Independence

It's Nigeria's birthday and I thought I should write her but I've been sitted here close to forty minutes - I'm at a crossroad just like the country, I'm trying to organize my thoughts still I don't know what to write her, what angle to come from.

Hope.

Despair.

Poverty.

Wealth.

Corruption.

Nonchalance.

Mismanagement.

This country houses them and more.

Our democracy a demonstration of craze. Our people are still bought over with peanuts, garri and groundnuts, one even shared fufu and soup. Since I was born, never have I heard of a free and fair and election; the electoral body does not even decide the winner of an election anymore, the judiciary does because after every election there'd be a court case.

Honestly, sometimes, I don't blame those who sell their votes. I've tried to put myself in the shoes and even walk in them; most of these people are so poor they barely feed a day and election period seem to be the only time they eat and get something from these candidates that are bound to not fulfill their promises when they get power. We shouldn't forget that most of these communities lack the basic amenities to survive.

Those who ask these people not to sell their votes do this once elections knock on our doors. Asking them not to sell their votes but even they don't try to meet the smallest of their needs, give them something to hold on too, a reason to not sell their votes.

The education system is just as bad as the country. Visiting Nigeria institutions, you'd wonder, is this where leaders of tomorrow are trained?

These institutions lack infrastructures, libraries are filled with outdated books, half baked lecturers and students crawl within these institutions. Too bad for a country that should be setting the standards for at least other African countries but instead they lowered the admission cut off mark.

Let's not delve fully into the bad conditions of our education system because it's a bottomless pit; there'd be no ending.

The economy equally sucks. The country never seem to be going well for those at the bottom of the chain; the poor gets poorer and the rich gets richer.

Naira losses value every time and the price of things instantly skyrockets. The heads on our naira notes have been called “useless heads”.

Our roads are as jagged as the country; pot holes whilst our leaders keep having pot bellies their agbada can't even cover.

Thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic for it's reminder that our health sector needs to step up it's game. Hopefully, our leaders deem it fit to do something about it. They couldn't travel out for treatment and some of them died of the virus.

Children/youths are the leaders of tomorrow. Here's a subtle reminder, tomorrow never comes in Nigeria. Youths are catching what may appear to be the biggest cruise in years.

Social media has been a very good companion; some work(ing) online, some learn(ing), some just use the platform to maintain communication, to get happy. Societal challenges are just so much, they need to breathe, to get their mind off so other challenges were started online; reality TV show (BBN) was another comic relief - I wonder what's coming next now that the show ended, probably more challenges.

Smiles.

Laughter.

Happiness.

True happiness.

Those are just words that can be found on the internet, words that can only be bought with money. You have data, then you're happy, you get the chance to watch comedy skits, you get to take your mind off the challenges of life and partake in the ones happening online, you get to feed your eyes with the bosom of Dorathy and the ass of Nengi and the way Ozo fell do deeply in love.

In real life, data exhausted; we all go back to sulking, thinking how we can leave for Canada, when this county would again become the giant of Africa because right now it's just an ant and if it's still a giant, it's a sleeping one.

Everyone walks with a mask - one with a happy face whereas underneath we're frowning, in our heads, we're drowning; like the country unveiling a new logo to celebrate 60 years when there's nothing new or good about it, just a thousand more problems.

This country needs saving.

This country needs to hit the reset button.

This country has to start working again.

This might not be a happy birthday message but surely it's a message. I hope you get the message. I hope our youths become truly happy and that tomorrow comes. I hope we wake up to fix this mess. I hope the country becomes truly independent.

Happy birthday Nigeria.

Happy Independence.