NIGERIANS AND THE FUTURE: THE FIGHT FOR OUR COLLECTIVE SOUL
Thus we were led in search of a passionate quest for a holy grail; our collective soul. L.S SENGHOR (Excerpt from ‘The State of Africa’ by Martin Meredith)
It might seem like F.Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Curious case of Benjamin Button’ when an entity helplessly finds itself aging backwards. However, unlike Benjamin Button whose body aged backwards while his mind expanded, this entity ages backwards and quite honestly, it is hard to say if the mind of this entity is expanding.
Wait! Now that I’m pondering on it more deeply, maybe the mind of this entity is expanding… No wait, it isn’t. Or, let’s just say it depends on what you see as the mind of Nigeria. Please forgive me if I appear confused at this point. I have led myself into a maze by comparing a simple fictitious character to an actual entity that is best described by the converse of the word ‘simple’.
If you have not guessed it by now, I am talking about Nigeria. A multi-ethnic country that is said to be a conglomeration of different nations, with different loyalties and belief systems. Like a raffia mat, these nations are Woven and intertwined together. It is so laughable when people claiming to posses some form of knowledge try to make it seem like Nigeria can be easily split between a ‘Muslim North’ and a ‘Christian south’. Really laughable! Please forgive me once again, You can’t talk about Nigeria without being forced to digress.
After her independence in 1960, Nigeria witnessed a boom economically, and endless corruption, series of military coups, an infant democracy that has now grown into something weird and twisted. Please follow my thoughts… In 2015, the reign of a man who ‘had no shoes’ came to an end. A man of ‘integrity’ took advantage of the failures of the one who had no shoes and took control of the executive powers of the government of the country.
Thus began the reign of widespread corruption and terror. Terrorism (falsely called banditry) gradually flourished under the man of integrity, farming villages are constantly being sacked. Large farms are being forced to shut down their activities along with the other industries relying on them for survival. Thus, where there seemed to be progress, there is now retrogression. Everyone who has knowledge of issues knows that the failures of the Nigerian system under the man of integrity can’t be captured in a few lines. As a matter of fact, a ten volume treatise based on the failure of each sector under this current government will not do justice to this.
All I am saying is that good governance was kicked out of the window. Efforts to vote out the man of integrity against a former Vice President failed in 2019. And in 2022, our country has found itself gasping for breath from bludgeoning questions that desperately need answers.
As much as I feel the itch to write about 20.10.20, to make this article an easy read, I will refer you to a five (5) part article titled ‘They were no longer at ease’ where I documented the series of events in 2020 that rocked the collective conscience of the teeming youthful population of this country.
About the youthful populace of Nigeria, I write with actual tears in my eyes. I understand that this write up can be criticized for being subjective, however, every young person who has watched the powerful elderly population of his country completely emasculate and even at some points made conscious efforts to obliterate its youth from relevance, will understand my pain and why I must weave myself into this writing.
I am 32 years as at the time of writing this article and it is needless to say that I am a part of the youthful population of Nigeria. For young people like me who have no one in the corridors of power for nepotism to favour, the only outlet I have from all the madness and chaos in this country is to migrate out of it to saner climes where I will be recognised for my abilities, and the dignity of labour at least means something.
I’m sorry that I have made this write up about me, or may be I have not. My reality is as much the reality of many young people in this country. I am however not oblivious of the fact that some might choose to be in self denial due to cushioning circumstances, sheer greed or pure shortsightedness.
Faced with a myriad of issues ranging from unemployment to various forms of insecurity, the prognosis for Nigeria is not looking good. The 2023 elections seem to be a very critical one for Nigeria. After the primary elections across various political parties, three candidates seem to have emerged. The candidate from the ruling party Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) has been so vociferous about the fact that it is his turn to rule without providing actual solutions to the problems being faced by this country.
And there is a second candidate from the ruling party which was in power from 1999 to 2015. As a matter of fact, this particular candidate was a two time Vice President who had a fall out with the then president on grounds publicly known to stem from corruption, but whatever the actual issue was, the politicians have glossed it over and have swept it under the rug. He believes he has the answer to the questions the president of this complex entity called Nigeria must answer going forward.
As much as I have saved the third outlier candidate for the last, I believe that he is the budding force the young electorates who desperately need a working system that can accommodate their dreams must look to for answers. Relying on his track record as a former Governor, he has been on various platforms granting interviews and providing answers to the critical questions many young people have.
Before I conclude, it is pertinent to mention certain displays which every concerned observer must stamp as shameful. And that is the rise of a pseudo-concerned group of people who for selfish aims engage in cryptic activities on social media platforms designed to sway public opinions in favour of persons who must have paid for their services. These individuals have taken to mud slinging attacks on young people who are genuinely rising to the occasion and throwing their cloak of support behind the outlier candidate. They have tried to liken the young supporters of this candidate who call themselves ‘OBIdients’ to extremists and terrorists. The fact that this appellation are in themselves offensive, and attempts have been made to rebut them has not in any way deterred these group of people.
Having said all of the above, I will like to conclude that the anticipated 2023 elections in Nigeria is a quest for the holy grail that can heal the wounds inflicted through years of bad governance and bring some semblance of happiness to young Nigerians like myself who have never known what good governance is like. The young investigative journalist David Hundeyin who is currently on self exile as a result of threats to his life stemming from the nature of his work captures my position and thoughts as a 32 years old Nigerian succinctly:
This election is life or death for me. Buhari wasted the 2nd half of my 20s. I’m 32 now. 8 years of another Buhari and I’ll be 41 the next time around. I’m out of time. Literally. If Nigeria doesn’t start to course-correct over the next 4 years, I’ll have forever missed my chance to achieve anything as a frontliner. Being a diasporan is fine, but the glass ceiling is REAL. There’s nothing funny about this. This will be the last time I’ll have the luxury of using my voice to take part in a major political process in Nigeria. By 2027, I will have at least 2 kids. My priorities will be different. This is it. It’s now or never.
