My country Nigeria I hail thee. Blessed of the Lord, with everything that is good. Others grow green with envy, watching how gracious the hands of God rest on you, guiding, guarding and paving ways of fortunes for you.
Nothing seems to break your resilience. Your staying power without caving in to pressure, very endearing. Like snail on the rough and thorny path of life you sail through in difficult and turbulent moments. Indeed the beloved of the father, on whose palm you are beautifully engraved.
Looking back to the years of famine, you pulled through. Reminiscence 2019
Covid’ menace and lockdown, while others died in thousands, the wind of God’s mercies and healing, blew all through around you. Nigeria, the beloved of the father!
From N500 to 1600 naira per dollar exchange , N500 to 1300 naira per litre of fuel to other mind blowing and astronomical price hikes of essential commodities, Nigeria, you pulled through, like water off the duck’s back you moved and continue to move. I remember the Ebola year, a terrible moment, very nightmarish, people bathing with salt, no shaking of hands, still we survived.
Nigeria! The beloved of the Lord. No earthquake, no tsunami, all green vegetation. Natural resources abound but bad leadership, hanging around your neck like a charm of “Alaogbaga”, drawing you back and making you a pariah amidst nation, you are far better than.
What went wrong? the big brother of the large Africa? What went wrong? The most populous of the continent? Your countrymen, the best outside your shores, pushing with zeal and professionalism other countries beyond the boundaries of excellence, adding values to them, while their motherland smoulder and burn in abjection and bad leadership.
Your leaders enjoy parties, dance away fortunes that would have been used for development in expensive wines, food and idle dalliance. They have the power, the authority, the army, the resources still they beg insurgents, kidnappers etc to lay down arms. Laughable! Demeaning and odd! Who bells the cat and who gets the cup which the Gorilla was given water with ? When those who should statutorily are running with their tails in-between to safety, begging and pleading cowardly, what happened then to the poor masses.
Nigeria! Nothing is wrong with you. The gift of the lord upon you, irreversable. Like the fragrance of a rose flower it wheezes through, struggling with the stench of bad and irresponsible leadership. Nothing is wrong with you Nigeria! But everything is wrong with “your Nigerians” who in their greed and frivolous tendencies are wrecking the boat ( Nigeria) creating holes where water sips in, making sinking inevitable.
Nigeria! You are still the blessed of the father, loved and cuddled in his warm embrace daily, but the vagrant acts of “your Nigerians” is making the heart of God ache. Like the father of the prodigal son, God is patiently waiting for “your Nigerians” to behave and be responsible. All it takes for Nigeria to be the greatest of all nations ( GOAN) is for your leaders to be responsible, deligent, visionary and productive. Blessed is your name. Blessed is your fortune. Blessed is your heritage, Nigeria!
Nigeria! People call you a place for yahoo yahoo plus. They call you a religious but corrupt nation. You are not , your Nigerians are. The NS( notorious and senseless or Nice and sensible ) in your name can make or mar you. Sadly the notorious and senseless version of the NS in you is manifoldly influencing you, tarnishing your image and painting you black and dirty everywhere.
The day the NS(Nice and sensible) version of The NS in Nigerians becomes the driving force in both the leaders and the led, Nigeria will be great again.
Nigeria! for the umpteenth time you are blessed. The NS in you is the albatrose. The day they turn from being notorious and senseless to being nice and sensible it will be uhuru for all of us.
DR. Jarlath Uche Opara
Jarlathuche@gmail.com
