HAPPY INDEPENDENCE OR NOT?

Hello My Awesome Tory Lovers!

First let me welcome you to the awesome month of October. I hope this month is special to you as it is to me. No, it’s not my birth month as y’all know already but I choose to make any month special, as it pleases me, so shall it be.

I’m guessing that you were expecting this post yesterday as the first day of the month, but I deliberately decided to delay it by a day because I was in an observation mood and wanted to thoroughly carry out my research before coming here.

Yesterday morning I updated the popular phrase, “Happy Independence Nigeria” on my WhatsApp Status, and what followed was unbelievable. Most of my contacts responded saying that they would prefer I tell them "Happy New Month" instead because they didn’t see any reason to celebrate Nigeria’s 60^th Independence.

I took time to listen to several radio stations yesterday and unfortunately 90% of callers had a whole lot of complains about the all the things going wrong in our beloved country. Most of them didn’t see any reason to celebrate our 60^th birthday.

A particular lady said, if Nigeria was her mother who was turning 60 with all the problems she had, she would never celebrate such a mother because she has failed children. Ah! This one enter wella!

The last straw that broke the Camel’s back was that yesterday I journeyed from my home on the mainland to my folks’ on the Island and after all the hours I spent on the road and all the cars I saw, none, not even one had a Nigerian flag or sticker or anything to indicate the independence celebration. Very unlike Lagosians! It was so glaring that her citizens have given up on her!

Sincerely, we cannot deny the fact that Nigeria is in a terrible state. Even our President’s Independence speech aggravated the citizens more when he compared us with some more advanced countries because he wanted to justify the increase in fuel price.

Hmm! I am just holding myself because if we want to go into comparison we all know who will be disgraced woefully. Should we tell him? Or let me just off the mic first before I destroy all the furniture industry in Africa.

Am I proud to be a Nigeria? A fact I cannot deny, because I believe there is a reason God put me in this particular country and on this particular continent.

Am I happy to be a Nigerian? A million times upset!

Have I given up on Nigeria? Not at all. Why? You may ask, “Where there is life, there is hope.” So I am still hoping for a better Nigeria, and this hope lives on as long as I live.

Before you crucify me, let me clarify something.  I have given up on these set of rulers we have, no, they ain’t leaders because they have failed in all ramification and do not deserve to be called that.

The first thing that needs to leave us as a nation is the spirit of Selfishness! As a matter of fact, this one is a gigantic demon with colossal horns and fierce dentition! It is only selfishness that can make a public officer embezzle the citizen’s money without a conscience. Money that is beyond what their 10^th generation can finish!

Like Honourable Okey Bakassi put it, “The difference between Nigerian public officers and those in developed countries is Selfishness.”

According to him, the foreign public officers are not Saints or Holier than ours but they eat the money with conscience. We are not saying don’t eat the money o, but do something for us, let our system be functional then we won’t bother you whether you squander or not!

My hope is not in them, but in you and I. Even the Bible says that, “Faith without works is dead” meaning that something has to be done even as we await a miracle of total wipe-out of these set of rulers and the installation of a new set of leaders.

Me smiling in the midst of chaos!

I want to use this medium to urge everyone of us to ignore the government for now, and focus on ourselves and what we can do to better our lives and that of those around us. Make sure that in your own little space, you are not a “Buhari” by being unjust to others or exploiting those under you, or oppressing and intimidating those you feel cannot challenge you.

As an employer or employee, entrepreneur or businessman/woman, associate, transport officer, public servant, or even family member whatever role you play, ensure that you are giving your best and nothing less, in fairness and honesty, ensure that those around you can feel your impact and are pleased with you.

Let everyone of us do our own bit so that God will see our hearts and crown our efforts with success. Do you know that there are people in this country who are living so comfortably that they are unperturbed by government policies and increase in price of fuel?

We all need to strive to get to that point, the sky is wide enough to accommodate us all.

So I celebrate you as a Nigerian, not the Nigeria whose government has failed.

I celebrate you as a hardworking, loyal and honest citizen!

I celebrate you for your labour!

Cheers to you, my Nigeria, my hope and future!

Happy Independence to you, my Nigeria, for breaking free from the oppression of our failed government and for choosing to lay a better foundation than that of our fathers!

I would really love to read your thoughts in the comment section, do me a favour and drop a word.

May October bring you blessings beyond your expectations.

The Tory Teller loves you and is rooting for you!

 

© Onyinye Udeh.