates Igbos will not wake up tomorrow and profess to be Igbo admirers. Leopard hardly changes skin all of a sudden. If one is looking for detribalized Nigerians, one will find them among the youths that have really travelled and well educated.

I don’t care what anybody says, Nigeria has no future and it will break to ashes with time if corrective measures are not taken. One of these measures is for the youths to take back the country from the grips of the rogues and the anachronistic elders. The game plan of these rogues is to steal to excess while in power and up till now, there is no organization to stop the future rogues from stealing the country dry; EFCC has lost steam when Ribadu was removed and he was removed so that they would not have any obstacle in purloining the country.

The ugly side is that the wealth those rogues stole became an ammunition to destroy the country further. Nigeria is a country that claps for rogues. Has anybody asked where Babangida got his money, including many of those that once served in public positions? What of Obasanjo, who was penniless when he was released from prison? These people are making it difficult for the youths of Nigeria to rise up and for the country to move forward.
The system we have in the country will make it difficult for the best person to emerge as president and PDP is a singular organ that will sing the requiem mass of the country. Since PDP is a fraudulent political party, masters of riggers, every Tom and Harry wants to decamp to it, at least to be sure of victory, but how far Jega will allow them is still hazy to me. On the other hand, one will see the spent PDP governors who are albatross and liabilities to their various states, but up in arms to be given automatic tickets to further pillage their states after 2011. Why can’t Jega adopt the American type of primaries where constants will face the people and slug it out? The House of Representatives members want automatic tickets too and those up to no good are recalled back to the system for more damage. Where is the future of the country?

There are certain areas we can shift a bit and by any calculation, Jonathan has not shown me beyond any doubt that he can be an aggressive leader, but for what Niger Delta has gone through, all zones in Nigeria, to me can rally around him for the last chance. Again, if I am in Nigeria to vote, I don’t know how I will leave somebody like Nuhu Ribadu and vote for Jonathan if Nuhu’s name appears on the ballot for the post of president of the country. Nuhu seems to me the right person to wrestle down the enemies of our country. It is easy to stand up against opponents, but give me that person who can stand up against his friends.

Despite Nuhu, I don’t see any alternative to Jonathan and if the country is not careful in 2011, we might see the last of the country. I will be the first one to prompt the Niger Delta militants to go and raze Nigeria down if people like Babangida, Atiku and their likes get hold of the country in 2011 to the disadvantage of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. God forbid bad thing!!
Enough is enough and we cannot keep on in circular motion for years without end. Corruption has eaten the fabric of the nation that our youths know nothing other than short cut, bribery, examination fraud, armed robbery and kidnapping. Where are we going to import youths to lead the country tomorrow since we have decided unashamedly to destroy the ones we got? This is not good news. I have written on this news site the idea of national orientation, but who will lead the initiatives?

From the local village head to the presidency, the youths of Nigeria have no role models. Can Jonathan be an exception to the rule? Another thing that worries me is the jettison of our culture to the firm embrace of the western culture. Sagging of pants (trousers) that is an exclusive jobs of the street urchins in USA is something our youths now copy, I was told even in the ivory towers, tufiakwa!!!

Finally, we have to ask ourselves noble questions why the country retrogresses with years instead of making progress, no matter the amount of oil revenues that accrue to the country? Why is it that the country keeps on producing government officials from the local government to the federal level that have one mindset, pillaging the country instead of developing it? Has nationalism ended in Nigeria for good? Why have the youths regarded as burden instead of assets by all facets of government levels in Nigeria? Why is it that no equity in the country? When will true federalism come alive in Nigeria? When will corruption stop in Nigeria or when will EFCC and ICPC go after corrupt officials irrespective of how high or how low of the person involved? Will Jonathan muster the political muscle to stop Nigeria from bleeding as a result of corrupt leaders? Why is it that the weaklings are not protected in Nigeria?  George W. Bush, the former president of America once said that the measure of the progress of a country depends on how such a country treats the weaklings among them.

I am still waiting, to see how the scenario of 2011 will play out. Will the youths rise up to claim Nigeria back from the jaw grips of the rogues and the rustic elders? Will Attahiru Jega and members of National Youth Service stop the election riggers of 2011? I remember Buhari for a number of things among them is: Indeed we have no other country other than Nigeria. I have an alternative and that is America, but I will not forget my root and it is NIGERIA.

 

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