Still On Nigeria At 54

I f lipped through the pages of our national existence, I chuck
led, from our historical amalgamation towards  the last page of our journey so far. I kept flipping through the pages and got my eyebrows raised and my mouth opened. With what my eyes met from the first page, I imagined  my country, Nigeria, like an eagle that would spread her wings and soar far into the sky. The  arable  lands and huge  mineral deposits were undoubtly  conspicuous. These facts, I was not willing the contend. But while I flipped further, the pages soon became heavy, I got nervous and my eyes  starved  with so much passion. Suddenly, my eyes went cloudy and beads of perspiration clothed me as I saw the misfortune. I felt my country was doomed. The pages  became troubled but while I went further I felt an elixir of hope. Then I went to the fifthy-fourth independence day page  and I said to myself, what do we really  celebrate? For it seems like the eagle’s claw has suddenly gone blurnt, that it can  no longer fetch its prey”.
I once had a neigbour, a young Nigerian who lived with his parents. He was  full of vision and had plausible insights. He had immense love for his country. He would always say “I am a  Nigerian”, at any sheer  opportunity. He was so  patriotic  that when  others would anatagonise the Nigerian society he would rise like a lion to defend his country. His intellectual  prowess were deeply convincing but his parent were unable to send  him to a tertiary institution.  His parents were very poor, so he resorted to scholarship hunt. For three years, he found none, kept applying, always  surfing the net. He finally found one  and  he applied for it. The young Nigerian was so glad that his efforts had paid off as he scored impressively in the scholarship examination. Few days later, he almost went crozy after he learnt that he could not get the scholarship although his scores were astounding. The young Nigeria was not from one of the Education, less privileges states. An insider from the scholarship board  revealed to him that his space had been bought. The young Nigerian was deeply broken. He gave up everything he stood for and lost hope in the Nigerian vision. He joined the local street  thugs to terrorize  the local community. What this demonstrates, is how favouritism and tribalism have destroyed the pillars of development of the Nigerian society; how it has destroyed the intellectual prowess of  witty-unprivileged-young-Nigerians an has blurred  the true image of the Nigerians dream and character.
Truly, the eagle would bleeds for the inconsistency in the Nigerian Educational System. Many a student has had more years added to their respective courses in their various Nigerian Universities. The Impact of the Last ASUU Strike that halted academic activities throughout the federation, is still enormously felt. And this is  why most Nigerian parents would prefer to send their children to Ghana than to our inconsistent  Nigerian universities.   And the unintended  consequence is that it degrades the status  of our universities and defiles the strength of our economy being ranked among the top 20 economy by 2020. And  this further explained why the international  community would not place any of our  universities among the first 1000 universities in the world.
The eagle  can no longer hold the pains from her wound. It weeps deeply as the insurgency in the North by the Boko Haram sect lingers. Linked to international Islamic Jihadist group, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram has crippled the economy of the North and has sent thousands of innocent Nigerians to their early graves through their orchestrated  suicide bombings, gun attacks and the  declaration of a caliphate. The sect has terrorized Nigerians and made our gallant  military appear weak before the international community.
I might even decide to highlight the fact that while Egypt,  Ghana, Benin among other African countries, can boast of adequate power supply. Nigeria still groans in perpetual darkness brought about by epileptic power supply. Or is it the fact that the common Nigerian has lost hope  in our judicial system. This is because of the events that have evolved in recent  years, exposing the weakness of our judicial  system.
But at this juncture, I would like to ask, if all these maladies that have wounded the eagle, is the only single story we have after 54 years of Independence.
A single story of catastrophe, of cancerous tribalism, of epileptical power   supply, of dilapitated  infrastructure  and of a lost Nigerian vision. No, that should not be our single story after 54 years of independence. It is because we still have a lot to celebrate despite the odd. We must renegotiate the Nigerian Character.
We can still celebrate because despite the insurgence in the North. Our military has gallantly risen to  quel the uprising. Our military has never been weak as they were perceived to be in these recent time. It is the same Nigerian Military that has been astounding in peacekeeping operation globally. Nigeria contributed her troops and funds to help bring  peace to war-torn Africa countries such as Congo, Angola, Liberia, Sierra leone, (etc D’Ivor and Sudan. It is such feat as this, that made  Nigeria to be dubbed: “Grant of Africa.” We can still celebrate. We must celebrate the resilience of our military.
We can still celebrate the strength of our educational system whom most persons had lost hope in. It is just recently that  Port Harcourt was named as UNESCO World Book Capital. The city of Port Harcourt achieved these global feat despite all odds. The individual mental prowess  of the Nigerian Student is conspicuous. I can recall the boys from the university  of Ibadan whose mental fist dusted  all other countries  in the Africa Zain’s Scholar Challenges. These, we must celebrate.
We can still celebrate the work of our writers, Chinua Achebe, Chimamda  Adichie etc. “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe  portrays  who we are. The book decorates the British shelves   and that of all other countries globally. We must celebrate the Nigerian Wordsmiths.
We must celebrate our movie industry, Nollywood, which presents the greatest commodity produced by Nigerians and enormously consumed by them. The Nollywood  showcases for the first time where Africans were able to tell African stories by themselves (Africans). The world was able to see African stories being told by Africans. The Nollywood movies are greatly watched by most African countries. We must celebrate this.
We must celebrate our unity. Although there is a strong uprising in the North but we  must not  fail to remember the civil war (1967-1970). If Nigeria did not disintegrate  then, it means Nigeria remains one and can never  be divided. We  must celebrate  what we all stand for. We  must celebrate. This is what is deeply rooted in the Nigeria vision.
Finally, we must celebrate the clause,  “I am a Nigerian.” For this is what holds us together. And if I turn  over the next page after our filthy –fourth independence day,  I will see the eagle, flying above all odds, flying above the  single  story of catastrophe. It can only be achieved by  renegotiating the Nigerian  character. It can only be achieved by not having a single story of our nation. We must rejuvenate  the spirit of patriotism. In the word of Chiamamanda  Adichie. “When  we reject a single story, when we realise  that there  is never  a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise”.
Clinton, a student, writes from Port Harcourt.

Ikechukwu Clinton