Which Way Nigeria.......

When I woke on Saturday morning and saw the large wall clock confidently showing the time of the day to be 10:40am , I yelped and dived straight beneath my pillow to retrieve my mobile device and after confirming I had not missed any crucial message from Jagaban and certain I was clear to enjoy the weekend without any unfinished office task hanging over my head like a mistletoe, I rose from the bed with immense glee and sang my way into the bathroom and out of if while hurrying hubby out of the house as we had so many places to touch and I wanted us to make the most of it.

And you know Lagos traffic on a Saturday, I was certainly not ready to cancel any of our plans because of one nonsense traffic.

I apparently spoke too soon because as we made our way out of Surulere towards Stadium road, the surreal experience began.

Immediately we descended the second bridge facing the National Stadium, I noticed a sea of people; all dressed up in white t-shirts and white shorts looking solemn, tired, somber and subdued.

Almost immediately I took cognizance of the dead-lock traffic, I panicked and my heart rate quickened. For those brief seconds, I concluded the end time had come and rapture had taken place (I even started thinking back to how many people I actually saw before getting to that location and my mind convinced me “not much babe, not much”).

With quick darting glance, I looked down to quickly check if my outfit had changed to white but it hadn't and ironically, I was putting on a black shirt.(That hot place under the earth came to mind and the fact that all the movies I’d seen depicting the bad people in those places were usually adorned in black apparels.)

Oh boy, for a split second, all my sins came rushing down o and while still in that panicked state of confusion, I saw my Hubby beside me and I was strangely reassured that “at least we have each other” and while still in this brief state of confusion, I took a closer look to see if somehow the gates of heaven was at the National Stadium since that was where these pool of people were all headed.

I kid you not. It was like watching an army of soldier ants gathered around a huge ant-hill and trying to make their way into the cocoon.

At this stage, no car was coming or going as everywhere was brought to a standstill by these “white angels”. So rather than be frustrated, I decided to feed my eyes with the events happening around me. To mention that I saw all manners of people would be an understatement. I saw the young and the old all decked in white and some off-white apparels were also there posing as white, and some pregnant women who looked like their water will break anytime soon were also there; with their brown manila folders looking expectant, hopeful and about to write an exam albeit in an extremely unruly, unconstrained and demeaning environment.

Surveying the situation and manner in which these hopeful graduates were about to be subjected to a lesser than animal manner of writing exams, I became disgusted, sad, angry, worried and finally disappointment set in.

I could practically see the future of Nigeria slowly ebbing away from the number of youths turnout on that sad day.

It will surprise you that all the above mentioned negative energy was not directed at the non-performing government but more towards all the present applicants.

It's a foregone conclusion that the Government is already a lost cause that should be flushed out with revolution. It will also behove many to know I have no qualms in hoping and praying that the revolution should claim the lives of people that are against the development of Nigeria. I became aware a very long time ago that in a war between good and evil, the evil has got to give way for good and progress to prevail which means the evil has to be gotten rid of, destroyed and buried somewhere far to ensure it does not come back to life.

In this case, some parts of the Government(or all?) is the evil that needs to be expended.

But abowaba loro iyen.

Let me share a quote I got off an acquaintance’s Linkedin page and which summarises my thoughts and exactly how I feel,

“…………….If so many youths can travel from afar and gather for a recruitment exercise that claimed some lives, why can't they organise and show up for protest marches against the corrupt government responsible for their plight? This submissive attitude in Negroes is why slavery lasted as long as it did, the power of a few over a multitude”.

In a related development, I remember clearly one of the World War movies I saw back in the days, where the soldiers leading thousands to the gas chambers weren't even up to a handful but yet the prisoners followed submissively with no thought of revolting and those that dared to question the actions of the soldiers were treated to a worse situation than the gas chambers as other prisoners were to scared to support their fellow prisoners to stand up for emancipation.

Sounds familiar, right?

Now the way I see it is this and permit me to sound very callous, I honestly don't think we have actually been pushed to the wall to get to a certain point where we would stage a protest that would shake the nation. Imagine if those people gathered at the "pearly gates", sorry I meant stadium, were all there in protest and all dressed in white too I must add to protest the rate of unemployment, do you think the Government would not have been forced to listen? Or rather, how would it have looked if there had been no turn out at the demeaning venue of the exams and the Government becomes aware that the youths of the nation have decided to form one bond/part and fight the evil leaders we have governing us in a rather shambled state?

At this point though, I am aware that many will probably hiss and conclude as is the usual norm when a suggestion is brought forward, “it cannot work” and then go ahead and scoff that "she comes from a privileged background and has never had to struggle for anything but probably just snap her fingers and get it at the first request".

Yes, you will be right to a certain extent but no, I did not grow up very privileged neither did I get all that I want on a platter of gold. In fact, you will be surprised to know that I have fought and propelled my way to get to where I am and because I am still not satisfied with where I am and what I have, I am still moving and still working hard. And I have known a long time ago that the level of comfort I want will not be gotten by working for any arm of Government or in any civil service.

Suffice to say that I grew up knowing that the Government has nothing to offer me or other youths without any connection to some corrupt leaders for that matter.

But hey, that’s just a tiny fraction of the whole equation. I am but a small part of a body of youths that know that the only way to effect change is not by beating the same tune but by doing something different.

