by Samuel Chiaba

So many questions & very few answers. I see a man surrounded by a fleet of mediocre ministers, corrupt members of both the upper & lower house of the legislature, a bunch of no good advisers, specialists & Harvard trained economists who were either not properly & adequately trained, or just choose not to be of any use to the nation.

I really can’t remember the first time I heard this popular cliché: “our children & youths are the leaders of tomorrow, the future of this nation”. But if I had to go down memory lane, then I guess it had to be when I was old enough to speak & understand others. If that is the case, then I think it’s safe to say that this cliché is probably as old as the nation itself. Our leaders sing & preach about the youths being the foundation & hope of a brighter future, but ironically the same persons who ruled this nation years ago, are the same persons who rule us today. And those who were booted out of the government by authorities higher & more powerful than themselves, or were beaten in a bid to be re-elected, are also clamoring for a place in the government house today. Permit me to say that our leaders are “dream killers”, because I don’t understand how I am to become the future & hope of my nation if the same persons who have been displaying their lack of intelligence, gross ineptitude, & blatant incompetence before I was born are still the ones in power, or are looking for a way to get back into power. It saddens my heart to know that the apparent fervor to remain or return to power, isn’t because they care about the plight of the people, or the disgraceful, shambolic, & somewhat abysmal state of the Nigerian economy, but because of their greed fueled by corruption, which is gradually eating up the Nation’s supposed values spelt out in our “coat of arms”, while denting the image of the nation in the international community & leaving most Nigerians with no other option than to copy, emulate & uphold the practices of our leaders.

Indeed corruption is now a norm, something to be upheld & talked about. Corruption is now the general state of mind. No doubt the corruption in our homes, workplace, campuses, & so on is a microcosm of the larger Nigerian society. Almost everyone is desperate to fill their pockets with millions of taxpayer’s money. Our leaders can’t afford to lose hold of the power they now possess. No wonder our former president Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to contest for a 3rd term in office. The nation is not moving forward, things are not working, and the economy is on a downslide. One is then left to wonder what our president & his fleet of ministers do while they sit on their executive chairs in their lush offices. Are they desperately looking for ways to pull the nation out of this quagmire? Judging by the present state of a lot of things, if you ask me, I’d say NO! I’m pretty sure all they do is to build sybaritic mansions, hidden behind epicurean walls, while they lounge under hedonistic canopies & brag about who has got more money, all at the detriment of a nation riddled with poverty, high rate of crime, unemployment, the menace of the boko haram, without much hope of a better tomorrow. We need a revolution. I could be the CHANGE we need. But I don’t see how that is possible if the same man who ruled years before I was born is determined to do whatever it takes to get back into power.

The heinous & barbaric acts of the boko haram has become one too many. The sect which allegedly arose in opposition to western education as far back as 2009 when it first unleashed terror on the nation is fast becoming a danger to the peace & growth of the land, like a chicken pox spreading over a baby at the speed of light. I am particularly amazed & perplexed at the ease with which weapons of mass destruction & all the other paraphernalia of organized vice are moved across the country to the northern part of the nation where the boko haram appears to be based. No doubt this is as a result of our very porous borders & highly inefficient custom officials. One can’t help but wonder what our dear president & his security chiefs have got up their sleeves as regards how they plan to tackle the menace & terror the nation has been enslaved to, which is alarmingly putting the lives of millions of Nigerians at risk everyday & causing one to have that weird feeling of paranoia. The nation isn’t as safe as it used to be. Innocent Nigerians are killed for no apparent reason, homes are burnt down, & the dreams of millions are shattered. Reports of bomb blasts & massacre of thousands of Nigerians are alarming & disheartening. The air is filled & choked up with tension & fear. But then it appears that nothing is being done. Apparently, news of this wicked acts seeps through the windows of the office of our dear president, bounces off his desk, and then out through the window again, the way a fast moving object ricochets off a wall. But what is Jonathan actually doing, if He is even doing anything at all which is how it appears to be to me?

Our dear president appears to be bereft of ideas, he seems clueless & helpless, like a man who’s unfortunate to find himself in a desert. Sometime ago, I read an article about Mr. president written by social commentator Mr. Femi Fani Kayode. In that article, I learned that about 2years ago, while addressing the entire leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN], at the National Christian Centre Abuja, Mr. President was quoted as saying: “I am not David…I am not a general…I am not a lion…I will defeat the Goliaths in our land”. But then I wonder what our dear president was thinking when he made that statement. I wonder if he understands the political, practical, and somewhat spiritual implications of that statement. If he is not a David, how then will he bring down the Goliath in our land? If he is no general, how can he effectively command the respect of his army, build up their confidence, & launch out into the warfront to protect the integrity of our nation? If he says he is not a lion, how then will he crush the boko haram & all of the other animals invading our land, wrecking havoc, & disturbing our peace? How is he going to flush out the worms & maggots that are gradually eating up the foundation upon which our integrity was built?

So many questions & very few answers. I see a man surrounded by a fleet of mediocre ministers, corrupt members of both the upper & lower house of the legislature, a bunch of no good advisers, specialists & Harvard trained economists who were either not properly & adequately trained, or just choose not to be of any use to the nation. I see a man who cannot tell if he is heading in the wrong direction, & even if he could, he probably wouldn’t have the courage to go back & start all over. Truth be told, our president is clueless. He needs prayers.

It’s no longer news that our universities are under lock & key following the recent strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU]. The indefinite strike action which was embarked upon on the 1st of July, 2013, on the grounds that the Federal government had failed to implement an agreement it had with the union as far back as 2009 is the latest twist to this quagmire. The union is seeking funds for better infrastructural facilities in our schools, while Jonathan & his minions consider the effect it will have on their bank account balance. Even after quite a number of meetings between ASUU & the federal government representatives, the strike continued. Days have transpired into weeks, and weeks have become months, resulting in a plethora of opinions & views about the demands of ASUU & the government’s apparent inefficiency. What puzzles me is the president’s apparent slow approach to the situation & the pleas of the union. The president only participated in a meeting after 4months into the strike. So while our dear president attended to other issues he considered more important, thousands of undergraduates watched as their dreams of graduating & getting a job suddenly take an abrupt halt, while they roamed the streets in search of badly paid jobs. We can only pray for a quick end to this war. They say hope is the last thing to leave a man, so I’m going to remain hopeful.

Nigeria is our country & the land looks fertile in certain places. Opportunities abound & the prospects are endless. But we cannot move forward while corruption is impeding & debilitating what little progress we manage to make. We cannot sleep in peace anymore because every night we wonder if boko haram will come knocking on our door. Our youths cannot help but wonder if indeed they will become the leaders of tomorrow, what with the struggle of our past & present leaders to hold on to power. Strength lies in education, but incessant strikes aren’t helping matters. Much is left to be said about the possibility of attaining the status of the advanced & respected nations of the world who seem unstoppable. A lot has to change. And it starts with a new, different, & unique mentality, because being unstoppable isn’t a talent, it’s a MINDSET.

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.