'Our
heroes past' normally should refer to a group of people who fought for
our own good; but in the case of Nigeria's heroes, they put us in this
predicament of under development we're encompassed in.
Once
upon a time, one dollar was equal to one naira. Our schools were
flourishing that students were eager to enroll in Nigerian universities.
Our agricultural sector was booming. As a result of this, our textile
industry was running smoothly because we produced cotton in abundance. I
remember watching a documentary on the groundnut pyramids in Kano that
brought about foreign trade for the nation. Lets not forget about the
palm oil trade between Nigeria and the British way back also. Some of
our parents witnessed this era of prosperity in this beloved nation. But
ask yourself this. Why are we experiencing something totally opposite
now? I mean, isn’t it only logical that as time goes by things are meant
to get better? What went wrong?
The
most populous nation in the whole of Africa is widely seen as a burden
by many. But not to me. If used properly, the sheer amount of manpower
we have should affect the country positively. Why are we neglecting our
agricultural sector? It brought us wealth and prosperity before, why
can’t it still bring in wealth now?
Nigeria
has abundant fertile land. Most of which is not used. We end up
importing foodstuff at relatively high costs and only the rich can lay
their hands on the good side of life. Like my geography teacher once
said, “we have abundant land to grow rice in Abakiliki for the whole
nation”. If we do, why wont we grow it then? Because the belief we
Nigerians have on goods produced by our very own. We are so dependent on
foreign goods and services that infant industries cannot compete. A
Nigerian would rather buy an expensive foreign good than to buy a cheap
indigenous good.
Come to
think of it, how many companies do we have that can produce top quality
goods and services? Not so many. The ones that we have are mostly
monopolies. They have no competitors in the market. They control the
prices to what will benefit them the most. A lot of these successful
companies are fortunate to reach where they are. For reasons that are
known to me, I will not expanciate on this matter.
Nigeria
is a land blessed with raw materials. Iron ore, Crude oil, Natural gas,
Columbite, Gold, Tin ore and so much more. Japan is the largest
producer of steel in the world. But one amazing fact is that they do not
have iron ore in the nation. Japan has limited land. Some of the land
they have was reclaimed from the sea. A beautiful example is the Kansai
International Airport built of reclaimed land. Forty years after the
Second World War, Japan’s economy was back on track. Imagine that after
all the devastation and chaos brought about by the war, forty years was
all it took for them to get back on track. Put this into comparison. How
many years has it been since the Nigerian Civil War? What have we
achieved? Are we progressing?
Like
so many people, I have hope in this nation. We have a lot of young
people with immense potentials among us. But in this nation today, we
also have a lot of great men and women who share the same dreams as us.
We have great men and women in power who want to make things better but
they cannot. A few cannot bring light to this nation. The problems we
have cannot be fixed even by our generation to me. only God knows
Where
do we start? Is it the security issues? Or the corruption problems?
Economic issues? Or the infrastructural deficiencies? Educational
decline? or Youth restiveness?
For Tomorrows' Sake, God Bless Nigeria!!
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