nairalandmarket place or read the biggest adverts site of nigeria for new,tokunbo or second hand nairalandmarketproducts|jobs|services|cars||electronics|computer and many more coming soon

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Why it may take eternity for Nigeria to move forward

Source

This is not a prophesy. It is not a statement from someone that has lost hope in Nigeria, rather it is coming from a die hard optimist about the greatness of this country Nigeria. But in being optimistic one must not forget to be realistic.

Nigeria is indeed blessed with abundant natural and human resources even though it is sad to note that we have not been able to use these resources to transform Nigeria into a country where every Nigerian will be proud to associate with.

From power supply to the state of our roads the story is the same, so much decay even in the midst of plenty.

It is easy and more convenient to blame the government but in reality is the government the building or structure we see everyday or is the government made up of people?

The issue of blaming the government for everything is becoming rather too convenient and in my opinion overrated.

How many Nigerians have the courage to accept their mistakes when they make them? Even with hard evidence and proof you will need a miracle to see the average Nigerian agree that indeed he has goofed. Rather, energies will be expended on diverting the issue (as owning up to the mistake is certainly out of the question) and when he is not getting his way with the diversion he/she goes personal and begins to attack your person.

Now I ask, is it wrong or criminal for one to make a mistake? If it is not, then why do we prefer to go through the very difficult task of justifying our mistakes rather than acknowledging them even if we do not want to correct them?

Now, the people in government are Nigerians, friends, sons, daughters, fathers, husbands etc but they are still Nigerians.

How do they take decisions concerning Nigeria? How do they arrive at conclusions on what ought to be and what ought not to be?

Would it be possible that a simple task of agreeing to a mistake could be responsible for the state of that road that is decaying by the day?

Could it be that the person truly believes that everything is fine with Nigerians when in reality things are not?

Could it be that these people in power simply surround themselves with people that will tell them what they want to hear as against what they should hear?

I refuse to believe that someone will see white and call it black for no reason. Is there a good reason why as a people we will rather dwell on falsehood, lies, misinformation than dwell on facts and truth?

While I will remain a die hard optimist for the future of this great nation I cannot but go to bed everyday wondering why our people find it hard to accept responsibilities of their actions especially when they make mistakes.

The irony of it all is that those who are guilty will always be the ones accusing others of the very mistakes they are denying.

As for the led, what do we do? Criticize our leaders based on wrong actions while appreciating their good works or praise them when they do the wrong things and abuse or dismiss anyone that points out mistakes or issues just because the people in question are our friends, colleagues, relations etc?

Even though the later is the norm today I will rather die an unrepentant optimist than join this bandwagon that is headed nowhere….

4 comments:

Sam Oracle said...

Nigeria is changing somehow, but we can't tell how long it will take.
I must say that there are benefits we enjoy which other (so called) civilized countries do not.
Due to the fact that we still have a piece of nature; trees, forests etc. We've not been threatened by Global warming and other dangerous disasters.

Beauty said...

Leadership is so much more than exercising rank and privilege, it affects people and their lives. Leadership matters, a lot and to have "The blind leading the clueless" (George Ayittey @ TED) is not a way forward. Life is about choices and waiting for a chance will not get us there. We have not aimed to learn from the mistakes of the past hence the mess but the same clueless mindsets that have made it impossible for everyday people to just get on with the business of living call it government.

You & I plus most people can only do as much (this blog), the government is responsible for over 85% of our wealth which is why "blame the govenment" is not too convenient nor overrated. There is a clear them and us in this case. Words like accountability matter. What have the "Hippos" done to stop our people dying to get out of our country?

Free fer all Paul said...

I dont know a whole lot about africa and I thank you for teaching something today.

Sam Oracle said...

hey whassup, you've not updated in a thousand years.