It’s a great challenge to me writing this piece. Definitely, am among that group of people who were not even born when Sir, Tafewa Balewa the first Prime Minister received the flag of freedom. Beyond photographs and video clips taken in the first republic, I would never have an idea of what the founding fathers of my nation actually look like.
Am among that crop of people who were not born when the first coup was executed in 1966 or the civil war ended in 1970 but I count myself privilege to among those who can chronicle the history of the nation with the largest number of black people living together.
Many share the idea that Nigeria in the Pre-colonial era is better than Nigeria today. Doing a comparison of the leadership in Nigeria during the Pre-colonial era and today, I realize that those who assumed the seat of power were not only true selfless personalities they also had a genuine love for the country unlike what we have today. These men fought tirelessly even under oppression and victimization which they suffered from colonial rule until the colonial administration started to show signs of imminent collapse in 1923 when it permitted the first election into the legislative council. With these, I cannot agree more with this group of thinkers. Lekan Balogun a former senator and front-line politician in Oyo State who witnessed the commitment of these founding fathers is one among this crop of people who believe that had Nigeria been run with the same level of commitment by those who ruled thereafter, the country would by now be in the league of the world’s leading nations.
“…at last our great day has arrived, and Nigeria is now indeed an independent sovereign nation” were the words of the Prime Minister Sir, Tafewa Balewa in his address to the nation when he was given the flag of freedom 51 years ago. Today, there isn’t any formula we can use to measure positive progress in our nation owing to bad governance by those who apparently were the youths of the old man’s favorite quotes- “those good old days”.
As I write this piece, series of questions almost conquer my thoughts. Such questions as where these nationalist actually good fathers to this prodigal leaders? Were they while pursuing their nationalistic endeavor camouflaging their real selves? Did they alter their nationalistic principles of selflessness and go back home encouraging their children to continue in this selflessness or did they return to tell them “ensure you reap all that I have sowed and sow nothing in return”?
Negative answers to this questions would prove wrong and/or right statements such as that of Sir,T. Balewa “… I dedicate my life to the service of our country” and the national pledge to which they all take at assumption of office.
“…it has been through and Nigeria now stands well built upon firm foundations” the Prime Minister furthered in that Speech apparently encapsulating the feelings of optimism and confidence in the Nigerian State and its government by the nationalist and other political elites. But were these foundations truly strong or where did we break the strength of the foundations? One would quickly remember Gen. Sani Abacha’s style of governance which earned Nigeria a Pariah status among The Committee of Nations, United States, Canada, European Union, Commonwealth Group of Nations and United Nations all imposed sanctions on Nigeria. This was the state of affairs until the man I refer to as ‘The Special one’ died in Aso Rock on June 8, 1998.
These sanctions may have bothered Nigerians less compared to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by M.K.O Abiola believed to be the freest and fairest elections ever held in the Nation by the Babangida administration. These shames of the past may have bothered Olusegun Obasanjo less as what was of more importance to him after his 8 years woeful reign was his third term bid. He got what he deserved through those who were not only hungry for power but also tasty for power even though they ended up not tasting of it as the greatest political team; People’s Democratic Party, and its manager got the job done their way by creating a bridge between it and the Prof. Maurice Iwu foundation and passed through the bridge to rule Nigeria with late Alh. Musa Yar`Adua who didn’t last his tenure and like a relay passed on the barton unto a lucky son of a farmer whoose patience has helped so much; apparently she’s his wife so shouldn’t she? All thanks to her even though that patience wouldn’t help Nigerians fight jthe Boko Haram menace. Free and fair elections having been his only achievement so far and the completion of the amnesty programme started by his Boss to appease the angry Niger-Delta youths who politically militated against his administration due to under-development of the oil stricken arena owing to bad governance and corruption from bad leaders. Bad leaders I call them, apparently, the leaders of today are the youths of yesterday; the children of they that fixed the foundations of this nation in ‘those good old days’- how good the days were, I cannot tell, but I can tell that the leaders were nationalist.
