Imagine if the regional system of government that placed western Nigeria (Yorubaland) ahead of Paris and London in terms of development was never jeopardized for the senseless and meaningless unitary system that persists till date
Imagine if Nigerian politicians are ordinary citizens with decent jobs and liable under the law
Imagine if the children of the rich, poor, politicians, elites and traders attend the same schools in Nigeria or get the same opportunity to attend or choose the same schools
Imagine..!
Imagine..!
By Adeola Aderounmu
When you are a writer/social critic and you have put pen to paper or punched your keyboards for nearly 2 decades concerning the absence of civilization in Nigeria, a time comes you start to look for new words to express the same frustrations that you have encountered in those 2 decades of writing.
Then, when you think about your other commitments, the ones that actually put food on your table and the ones that actually bring you happiness, you tend to relegate your frustrations about Nigeria and Africa to the background. Isn’t that the essence of life? To be happy.
For the Nigerian government, run mostly by tropical gangsters and criminals since 1960, this is where they want to put you and that is exactly what they want from you. You will give up, become resilient, become useless, get accustomed to stupidity and live the life you didn’t choose, the one you have no control over.
Government in Nigeria is elitist, and, in my opinion, more than 150 million people live as slaves in Nigeria. Living as a common citizen of Nigeria, is still also in my opinion, probably the worst tragedy the world had seen since the end of the second world war. This had been my point of view even before the rise of the Boko Haram terrorists of the north who started off as the armed wing of the powerful, corrupt, myopic and thoughtless Northern elites. Today Boko Haram is a global threat to peace and stability.
Those who think Nigeria will remain as one country (as l thought too) would have to do a rethink because recent developments have shown that Nigeria cannot last another 60 years of extreme stupidity of governance especially the cluelessness that pervades since 1999. The two major ideologies that have been promoted by tyrant Buhari viz domination of the north and pursuit of Islamic agenda would fast track the disintegration of Nigeria and the eventual collapse of the Fulani empire.
Now, if we go back or pretend to be in 1960 and write some hypotheses on Nigeria, the space regarded as Nigeria today could actually have become the most beautiful place in the world. Let us imagine a Nigeria where the politicians and policy makers were normal human beings. Let us think or imagine a Nigeria where the citizens were treated with dignity and respect.
Imagine a 1960 to 2020 Nigeria:
1. Where all the citizens: politicians, elites, middle class and low class:
- go to the same supermarket/market to shop
- go to the same government hospitals for health care delivery
2. Where all the children of the rich, poor, politicians, elites and traders
- attend the same schools in Nigeria
- get the same opportunity to attend or choose the same schools
3. Where all the citizens irrespective of positions in the society live in decent accommodations with constant electricity and water supply.
4. Where the roads and railways are standard constructions and maintained annually or as stipulated by the contract awards.
5. Where the judiciary is functional and where are there no criminal immunity clause in the constitution.
6. Where politicians are ordinary citizens with decent jobs and liable under the law
7. Where foreign religions like Christianity and lslam were never allowed to infiltrate government businesses but kept at home as private convictions
8.Where the citizens, when oppressed had the guts to shut down undesirable government with protests within 48-72 hours.
9. Where the regional system of government that placed western Nigeria ahead of Paris and London in terms of development was never jeopardized for the senseless and meaningless unitary system that persists till date
10.Where dignity of labour and merits were never sacrificed at the altar of senseless national character that brought complete fools, idiots and morons to national limelight
11.Where due to the sustenance of the regional government, every Dick, Tom and Harry didn’t need to flock to Lagos (old capital) or western Nigeria to destroy and render the limited infrastructure worthless.
12. Where every region and state is viable, developed at own pace, offered housing and employment to its graduates and other citizens with skilled and unskilled abilities.
13. Where regardless of political affiliation, government existed as a continuum even under the useless unitary system.
I could go on to tell you what to imagine between 1960 and 2020. I am sure you have your own imaginations too. We may even differ on certain issues.
However, l am convinced that the sum of the imaginations is that if Nigeria was not derailed, especially since the two useless coups of 1966, the country would have become the best place to live. You know the story of the desert that became Dubai. That country should be trailing western Nigeria today. Even China should be behind eastern Nigerian in terms of manufacturing and production if Nigeria had politicians and policy makers with a quarter of the human brain cells for normal functioning.
Presently, the tragedy of Nigeria would persist if the different nations entrapped within Nigeria do not rescue themselves by either acquiring autonomy or through the complete disintegration of the terror-infected country. It is certain that a certain generation would fight for its own freedom and break away from the tragedy called Nigeria today.
The tragedy of the aging population/generation included, among others, the turning of complete blind eyes to the potentials of totally destroying the useless unitary system that recycles stupid and senseless people at the helm of affairs. For example, Buhari has no intellectual capacity to lead a country. It is just laughable and stupid to see complete fools ruling Nigeria. Where is the common sense? Buhari was not the first bigot to rule Nigeria but he took the bar of cluelessness and brainlessness beyond human comprehension.
Today, belonging to APC or PDP doesn’t make sense also as events from 1999 have shown. On a personal note, I am now sure that l will die seeking answers and wondering why Nigerians compare evil to evil. Why compare APC to PDP? What is the difference between them? It is the acceptance of different shades of evil and incompetence that strengthened morons in Nigerian politics.
The challenges are huge, and the current system must be downed for the future to emerge.
This is where Nigeria is today, and this is the biggest challenge for Nigeria in 2020 and beyond.
Even if Buhari was selected or elected by Nigeria’s useless democratic process, there is no golden rule that states that slavery must persist at all cost. Something needs to give way, not only for the slight benefits of entrapped 200 million people, but for the full benefits of the unborn generations that will occupy the geographical space. They need to know that some people paved the way for their freedom, for their rights to live the lives that they will choose.
It is time to end the laughing stock called Nigeria. It is absolutely a disgrace to the dark-skinned race and definitely not a representation of the intellectual capacity of who we were and who we ought to become.
A View From The Scandinavian 