STEEMIT ENGAGEMENT CHALLENGE || Three Things I love about my country and Three Changes I would love to effect to make it better by @swaylee
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, I loved this engagement contest from the first time I set my eyes on it so I decided to jump on it. I am Rasheed and I am a proud Nigerian. As a country we have a great history, trying times and good times. In this post, I would be giving you a little details on the country as well as three things I love about my country and Three things I would love to change in my country. I have more to add but in this post we would keep it at three. Let's get started.
Some Facts About Nigeria
The green on the Nigerian flag represents wealth while the white represents peace🇳🇬.
1st October 1960 is the day Nigeria gained independence to stand on their own.
The name NIGERIA was coined by journalist Flora Shaw (Lord Lugard's wife).
The most important mineral resource in Nigeria is crude oil although we don't have any functional refineries. Funny right?
There was once a civil war between the two main ethnic groups (Igbos vs Hausa)
Nigeria is also known asthe giant of Africa because it's the most populated country in Africa.
Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups with over 500 languages.
It is home to one of the richest men in Africa (Aliko Dangote).
The Government once claimed that a snake swallowed 36 million naira (approx 156,522 steem) to cover up for the money laundry.
Things I love About Nigeria (The Three Rs)
Our Hardworking Nature
If there is one thing that is prominent and obvious, it's that Nigerians always tend to stand out no matter where they are especially when it comes to working hard to make money. Let me make an instance using the crypto academy. In the past 3 to 4 seasons, there has always been a Nigerian or two amongst the season superstars.
The 1st and 2nd this past season are Nigerians and they work really hard. Due to the hardships we face here which moulds us, when we set our minds on achieving something we stop at nothing till we achieve it. So many remarkable Nigerians make name for myself especially whenever they leave the country. Even our music, film and comedy industry where the artists, actors and comedians are securing international shows and collaborations so our sound can be heard all around the world.
Our Rich Culture and Traditions.
Nigerian is also rich in cultural and traditional practices which we had before our colonial masters came along. Even though we adopted some practices from our colonial masters, we still held on to the rich and prominent practices which makes us who we are today. For a country with this much ethnic groups, it is impossible not to carry on these practices. We have traditional festivals like the Argungu fishing festival, the new yam festival, the mmechi afo (among the Igbos). Even masquerades are a part of our cultural heritage.
Masquerades are people dressed in numerous cultural attire and other things and they signify the resurrection of a dead elder who has made a name for himself when they were alive. They have a festival where various masquerades come and perform an act in the presence of the igwe (the king) and he gives them his blessing and some money.
Our Natural Endowments
Nigeria is an overly blessed country with alot of natural resources. Although we often tend to focus mainly on crude oil, we have alot more mineral resources deep beneath the Nigerian soil. A vast amount of virgin and fertile land, gold, coal, salt, iron ore, zinc, copper, columbite and so on.
It is said that our colonial masters took immediate advantage of our ignorance when they came and exploited us for most of our resources. Apparently we underutilize the resources we are blessed with but there is still room for improvement and development as a country.
Things I Would Love To Change (The Three Cs)
The Present Government
It is said that the children are the leaders of tomorrow but in Nigeria, the government is filled with 80 year old men. Although experience is best, these group of people are just there to fill their pockets and go away. They aren't concerned with the welfare of the people who elected them. So many corrupt practices in the country, all the open public offices are already booked. They are not accountable at all and they make up excuses as to what happened with our taxes.
They bend anything they want to their will. During the protest above, we Nigerians had enough of their bad governance and engaged in a Peaceful protest but the government sent police men to shoot at us and when other countries decided to come to our aid, they denied doing anything and told them to mind their countries.
The Security Situation in the Country
Security, a very important aspect of being a citizen of a country. Over here in Nigeria however, we live everyday like it's our last. The security officials are either lax or inefficient as people's lives and properties are taken every single day and the matter is always swept under the rug. As for Nigerians who watch the news, they must have heard of the recent increase in kidnapping and killings in Kaduna, a state in Nigeria and where I live.