The rascal of our leaders today has eaten deep into the youths of the nation. This brings to my mind the dress code of the Minister of the Niger-Delta, James Olotu at the inspection of the Niger-Delta Power Holding Company Facilities just recently. While talking to press men at the nation’s national television, the man flew the collar of his polo T-shirt. What ordinarily the Lagos street boy would do. What do the youths who are watching learn from this? I remember my elder brother saying that politicians are ‘agberos’. The arrogance of our age, coupled with the arrogance of our leaders influence the youths negatively hence, building a corrupt work force and presumably, leader of tomorrow.
While Segun Olusola former Ambassador to Ethiopia and founder African Refugee Foundation has high hopes building it arround the fair elections of president Jonathan, Adedotun Abolarin, The Orangun of Oke-Ila believes our future is bright; Lekan Balogun former Senator and front line Politician says we should avert a revolution.
However, the Americans have predicted that the country is heading towards division in 2015; Hope Harriman an Industrialist and Estate Management Practitioner shares his own idea. In his own words, “this may sound absurd, but the founding fathers of Nigeria had no Vision”. Absurd indeed. Tanko Yakassai, Politician and Elder statesman notes that good leadership is the way forward.
Here the question arises. Can the Nation get the kind of leadership that would transform it from the current breed of youths? Before you answer, you realize that today the youths are of two classes. ‘those with political interest, and those without’. While most of the ones with political interest are labeled diabolical and corrupt when trying to place themselves in positions to fight against the wiles of the wild ones especially when considering the out play of both physical and spiritual powers they are also labeled irresponsible. Those defined as responsible are those with the least interest in politics. Diabolical, irresponsible, and/or corrupt these are the politically inclined and possibly, bound to pilot the affairs of this nation. What do we make out of this set of leaders? The earlier we realize our stand, the better for us.
I shall end this piece by stressing that we the youths in general (whether politically inclined or not) must change our orientation especially towards the state of affair of our nation. We should kick away every spirit of ‘I don’t care’. The present leaders may be bad, but one day it would be our turn. To utilize this opportunity well, its time we realized our nation needs us and deserves good governance hence, we should change lour ways of thinking. This we must do to ensure progress, justice, harmony and unity and above all, rekindle confidence amongst our people.
Am among that crop of people who were not born when the first coup was executed in 1966 or the civil war ended in 1970 but I count myself privilege to among those who can chronicle the history of the nation with the largest number of black people living together.
Many share the idea that Nigeria in the Pre-colonial era is better than Nigeria today. Doing a comparison of the leadership in Nigeria during the Pre-colonial era and today, I realize that those who assumed the seat of power were not only true selfless personalities they also had a genuine love for the country unlike what we have today. These men fought tirelessly even under oppression and victimization which they suffered from colonial rule until the colonial administration started to show signs of imminent collapse in 1923 when it permitted the first election into the legislative council. With these, I cannot agree more with this group of thinkers. Lekan Balogun a former senator and front-line politician in Oyo State who witnessed the commitment of these founding fathers is one among this crop of people who believe that had Nigeria been run with the same level of commitment by those who ruled thereafter, the country would by now be in the league of the world’s leading nations.
“…at last our great day has arrived, and Nigeria is now indeed an independent sovereign nation” were the words of the Prime Minister Sir, Tafewa Balewa in his address to the nation when he was given the flag of freedom 51 years ago. Today, there isn’t any formula we can use to measure positive progress in our nation owing to bad governance by those who apparently were the youths of the old man’s favorite quotes- “those good old days”.
As I write this piece, series of questions almost conquer my thoughts. Such questions as where these nationalist actually good fathers to this prodigal leaders? Were they while pursuing their nationalistic endeavor camouflaging their real selves? Did they alter their nationalistic principles of selflessness and go back home encouraging their children to continue in this selflessness or did they return to tell them “ensure you reap all that I have sowed and sow nothing in return”?
Negative answers to this questions would prove wrong and/or right statements such as that of Sir,T. Balewa “… I dedicate my life to the service of our country” and the national pledge to which they all take at assumption of office.
