NIGERIA AT SIXTY OR SIXTEEN ��

I was just reminiscing some of the events that played out when we celebrated 40 years of Independence. Though l was young, but l can remember vividly some of the events and people's opinion on Nigeria at forty.
The one I will not forget in a hurry was the discussion of some persons around my area. l overheard some group of men discussing and one of them could not stop shouting "Nigeria a fool at forty is a fool forever"; he said that repeatedly that l had to ask myself, "is Nigeria a fool at forty"?
After many years as an independent entity, the euphoric joy of the 1960 events have seemingly exasperated into thin airs, establishing further the points of the man who believes that Nigeria is a fool at forty.

Fast forward to this present day, if a fool at forty is actually a fool forever, where do we place a fool at sixty.

NIGERIA AT SIXTY OR SIXTEEN, from all indications Nigeria does not have the characteristics or attributes of a man at sixty. Judging from "Maslow's hierarchy of need", a man at sixty should be at the "esteem need" level if not "self actualisation", but here we are still struggling with the basic needs(food, water air shelter and clothing) after sixty years of Independence. Perhaps we are doomed, to say the least.
Where do we start from to butress the fact that Nigeria is still a teenager at sixty. At sixty years of Independence we are still at the lowest point of basic human need, which we are not even sure of achieving in a dozen years ahead. If it is taking us about six decades to achieve the basic needs, how long will it take us to be self actualised? Your guess is as good as mine.
We often hear of change which our present government and politicians preach, what is change if we cannot change the state of our nation.

For donkey years, we've tried settling our scores on the drawing board; THE DRAWING BOARD IS FULL!!! I guess we'll try the laboratory this time around as specimens are not in short supply, following the ugly precedents occasioned by the deplorable state of the nation.
Change have been the mantra of the present government.
But what is this change all about!What are we changing? Who are we changing?
The question is for everyone though. Have we been able to effect change as an individual, in our families, in our offices, in the church, even in the market where we sell.

In other climes, the youth are " the leaders of tomorrow", but in a country like ours, "tomorrow" never comes - just like tales by moonlight, the tortoise will always be king for his trickery.

Our standard of education is far from convincing. There are no companies to employ the youth when they graduate, there is no loan available for those who wants to start up a business, how then do we raise great minds that will lead the country in future, NIGERIA AT SIXTY OR SIXTEEN.
"A healthy nation is often said to be a wealthy nation", Nigeria's health is quite below standard. Can Nigeria boast of up to five well equipped government hospitals that meet the international standard? The most painful aspect of it is that it keeps going from bad to worse, and when our politicians are sick, most times minor ailments, they travel out of the country for treatment, leaving the poor masses to die in those poorly equipped hospitals they built.
NIGERIA AT SIXTY OR SIXTEEN, a country that cannot boast of any sector that is functioning adequately; we have different security agencies but we are not secured, the roads are death traps to commuters, salaries and pensions are not paid promptly, epileptic power supply, insecurity at its echelon, brutal killings, other basic amenities are not available, the value of naria keeps dropping and instead of finding a way to boost it we are borrowing from other countries.
Which way Nigeria, what is the way forward, Nigeria at sixty is shadow of what it should be, we can go on and on with the list of what a country at sixty should have achieved, but it is not really about the long list, but what can be done to change the "status quo".

It's about time we take the bull by the horn. So many things are going awry.
Corruption is at its peak. Poverty is virtually legalized.
And in all frankness, that has always been our bane.
How can a hungry man reason properly.
It seems the game is to make the citizenry as hungry as possible, as such "stomach infrastructure" becomes a valid electioneering manifesto. And ones that area is satisfied, reasoning from the stomach becomes inevitable.


Our shortcomings at 60 are so numerous, but for being alive amidst all these turmoils, we ought to be grateful to our maker.


I would have loved to wish us a happy celebration, but that would sound hypocritical, because we've got little or nothing to be happy for.

The default mode has since failed, it's now time to restore to factory setting.

Happy new month friends!

Written by,
Prisca Ojiobianu.

It's just too sad.