The kidnappers move around freely and even kidnap during the day because they know that the police wouldn't bat an eye. The residents in Kaduna even had to take the laws into their own hands by killing any kidnapper that gets caught. One would sleep in the comfort of their home today and wake up in the arms of kidnappers. They raided an airport and got away with it. They hijacked a train and kidnapped and killed several people but the government still ignored this and just went to fix the damages done. The citizens now have cause to believe that the government has a hand in all these terrorist attacks.
The Nation's Economy
Although we claim to have the largest economy in Africa, it certainly doesn't seem like we do. Every day prices keep on hiking with no corresponding increase in money supply. No reasonable employment opportunities are made available to the citizens and even the ones that have supposed jobs don't eat up to 3 whole meals in a day. The minimum wage is so low and some people are even paid below the minimum wage. Back in the days I could get a bag full of things with 50 steem but right now, it would finish on just 3 items. This is one of the main reasons for high rate of fraud and theft in the country because even those that graduated with good grades don't have jobs.
On average with the $4-$10 votes I get on Steemit, I make more than an average banker would in 1 month in 2 weeks of posting. Some people are working up to 3 jobs but just paying rent alone and ½ of their annual earnings is gone. That's one of the reasons why majority of steemians here are Nigerians because this is one of our ways of feeding our family and ourselves.
I'm glad I was able to utilize this contest to channel out my feelings for Nigeria that I have been keeping in my heart. There are a little good things about the country but there is alot of work to be done. It's a thing of eat or be eaten here. People are resulting to any means possible to make money and even at the expense of their fellow humans life. All we can do now is pray, complain and hope for a better tomorrow. Thank you reading.
Didn't know about this. I think green and white are the symbols of health and peace. Where we say health is wealth ;)
It's a fact that hardships mold people into hard workers to earn money. And it's good to see you guys there trying to work hard and earn a living for yourself instead of begging and just sitting at home waiting for a miracle.
I didn't know about the natural resources of Nigeria but thanks to you that i know about them. I didn't expect a vast amount of coal, iron ore, zinc, and fertile lands in Nigeria. I literally had no knowledge about it.
Seems like you guys are also facing political difficulties in your country just like us here and in Sri Lanka too.
Things are getting difficult for people day by day while the governments are just resting on their seats and couches.
I got a good amount of knowledge from your posts. Thank you for sharing this. Best of luck with the contest.
Thank you very much both for the remarks and for reading.
Bad governance is like a common thing in most African countries too. What can we do tho. Probably in due time, the electorates would exercise their civil rights and vote a reasonable leader. I know no one is 100% pure but atleast someone who wants to put in some effort would be elected
I've studied some bits of nigerian history and politics back in secondary school. But didn't know about some of the facts that you stated. I mean, snake eating this whole lotta money?! Gonvernment's big brain 😂
Nigerian culture and traditions are famous world wide.
Forcefull leaders are a common issue of every country. Even in Pakistan right now, we are facing imposed government on us. The opposition replaced our leader and now corrupt politicians are our new leader. Anyways, its every nation's right to protest abd speak up for themselves. Thats we all gotta do now.
So sorry to hear about the security there. I dont understand where are our taxes being used when they can't even provide us basic living needs.
I am so happy that Steemit platform is helping people make their lives better.
Steemit has alwahs helped me also, throughout my diificult times.
You have written an incredible post.
Best of luck for the contest, dude!
Thanks for reading, I'm glad you enjoyed the post. It's really funny how the same government was elected here after what they did in their first tenure. The people only think about the now and not the future so there is a large situation of election apathy and vote selling.
Not to talk of the ballot stuffs and thugs oppressing voters. Honestly if I was given the chance to change the country I wouldn't know where to start from. I'm sorry to here about the situation in Pakistan. I'm sure there is light at the end of the tunnel
You have really pointed out facts about Nigeria and the issue of bad governance and insecurity is what we have grown to become use to.
I hope that changes in this forthcoming election.
I really enjoyed reading through your post
It would only change if people don't engage in vote selling and election apathy. You can imagine a person selling their votes for 24 steem (6k) to an election candidate that would make us go through hell for 4 years.
