38. 59 Years After Independence – Bailing Nigeria From The Prisons Of Our Conscience.

The good fortunes of a Nation rests in the good conscience of its citizens.

© 2019 Nigerian Patriot

The territorial concept of the project Nigeria was born in 1914 by the British Colonial rule. Nigeria is 105 years. The name Nigeria was given by British Journalist Flora Shaw and was adapted from the River Niger which traverses the country from the North through to the Southern Region.

On October 1st 1960, Nigeria gained independence from British rule and we took ownership of our country. 59 years after, we have made very little strides in developing our nation for ludicrous reasons ranging from the grave paranoia of our ethnic composition, to a deliberate resolve from a majority of us to remain unpatriotic for the most flimsy reasons.

As a result, we have consistently failed to barely utilize the vast physical resources of our nation to our advantage. We seem to have made a profound resolve to live in denial of the fact that we have almost muddled the untold fortunes of our noble nation by bickering like toddlers over inconsequential trivialities. From 1960 till date we have gradually yet persistently embraced mediocrity and deliberately undermined our potential to excel. We have twisted the logic of Religion to relegate our reasoning into a fortress of ineptitude where we have handed over the ownership of our responsibilities as patriotic citizens of Nigeria to the Divine realm. I often wonder the reason Almighty God would endow humans with the untold wealth of physical and psychological abilities if we were not supposed to solve problems on our own rather than consistently wait on some divine intervention which does not require our participation.

We have developed our minds to function in a realm which is not in sync with the reality of our circumstance and as a result, we have persistently remained blind to the folly behind our irresponsible disposition to the project Nigeria.

The problems and solutions to the woes of our nation rests in the unpatriotic mindset of a majority of the citizens. A majority of us do not feel the need to protect the interest of Nigeria within our space of influence regardless the magnitude of that space. We fail to realize that our individual actions contribute to the good or bad state of our nation. We have ignorantly, consistently and unsuccessfully tried to disprove the theory which states that it takes small drops of water to build an ocean by believing that our individual actions which is currently informed by our nonchalant mindset has no trickle contributing effect on the present state of our nation.

The degree of insincerity which is displayed by our political leadership and politicians is no different from that displayed by other citizens in institutions which have nothing to do with the political system of the country. It is the same degree of insincerity that is displayed by most gatherings of Nigerians regardless the name of the setup or the size of it. Call it an office environment; call it an association, the name is irrelevant so long as it is made up of Nigerians.

With impunity, our Importers mostly flood our markets with substandard items, our Lecturers collect gratifications to give their students an undeserved measure of good grade and promotion, our National Police Force is riddled with so much insincerity they’ve lost the confidence of the citizens, the Justice system is heavily bedeviled by corruption, employment is no longer on merit, but an entitlement reserved for the highest bidder. The list is nearly endless.

Most of us who indulge in this fiesta of hypocrisy find solace in the twisted logic of religious scriptures and facts, so it is very normal to find Nigerians who will tell you that the corrupt fortunes of looting public treasury is evidence of divine blessings from Almighty God. The same explanation is used to justify any dishonest gain from any field of endeavor to the extent that the nefarious antics of a deceitful petty trader is accepted as a commendable trade skill.

We have become very comfortable celebrating mediocrity and thumping our empty Chest of achievements for other progressive nations who have gradually come to realize there is not much of a difference between the bite of our massive  roars which can simply be termed empty noise and the one echoed by a toothless lion.  We have become so comfortable at side-stepping the truth that it has gradually become an unacceptable norm to be plainly honest in our country Nigeria.

It is very clear that while the content of this summary post may be offensive to the patriotically immature minds of a majority of our citizens, we collectively need to realize that accepting the truth of our circumstance is the only sure step we must take to keep the hopes of any chances of reversing our currently precarious circumstance alive, albeit as a dim flame of hope. Nothing else will suffice.

We need to realize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the physical demarcation which represents our great country. We need to realize that assuming the Nigerian nation was in the care of a people with a different mindset, the story of our nation would have most probably been a completely different and more pleasant narrative. Through the decades, it has become very clear that the Nigerian plight has been deliberately and nefariously woven by us through the fabric of our conscience of warped reasoning as a nation. Our mindset is the singular reason any policy which has been successfully tested in other climes fails woefully when implemented in Nigeria.

An average Nigerian citizen most likely always has nothing noble to say about our country. This lamentation of woe mostly fails to address how the individual’s contribution of blatant inaction at effecting positive change may be responsible for the discomfort of the moment.