We need to make happen something that will upset and shake the current waiting syndrome of all youths and unbalance the status-quo of Nigeria having men and women who should be in old people's homes or even retired running the affairs of this country.

We need to engineer something that is yet to be seen on this side of the continent.

REVOLUTION.

Our persistent reluctance to live by the saying "give me liberty or give me death" has truncated our desire and drive to fight for our freedom. We may have gained independence in 1960 but we are still in chains and being dragged around in mangled forms by our leaders. We the youths love endeavors that promise us immediate INDIVIDUAL rewards, but not those where a little fight, team work and sacrifice is needed to bring about collective and long lasting societal benefits.

I am not afraid to fight for our freedom but I have come to understand that in Nigeria, many want miraculous changes but are not willing to put in a fight or effort hence the same situation has prevailed for many years.

I have been opportune to share this opinion among several youths across different platforms and majority believe and I quote, “you have had a privileged life and spoilt so you will not understand what is actually happening. And getting a job right after school is not enough to write off the state of unemployment in Nigeria. The Government has not provided the facility to necessitate resourcefulness and innovation in Nigeria”…….”

And so on and on, the rambling continues.

And I smile sadly after each myopic attack and just knew this same situation will repeat itself after a while when the Government is sure we have forgotten the previous pains because as usual, many Nigerian youths still do not get it and probably never will and the cycle will keep repeating itself until one day, the population of seniors to youths will be 5:1

Ask not what your country can do for you…..
It is no longer news that our Government and leaders have failed us and their objectives are not in tandem with the expectation of the youths.

You can see the living proof of such expectation disparity when someone of wasteful descent bought a whole page of the newspaper to celebrate Bola Shagaya because she was among the delegates attending the National Conference.(It is a laughable situation if it's not an issue of serious concern). That person should be arrested and tried as it’s obvious the page was bought with stolen money as no honest hard worker will waste hard earned money for such nonsense except a sycophant trying to kiss the right a**e in anticipation of future opportunities to be derived from the person being hypocritically celebrated..

Awon amunishepe somebody!

The decrepit state of the nation has been a topic of discussion on several social boards and physical gatherings and this has been going as far back as 20 years. So one can safely assume that the government is yet to come up with any recent development however tragic that has not been over flogged or spoken about in the past or that we have even not witnessed.

As far as the Nigerian youth is concerned, we have seen it all and we should be tired of it by now to the extent that no one should have showed up for that charade of a test that took place on Saturday.

Which is why I was amazed that despite the several disappointment the Government has dished to us, there was still a huge turn out on Saturday and not just that, they were even able to get many to part with 1000 naira. Just like that!

And yet, we complain and protest should there be as little as 5 naira hike in fuel or transportation or air fare. We still parted with 1000 from 6million youths that applied.

One Thousand Naira. Which reminds me of one being asked to pay a sum of money by a magician that in exchange, he will give us a charm to enable us pass exams by remembering everything we read.

The dubious magician in this case are the NIS officical responsible for this exam.

Suffice to say that the government benefited from the misery of unemployment and even made cool 60 billion naira to show the depth of porous evil and wickedness of our leaders who are so corrupt and distant from the Nigerian youths that nothing good will come out of Saturday fiasco just to show how little care is shown to us.

I guess the innovator of such resourceful idea has met his KPI for the first quarter. The genius bastard!

But the hopefully gullible applicants.

This development has brought about as usual irate youths who are angered and aggrieved at the casualties that took place in each center and the incessant berating of the government has not seized up till now as I have been in several groups arguing on why the government is to blame or not to blame as it has not done anything that has not occurred in the past to the “waiting youths” who do not like to shift from their comfort zone but want to be handed everything on a platter of gold

So as far as I am concerned, the Government can cease to exist or even have all the officials go missing like the Malaysian plane, I couldn't’ be bothered.

The Government failed us when leaders who are celebrating over 50years and centenary awards are still ruling the country.
The Government failed us when they sold the NIS form for 1000 and made profit off it in irony of having charged unemployed applicants a token to get a job.
The Government failed us when they kept posting intended Corpers to Northern states where there has been unrest for over 5 years but they don’t seem to care since their relatives are not there but safely studying somewhere in Harvard, Columbia, Cambridge or Oxford.
The Government failed us when it refused to raise the minimum wages to meet the barest standard of living.
The Government failed us when several youths that have died in the struggle for Nigeria either by road, air, or outright murder and nothing was put in place in memory of them.
The Government failed us when ASUU went on strike for several months and issue was not prioritized and all arrears were not paid to the deserving lecturers.
The Government failed us when they choose to give centenary awards to killers of many future leaders.
The Government failed us when they refused to explain exactly what happened to the $20 billion but rather, we have been conveniently distracted again with a lingering fuel scarcity that has no end in sight.

So as far as I am concerned, the Nigerian Government has failed its youths in many ways that one and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. And you do not beat an already fallen object, body, thing or human.

Which is why I was not only amazed but disappointed at the turn out for the NIS test as apparently we, the Nigerian youths are yet to learn the greatest lesson of all.

And until we do, we will keep falling like a pack of domino cards.

To be continued…........…While I wait to see whether each applicant's 1000 naira will be refunded since the charade of an exam has been cancelled.