The 50th anniversary of this "Great" nation. Plans are underway to mark a memorable celebrations worthy of a Giant of Africa.
From all indications billions of Naira is going to get spent in ensuring that the country and her citizens "enjoy" a great spectacle and are "treated" to a befitting fest.
I however wonder what exactly there is to celebrate, other than perhaps the fact that the country has not disintegrated into smithereens over the course of five decades of her existence.
I seriously ponder this, because I look around and I haven't seen much worth celebrating. The decay is evident all around and aptly characterized by the dilapidated state of virtually every known government parastatal.
I can hardly point to any government agency or department that has achieved 95% success rate in its activities. Everything is happily left to ruin; while the "Bigs boys" party with the budgeted money in Abuja and elsewhere.
The poor state of electricity supply has attracted much vaunted attention from the federal government. I still wait to see what changes all the talk will achieve. Personally, I am scoring Pres. Goodluck Jonathan's regime zero on this. I have not had power for the past two weeks; and absolutely no one is budging. Not even after several appeals to those that should do something about it.
Potable water supply is erratic in most places, if at all available. Even in places like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt which are regarded as vanguard cities...there is no Water. Now, I can speak authoritatively here. I know there is a project called the Millennium Development Goals project which Nigeria is a beneficiary from. I would have expected much development from the huge resources pumped into this project, however, what do we have? Honestly, I am shocked that at our ripe old age of 50, there are still places in this country where people walk more than 2 KM to find water.
Where I live, there is no community development project of any kind...No Power, No water, No good roads, No health care centre and security is fast becoming problematic.
Looking at a scenario of such utter neglect and lack of effort to address even basic issues, I wonder if there is anything to be celebrated. Nigeria is 50, so what?
What is the BIG DEAL for me in all of that? Where do I come into the picture as a Nigerian. Nigerians are proud and happy people. Not because the country is worth being proud or happy about. It is simply because somewhere hidden in our genetic make-up is something that has not been found anywhere else in the human race.
It is called the NIGERIAN FACTOR. That can be positively or negatively channeled depending on what the demands are. Hence, I don't blame people if they feel they need to celebrate Nigeria @ 50 or not. Afterall, the Nigerian factor will determine how we each take that on board.
So, like it was in the Harry Potter Movies...Let the celebrations BEGIN!
