by Alli Bob-Chinwon

Randomly surfing the news I stumbled on a very intriguing headline published on a prominent international news platform.

The title was “Nigeria becomes the poverty capital of the world”.

To satisfy my curiosity, I opened the report and the first paragraph read “Nigeria overtakes India to become the poverty capital of the world with about 65% of her population {about 100 million people} living in destitution that is below $1.90 per day”.

It was disheartening thinking about this, trying to understand how and why it has become this bad.

Following the conversations online about the authenticity of this report another thing came across my mind as to how disappointing it was for us to wait for a “foreign media“ to give this call to action, the impact of this report on our country and our image as a nation.

However, whether the figures stated where spot-on or deceitfully manipulated it does not take away the fact that Nigerians are suffering and we need answers and solutions to our numerous problems that cut across all sectors of the society from the 33.5 million unemployed Nigerians to the 10 million who lost their jobs in the previous year alone, to the 65 million illiterates to the over 10 million children out of school, not to mention the poor social welfare and infrastructures, deteriorating state of security and irresponsible leaders all around the country.

The cluelessness of our leaders has put us in a helpless situation.

We are like a herd of cattle waiting for our “herdsman” to lead us to green pastures.

Our present dilemma has left us desperate and vulnerable to anything that looks like our “herdsman”.

It’s so sad, even a well-clothed scarecrow can gain our full attention.

If we must defeat our oppressors first, we must realize we are fighting a civil war, a battle against not just our oppressors but against poverty, unemployment, a failed system etc. and in this battle, we have three key players; the believers, the achievers and the deceivers.

The believers represent the millions of Nigerians who are hopeful and genuinely believe in Nigeria. They are committed to contributing in any way within their means to see the actualization of a “New Nigeria”.

The Achievers are represented by the many good Nigerians competent and well equipped, tirelessly working to implement the “Nigerian dream”.

They have spent their resources establishing structures, building capacity and credible track records for this good cause.

The sad reality of our present system is that they will hardly ever stand a chance, not because of their inadequacies but simply because the “deceivers” are implementing their mandates.

The deceivers; by their title, their role in this battle is quite clear and simple.

They have no interest in the common good of the nation.

This category is largely dominated by the present ruling class the “Political Elites” who appear and disappear months before elections to sell unrealistic dreams with some stipends “for the boys”.

In conclusion, I say this; to the believers, in all this, we must accept our disappointments, walk through the obstacles, face our challenges and never lose hope.

To the achiever’s there’s no darkness sunlight cannot defeat.

Stay positive, keep working and never give up. Posterity will acknowledge you.

Finally to the deceivers that fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”, there wouldn’t be a “third term”. NEVER AGAIN !!!

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Alli Bob-Chinwon is a public commentator, he tweets at @Allii_Bob