The biggest country in Africa that the
United Kingdom colonised is Nigeria.
The biggest country that the United
Kingdom colonised in Asia is India (which then comprised the present
Pakistan and Bangladesh). When the UK came into Nigeria and
India, like all other countries they
colonised, they brought along their
technology, religion (Christianity), and
culture: names, dressing, food, and
language, among others. Try as hard as the British did, India rejected the British
religion, names, dressing, food, and
even language, but they did not reject
the British technology. Today, 80.5 per
cent of Indians are Hindus; 13.4 per
cent Muslims; 2.3 per cent Christians; 1.9 per cent Sikhs; 0.8 per cent
Buddhists, among others. Hindi is the
official language of the government of
India, but English is used extensively in
business and administration and has
the status of a “subsidiary official language.” Interestingly, it is rare to
find an Indian with an English name or
dressed in suit. On the other hand, Nigeria embraced,
to a large extent, the British religion,
British culture – names, dressing, foods,
and language – but, ironically, rejected
the British technology. The difference
between the Nigerian and the Indian experiences is that while India is proud
of its heritage, Nigeria takes little pride
in its own heritage, a situation that has
affected the nationalism of Nigerians
and our development as a nation. Before the advent of Christianity, the
Arabs had brought Islam into Nigeria
through the North. Islam also wiped
away much of the culture of Northern
Nigeria. Today, the North has only
Sharia courts but no Customary courts. So from the North to the South of
Nigeria, the Western World and the
Eastern World have shaped our lives to
be like theirs and we have lost much or
all of our identity. Long after the Whites and Arabs left
Nigeria, Nigeria has waxed strong in
religion to the extent that Nigerians
now set up branches of their home-
grown churches in Europe, the
Americas, Asia and other African countries. Just like the Whites brought
the gospel to us, Nigerians now take
the gospel back to the Whites. In Islam,
we are also very vibrant to the extent
that if there is a blasphemous comment
against Islam in Denmark or the US, even if there is no violent reaction in
Saudi Arabia, the Islamic headquarters
of the world, there will be loss of lives
and destruction of property in Nigeria.
If the United Arab Emirates, a country
with 75 per cent Muslims, is erecting the tallest building in the world and
encouraging the world to come and
invest in its territory by providing a
friendly environment, Boko Haram
ensures that the economy of the North
(and by extension that of Nigeria) is crippled with bombs and bullets unless
every Nigerian converts to Boko
Haram’s brand of Islam. We are indeed
a very religious people. Meanwhile, as we are building the
biggest churches and mosques, the
Indians, South Africans, Chinese,
Europeans and Americans have taken
over our key markets: telecoms,
satellite TV, multinationals, banking, oil and gas, automobile, aviation, and
hospitality industries among others. Ironically, despite our exploits in
religion, we are a people with little
godliness, a people without scruples. It
is rare to do business with a Nigerian
pastor, deacon, knight, elder, brother,
sister, imam, mullah, mallam, alhaji or alhaja without the person laying
landmines of bribes and deception on
your path. We call it PR, facilitation fee,
processing fee, transport money,
financial engineering, deal, or
whatever. But if it does not change hands, no show. And when it is
amassed, we say it is “God’s blessings.”
Some people assume that sleaze is a
problem of public functionaries, but the
private sector seems to be worse than
the public sector these days. One would have assumed that the more
churches and mosques that spring up
in every nook and cranny of Nigeria,
the higher the morals in our society. But
it is not so. The situation is that the
more religious we get, the baser we become. Our land never knew the type
of bloodshed experienced from
religious extremists, political
desperadoes, ritual killers, armed
robbers, kidnappers, internet
scammers, university cultists, and lynch mobs. Life has become so cheap and
brutish that everyday seems to be a
bonanza. We import petrol even when we have
crude oil in abundance. We also import
rice and beans that our land can
produce in abundance. We even import
toothpicks that primary school children
can produce with little or no effort. Yet, we drive the best of cars and live in the
best of edifices, visit the best places in
the world for holidays and use the most
expensive electronic and telecoms
gadgets. It is now a sign of poverty for
a Nigerian to ride a saloon car. Four- wheel drive vehicles are the in thing.
Even government officials, who were
known to use only Peugeot products
as official cars as a sign of modesty,
have upgraded to Toyota Prado as
official vehicle without any iota of shame, in a country where about 70
per cent live below poverty line. Private
jets have become as common as cars. A
nation that imports toothpicks and pins
flaunts wealth and wallows in
ostentation at a time its children are trooping to Ghana, South Africa and the
UK for university education and its sick
people are running to India for
treatment. India produces automobile and
exports it to the world. India’s medical
care is second to none, with even
Americans and Europeans travelling to
the country for medical treatment. India
has joined the nuclear powers nations. India has launched a successful mission
to the moon. Yet bicycles and tricycles
are common sights in India. But in
Nigeria, only the wretched of the earth
ride bicycles. I have intentionally chosen to compare
Nigeria with India rather than China,
South Korea, Brazil, Malaysia, or
Singapore, because of the similarities
between India and Nigeria. But these
countries were not as promising as Nigeria at the time of our
independence. Some would say that our undoing is
our size: the 2012 United Nations
estimate puts Nigeria’s population at
166,000 million, while India has a
population of 1.2 billion. Some would
blame it on the multiplicity of ethnic groups: we have 250 ethnic groups,
India has more than 2,000. Some
would hang it on the diversity in
religion: we have two major religions
— Christianity and Islam; but India has
many. Some would say it is because we are young as an independent nation:
we have 52 years of independence;
India has 65 years. Apartheid ended in
South Africa only in 1994. I am a Christian, and nothing can
change me from Christianity. But I think
that our country is daily sinking into
religiosity to the detriment of godliness.
Our land is sick and needs healing. “If
my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and
seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin and
heal their land” is still a saying that is
germane to our current situation. We need more godliness than religion;
more work and less of hope; and more
action and less of words. Let everyone tidy up his or her corner
first and demand fervently that our
leaders tidy their areas of governance.
Our nation is degenerating at a fast
pace and we need to save it now or it
may be too late.

Just saw this on my Facebook page and decide to share it on NL.

Walahi. . .Nigeria's screwed