That Hope For Nigeria, The Cachet

I pledge to Nigeria my country
To be faithful, loyal and honest

Pause

A country can never produce leaders better than its people - allow that to sink.

If I could change things with just one touch , it would be to take Nigerians to a "factory reset", where all thoughts, ideas and thinking are pure and at zero percent. Nigerians can then begin to think of being responsible and taking responsibility.

Ask an average Nigerian for what he thinks the problem of a Nigeria is and he is quick to tell you "the government, they're too corrupt". This is the same person that would refuse to obey the traffic light just because there are no monitoring agents on the road. The same person who does not see anything wrong with disposing waste carelessly in public space.

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The average Nigerian thinks first for himself and if there's still space left for thought, would still think of himself again and again, before entertaining the thought of others , not to say Nigeria. Where is is faithfulness, loyalty and honesty? Oh... That line of the national pledge has become a national trench.

Our leaders or government are not Nigeria's problems, Nigerians are Nigerians problem. You ask yourself, who is the government? Nigerians. Those who assume political offices and roles were first Nigerians before they became leaders. Meaning, they're just like us. To add to the fact that, we are the same Nigerians that elected them into those offices.

While the government may have its own flaws (tell me a government that doesn't), Nigerians also derive joy in placing hardship on one another and afterwards, blaming it on the leadership.

At the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic which led to the nationwide lockdown, it was instructed, as a precautionary measure that vehicles should only be filled to about 60% - 70% capacity. This led to the increase in the cost of transportation by 100%. Fast forward to now, when the heat has gone down and normalcy has almost resumed, public transport now board full capacity and refuse to revert to the old fares. Is that a government problem?

While some may argue that the government should have put in place mechanism to curb this, I ask, why must we be policed to do the right thing? Even when government policies do not directly affect some affairs, we derive joy in taking undue advantage of our fellow Nigerians and blame the government. Some can blame the government for burning their food while cooking.

Not to absorb the government of their inept, Nigeria will be great again if every Nigerian sees it as a point of duty to do the right thing.

Until every Nigerian understands that disposing garbage carelessly into the environment, polluting it and making it unsafe is wrong in all shades of wrong, we have a long way to go.

For Nigeria to be great again and her people live to see a Nigeria that works, everyone needs to be responsible and take responsibility.