“…it has been through and Nigeria now stands well built upon firm foundations” the Prime Minister furthered in that Speech apparently encapsulating the feelings of optimism and confidence in the Nigerian State and its government by the nationalist and other political elites. But were these foundations truly strong or where did we break the strength of the foundations? One would quickly remember Gen. Sani Abacha’s style of governance which earned Nigeria a Pariah status among The Committee of Nations, United States, Canada, European Union, Commonwealth Group of Nations and United Nations all imposed sanctions on Nigeria. This was the state of affairs until the man I refer to as ‘The Special one’ died in Aso Rock on June 8, 1998.
These sanctions may have bothered Nigerians less compared to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by M.K.O Abiola believed to be the freest and fairest elections ever held in the Nation by the Babangida administration. These shames of the past may have bothered Olusegun Obasanjo less as what was of more importance to him after his 8 years woeful reign was his third term bid. He got what he deserved through those who were not only hungry for power but also tasty for power even though they ended up not tasting of it as the greatest political team; People’s Democratic Party, and its manager got the job done their way by creating a bridge between it and the Prof. Maurice Iwu foundation and passed through the bridge to rule Nigeria with late Alh. Musa Yar`Adua who didn’t last his tenure and like a relay passed on the barton unto a lucky son of a farmer whoose patience has helped so much; apparently she’s his wife so shouldn’t she? All thanks to her even though that patience wouldn’t help Nigerians fight jthe Boko Haram menace. Free and fair elections having been his only achievement so far and the completion of the amnesty programme started by his Boss to appease the angry Niger-Delta youths who politically militated against his administration due to under-development of the oil stricken arena owing to bad governance and corruption from bad leaders. Bad leaders I call them, apparently, the leaders of today are the youths of yesterday; the children of they that fixed the foundations of this nation in ‘those good old days’- how good the days were, I cannot tell, but I can tell that the leaders were nationalist.
The rascal of our leaders today has eaten deep into the youths of the nation. This brings to my mind the dress code of the Minister of the Niger-Delta, James Olotu at the inspection of the Niger-Delta Power Holding Company Facilities just recently. While talking to press men at the nation’s national television, the man flew the collar of his polo T-shirt. What ordinarily the Lagos street boy would do. What do the youths who are watching learn from this? I remember my elder brother saying that politicians are ‘agberos’. The arrogance of our age, coupled with the arrogance of our leaders influence the youths negatively hence, building a corrupt work force and presumably, leader of tomorrow.
While Segun Olusola former Ambassador to Ethiopia and founder African Refugee Foundation has high hopes building it arround the fair elections of president Jonathan, Adedotun Abolarin, The Orangun of Oke-Ila believes our future is bright; Lekan Balogun former Senator and front line Politician says we should avert a revolution.
However, the Americans have predicted that the country is heading towards division in 2015; Hope Harriman an Industrialist and Estate Management Practitioner shares his own idea. In his own words, “this may sound absurd, but the founding fathers of Nigeria had no Vision”. Absurd indeed. Tanko Yakassai, Politician and Elder statesman notes that good leadership is the way forward.
Here the question arises. Can the Nation get the kind of leadership that would transform it from the current breed of youths? Before you answer, you realize that today the youths are of two classes. ‘those with political interest, and those without’. While most of the ones with political interest are labeled diabolical and corrupt when trying to place themselves in positions to fight against the wiles of the wild ones especially when considering the out play of both physical and spiritual powers they are also labeled irresponsible. Those defined as responsible are those with the least interest in politics. Diabolical, irresponsible, and/or corrupt these are the politically inclined and possibly, bound to pilot the affairs of this nation. What do we make out of this set of leaders? The earlier we realize our stand, the better for us.
I shall end this piece by stressing that we the youths in general (whether politically inclined or not) must change our orientation especially towards the state of affair of our nation. We should kick away every spirit of ‘I don’t care’. The present leaders may be bad, but one day it would be our turn. To utilize this opportunity well, its time we realized our nation needs us and deserves good governance hence, we should change lour ways of thinking. This we must do to ensure progress, justice, harmony and unity and above all, rekindle confidence amongst our people.
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