1
Wake up
Be aware that our country is a disgrace
And it is all our faults
All of us, Young and Old, locals and emigrants
The greatness of Nigeria is our responsibility as citizens and as bloods
Our God-given duty
And we have failed, woefully
We are all failures regardless of whatever success we might have achieved, or hope to achieve
As long as you have Nigerian blood running through our veins
And our glorious country remains impoverished, decaying, a carcass
WE. HAVE. FAILED.
And may God have mercy on our souls
2
We claim to have bright minds
We must act like the desperate people we are and think of something to save our country
Because we are desperate
We should be if we are thinking straight
This is a state of emergency
With an abundance of sun, water, wind, gas, minerals, oil, we have no electricity
With a record of “the best student/mind/result is a Nigerians” each year, we have no schools
I repeat with absolute confidence, we have no schools
A school without research and innovation is not a school
A school without technology and funding is not a school
A school without passionate teachers, a school without teachers is not a school
A school without a computer, or books, or furniture, or a roof, is not a school
Why are Nigerian doctors/nurses some of the best in the world when we have no hospitals in Nigeria?
Basic things are a struggle for the non-existent middle class
Nothing works
Not our democracy, nor our law and order, nor internal enterprise, foreign exchange, utilities…
Nothing
I repeat with absolute confidence, nothing works
EVERYONE. IS. HUNGRY.
And everyone knows
We complain
Everyone has the perfect analysis
Every family is its own political party
We know exactly what we would do if we were in power
We recognise the dysfunction and passionately rebuke it
Or we allow ourselves to grow obtuse and justify it
In the end, we do nothing
We have become used to nothing
Children, a new generation, are being born into, being raised on nothing
Taught to appreciate, beg for, accept nothing
3
A new day comes and goes and we find ways to survive
A new day comes and goes and we relinquish our rights, our voice, our honour, to the ruling thieves
We relinquish our honour
In the end, there is only one solution
Our fear or baseless passive faith will only delay it
We must, all Nigerians everywhere rise with a single purpose
Save our nation, Nigeria
Not for our children or descendants
For our honour
To save ourselves from having lived a disgraceful existence
To reclaim OUR honour
We emphasise small respects and titles when we abuse our little powers and bully our children
But the one true honour, we have already lost
The honour of elevating our God-given nationality
4
All Nigerians everywhere, we must abandon our enterprises, our hustle, our perpetual struggle for basic survival
We must have one single vision
Save our nation, Nigeria
Let us be officers of this vision for a time
Let us form a single, active, present resistance against the treasonous traitors who have monopolised our democracy
Let us fight to liberate the oppressed, suppressed and repressed, grass root majority
Let us abandon all prejudice, the bane of all human development
Let us shut out and cast out all who have been brainwashed into believing there is hope in today’s government
Those who think we can negotiate with the terrorist organisation that is our government
We will create a new Nigerian order
A system and structure that will flourish without human interference
A true democracy where everyone has a voice
Where every voice has a mind of its own
Where every mind is educated and free
This alone will be our liberation
Not God
Not each or any of us in isolation or in small groups
Not another product of the existing compromised government
No. All Nigerians everywhere
All of us. Together
We have heard it before, this idealist dream
We have lacked faith in the one thing we should have channelled it into all these years
The time is now
We can begin now. We must
Enough talking. Enough wishing. Enough praying. Enough waiting. Enough running
God has given us the country, the people, the faith AND the responsibility
It is our duty
Return. Stay. Unite. Fight
Die if we must
But first, live
Or stay quiet and forsake Nigeria
There will be no change.
This essay is meant to inspire and incite action, and not to condemn anyone.
However, let us know your immediate thoughts and reaction in the comment section below. Do you agree with the points made? Do you have counter thoughts? What can we do as every-day Nigerians?
We curated this series to be heavy and intersectional, and so posts in this series will be irregular as they will rely on deep inspiration and/or guest features.