Our government is using poverty as a weapon against us that's why they will keep doing anything possible to see that an average citizen remains average.
Later they would call us lazy youths after all they put us through. What a joke of a government
😂😂 good times, honestly speaking I think we are a joke to the government of this country because for them to have open thier mouth and said a snake swallowed 36 million and we all laughed about it ... Nothing was done to thsoe in charge..
Some times I worry about this country.
This aspect of snake eating money brings me to my second point the aspect of insecurity is really worrisome and has continued to back track the progress of Nigeria it is unclear as to how we as a country can efficiently stamp this cancer .
With officer who are lax and kidnaping being the other of the day one can merely bwonder how everyday Nigerians survive the day .
It terrifies me each day whenever I wake up.
I really do hope something can be done
Exactly my bro, this country is a joke but unfortunately I am in the joke country so the least I can do is to pray and try to better my life from the best of my abilities
Lol 🤣 How funny to read that incredible excuse to cover the disappearing of washed money from the part of an official source of government. Really, this is not strange. I read before how's possible that Nigeria is passing by such current situation despite of the wealth the land itself has to offer to their citizens. Like our country. Greetings from Venezuela by the way.
It is really funny right. This is just one of the many flimsy excuses they give regarding money laundrying. They claim to catch criminals then post pone the trial till the case is swept under the rug then they set the criminal free. If I start exposing the government, it would take my 5 posts to spend all I know.
I would love to read about Venezuela too tho. The place sounds nice and people from Venezuela are many on Steemit.
Gosh!!! For sure this was a very creative one. Really and I think my government can't get back in this way too 😂 I understand Nigerian and Venezuelan people are the most that moves actively the Steemit Blockchain. 👍🏼
I like your energy, I feel we need to follow each other so I can follow from your writings and learn a thing or two
Sure. I'll do it right now. It's great to learn something new everyday. No matter if this is little.
This engagement contest is fun. I have been reading alot of entries and I must say there are alot of interesting ones. Although keeping up with comments attimes can be hassle but I would get the hang of it eventually
Yeah, I must admit that it's easy to get collapsed with such incredible interaction but at the end it'll worth a lot. Now I'm meeting new great friends 😌
Nigeria is a wonderful country and if the government could see the potential we youths have then I don't think we'll be struggling with such economy crises and insecurities. Also you said something that got my interest
It was the chairwoman of JAMB that did such, she laundered the money and claimed a snake swallowed it, I wondered how someone like that would be give a job to assign students into universities 😂
Yes and after what she said, we as Nigerians just laughed over it and swept it under the rug. Since then people have been laundrying money and getting away with it. It's really not funny anymore. Let's now look at the strike situation
You just said it all , If only the people in power will listen to the masses Nigeria will be a better place.....
But I still believe that one day everything will become history.
Sure everything can become history but only if the people take a stand and say Enough is enough and stop selling their votes.
We would actually vote the right people for once
May your country prosper and continue to prosper!!! Greetings from Indonesia.
Nice, I forgot the Indonesians are also an active part of Steemit forgive me for that. I send my greetings tho. I have alot of countries to explore once I leave this country
Haha Yes, my friend, and I am one of the active steemit writers from Indonesia, greetings to my friends.
Sadly all you have said about Nigeria is true and the most painful part is that our leaders are less concerned.
I could remember when a bag of rice cost 10,000naira here in Nigeria, but now the least quality of rice is about 20,000.
May God help us in this country, irrespective, we meuve 😂
This kind thing if you get money, na to fly outta ASAP
Swrs, if I see money like dis, I don commot leave you o 😂😂
That's hard to believe. May you guys recover soon from this crisis. We always pray for the best to happen.
Thank you very much for your concern, we really appreciate and we believe that someday, God will intervene
You last fact about Nigeria is just disgraceful to hear. You have said it all brother they are many things that need to be changed in our country but I believe non listed above can be achieved with those old bunch old selfish leader we have. Things need to change and change really fast before it get worse beyond repair.