NIGERIA AT 64: THERE IS NEED TO CELEBRATE!
Nigeria certainly has cause to cheer: 25 unbroken years of democracy in a sub-region swarmed by coup plotters is no mean feat; neither is 64 years of independence something to be sneered at. So, despite the gloom and doom of the current times, the country would not look ghostly in celebratory gear.
Amidst the shattering despondency in the country, a common question would be: what is Nigeria celebrating, and is there really anything to celebrate? The resounding answer is YES. To those who will ask, “what?” The answer will be: here is a country.
Here is a country hastily lumped together by the shortsightedness of colonialists who were eager to milk it dry and get away before its inevitable collapse.Sixty-four years after they left, the country is still clinging on to its unity, if only by its fingernails.
Here is a country convulsed by an atrocious and iniquitous civil war that would have spelled the end for many other countries. Yet, it still stands, although many wounds from the civil war are still festering, and war continues to be waged against the country in many forms.
Here is a country trampled under the boot heels of military rule, during which the constitution was dipped in blood and flung out of the window. Outrageous amounts of money stolen from the country and stashed away in indeterminate countries are yet to be returned.
Here is a country indelibly stained by its crude oil. The environmental degradation of the Niger Delta, the suffering of its people and the mismanagement of its oil resources continue to break the heart.
Here is a country which is a victim of the conspiracy of its politicians. Motivated by ethnic and religious agendas, they have continued to wage a relentless war against the country in a bid to mold it into their unsightly images.
Here is a country compromised by corruption. Again and again, its funds have been converted to personal funds, but still, it goes on.
Here is a country shortchanged by electoral brigandage. With a thoroughly compromised electoral commission, elections have become auctions for the highest bidders.
Here is a country devastated by poverty with half of its population living in grinding poverty despite its staggering natural resources.
Here is a country cut open by terrorism and insecurity, with Boko Haram and bandits battering it from all sides.
Nigeria is a relentless tale of resistance and resilience. Resistance to despair and resilience in the face of backbreaking odds. It is the story of a country that has refused to be broken; a country forced to scrape the bottom many times, each time managing to come up with the goods. Nigeria is the curious case of a wife who has lost everything in a marriage who, however, refuses to leave the marriage, remaining faithful to a fleeting but fathomless love.
Here is a country redeemed by its democracy that is 25 years old. In a sub-region where the military have become coup plotters, 25 years is an eternity for a beacon and defender of democracy.
The skies over Nigeria continue to darken. Poverty remains rife, insecurity continues to thrive, and bad leadership remains a staple. Many of its young people are fleeing the country. Those who can’t flee are taking to internet fraud. Many who remain behind have lost hope. Yet, Nigeria remains, raring to go at a seemingly impossible task of nationhood.
Here is a country, subject of many predictions and prophecies of doom, which, however, continues to defy every bearer of doom sent to it.
It is no surprise that Nigeria is hardly anyone’s dream country given its massive problems and the profoundly disturbing cluelessness of its leaders many of whom cannot see the wood for the trees.
Last year, one administration swapped places with another after eight years. But after one year, there is only proof that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Hunger remains as does inequality and insecurity but so does Nigeria, a staggering, stuttering giant that is keeping its feet despite the projectiles rained on it. It is simply a country that has refused to break or bend to the will of her enemies, one that has refused to provide the banquet they desperately crave.
There is really no substantial hope that Nigeria will get it right some day. If anything, it is despair is setting in and deepening by the day. But for now, the country remains, even if there isn’t much that remains.
In his masterful interrogation of the Nigerian conundrum,There was a country, immortal author, Chinua Achebe, spoke to a country existing in an existential crisis as a grieving parent would to the ghost of a dead child. That country somehow refuses to die.
Such impossible resilience deserves to be celebrated.
Kene Obiezu,