The massive potentials of our great nation grieves in the prisons of our conscience which has chosen to show no respect, loyalty or honor to our noble nation. Our ability to actualize the dream wealth of Nigeria is trapped in our conflict of unenlightened ideologies and twisted principles which only stifles growth and productivity achieving little else. We have collectively trampled the pride and glory of our nation beneath our mindless thoughts of selfish interests and self-pity. We have completely forgotten that the productivity of a nation can only take roots in the hearts of the Citizens in order to have any meaningful physical effect. Under our watch as an independent nation, Nigeria has almost become a dismal tragedy and we are all to blame.

There is a strong hope of reversing our fortunes if we can sincerely unlearn the harmful attributes of nonchalance we have acquired toward our nation over the decades. If we could engrave the tenets of our national pledge and anthem in our hearts, the powerful words can provide useful effect in our thoughts and our actions at restoring our country to greatness. On a final note, we need to always remember that a stitch in time saves more.

Arise O Compatriots…

© 2019 – Nigerian Patriot.  All Rights reserved

12. Patriot Alert 8: The Nearly Infinite Potentials Of The Nigerian Nation – A Tip Of The Iceberg.

This blog episode is a fact sheet built on information obtained from Wikipedia. It is a tip of the great potentials of our noble nation Nigeria. The intent is to encourage a collective read of the facts contained in the article on Nigeria which can be found on Wikipedia.

The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator.

History of activities within the demarcation known as Nigeria, dates as far back as before 1500

Land mass: 923,768 km2

Population estimate: 190,886,311

The population of Nigeria increased by 57 million from 1990 to 2008. This is a 60% growth rate in less than two decades. According to the United Nations, Nigeria has been undergoing explosive population growth and has one of the highest growth and fertility rates in the world. By their projections, Nigeria is one of eight countries expected to account collectively for half of the world’s total population increase in 2005–2050. By 2100 the UN estimates that the Nigerian population will be between 505 million and 1.03 billion people (middle estimate: 730 million). In 1950, Nigeria had only 33 million people

Languages: over 250 different languages 

There are 521 languages that have been spoken in Nigeria; nine of them are now extinct

Cultural variety: Diverse

Nigeria has the third-largest youth population in the world, after India and China, with more than 90 million of its population under age 18.

Agriculture used to be the principal foreign exchange earner of Nigeria

In 2005 Nigeria had the highest rate of deforestation in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). That year, 12.2%, the equivalent of 11,089,000 hectares had been forested in the country. Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forest every year equal to an average annual deforestation rate of 2.38%. Between the years 1990 and 2005, in total Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forest cover, or around 6,145,000 hectares.

Tourism opportunities in the country can be found in all regions.

Nigerian citizens have authored many influential works of post-colonial literature in the English language. Nigeria’s best-known writers are Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate in Literature, and Chinua Achebe, best known for the novel Things Fall Apart (1958) and his controversial critique of Joseph Conrad.

Other Nigerian writers and poets who are well known internationally include John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Helon Habila, T. M. Aluko, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Daniel O. Fagunwa, Femi Osofisan and Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed in 1995 by the military regime.

Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily in 2003.

Critically acclaimed writers of a younger generation include Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Chris Abani, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Helen Oyeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Kachi A. Ozumba, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, and Chika Unigwe.

Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves

Nigeria has a total of 159 oil fields and 1,481 wells in operation according to the Department of Petroleum Resources

Nigeria has one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world, major emerging market operators (like MTN, 9mobile, Airtel and Globacom) basing their largest and most profitable centres in the country

Nigeria also has a wide array of underexploited mineral resources which include natural gas, coal, bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc. Despite huge deposits of these natural resources, the mining industry in Nigeria is still in its infancy

In conclusion, it is evident that there is no justifiable reason (given the numerous opportunities open to our dear country) for the deplorable state of our Nation.

It would be rational for anyone to erroneously believe that collectively, we are indeed a very strange people; to have so much at our disposal, yet remain perpetually trapped in the abyss of underdevelopment.

My fellow countrymen, the profound reality of our mistakes are the simple reason for the currently precarious situation in Nigeria and there is every need for all of us to collectively act differently.

I am certain that if we were to replace the Nigerian population with those of any progressive nation, Nigeria would easily rank among the most developed nations on earth. Our problems are human oriented; pure and simple.

There is every need for a change in our character, and it must begin with the mind of each and every single citizen. We need to rest assured that our children and coming generations will hold us accountable in the future for our casual approach to the pertinent issues of today which go way beyond amassing untold wealth to the glory of our individual family names. We ought to have realized that this attitude cannot build a nation of any meaningful relevance.

Hopefully the strength of the message behind this post would wake up the dormant patriotic spirit of action that still lives in the heart of every single citizen that defines our great country Nigeria.

Arise O Compatriots…

© 2019 – Nigerian Patriot.  All rights reserved