MY DREAM FOR NIGERIA

 

A young child with many dreams I am,  a child who dreams of a great Nigeria,  a Nigeria with sufficient infrastructure for technology to thrive,  a Nigeria where anybody regardless of ethnicity, religion and social background can become somebody ,  a Nigeria with discipline,  a Nigeria where true democracy is not enslaved , a terrorist free Nigeria, a corruption free Nigeria, a Nigeria with leaders who have the interest of Nigerians at heart, a Nigeria practicing federalism, but most of all I crave, I dream of a Nigeria where every child is giving the right to a whole education, , I dream of a Nigeria where the girl child is giving equal right as the male child , a Nigeria where she is given the right to air her opinion, a Nigeria where she is given the right to an education like her brothers without being condemned to the kitchen. I dream of a Nigeria that is appreciated by all Nigerian’s regardless of social standings.

The late Obafemi   Awolowo started this movement by introducing free primary education and health care for all children in the western region of the country, I must say this was a good step but the only problem was that it wasn’t free for all. This is a big problem in Nigeria, our leaders rather than fighting for one Nigeria are fighting for their individual   and   ethnic interest.

We can’t   turn a blind eye to this injustice, we have to get rid of the cave man ideology that we have,   the  world is growing each day with the help of technology. Nigeria is a country richly blessed with both human and natural resources but we are not progressing and you may ask me why and I will answer, the supposed learned and well educated leaders in this country “who want change” have failed to look in the right direction. They have knowingly neglected it because truth be told they don’t want Nigeria’s progress, they want to keep deceiving themselves thinking they are deceiving us.

They want the rich to become richer and the poor, poorer, that is why our leaders rather than making more progress to improve our educational sector for everyone to enjoy rather they steal these funds and send their children to schools outside the country.

According to UNESCO one in every five world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria, these are the leaders of tomorrow, uneducated Nigerians? What promise therefore do they hold if “knowledge   is power”. Our leaders cannot say they are unaware of this fact, that will be an obvious lie, they know but have done nothing about it. They can put up an argument saying they have made education officially free and compulsory for all but I ask what have they done to implement it, absolutely nothing at all because according to UNESCO  about 10.5 million children in Nigeria majorly girls  are not in school despite this ” official free and compulsory education”.

 About sixty percent of these populations are in northern Nigeria and sixty percent of these population are girls according to UNICEF statistics on education in Nigeria. What are our northern leaders saying about it, nothing, what are they doing to better the situation, absolutely nothing, mean while these people are holding high offices in government and still they cannot move for  the development of their people rather they encourage them  be an almajiri, this is when a child of about five years is thrown out  by their parents to the unknown world  to learn religion rather than have basic education   all in  the name of preserving religion, if this path is so good as the claim why are the children of this rich men not following it rather they are sent to schools outside the country to better themselves this is nothing but selfishness and being ill mannered. Northerners have to wake up from their slumber, Technology is taking over everything but as Nigerian’s I know we can take over technology because we have the potential but alongside this potential education is very important. Education is a key that can unlock this potential and help us make most good use of it. We are Nigerians , we are a people for this to be effective it cannot be one sided. We as Nigerians most fight illiteracy but first we most fight our inner demons which are greed, pride, selfishness and most of all lack of love. If these demons remain present then are chances for development are slim.

Education is the bedrock of development therefore without education we cannot be a developed nation without it hence we have to make conscious effort to make it happen by first addressing the following problems ;lack of classrooms, lack of  school , ill equipped laboratories, hostile environment, uneducated teachers and most of all lack of funds to facilitate proper education. This problems can be taking care of by technology by training teachers with up to date technology, encouraging more practical classes   rather than  theory, it can also be improved by teaching with virtual materials rather than teaching abstractly.

 Sixty percent of this 10.5 million out-of-school children are girls according to UNICEF statistics on education in Nigeria. According to popular opinion “a girl child is the sweetest blessing and most beautiful creation of God”. Nigeria is richly blessed with daughters and rather than developing our blessing both by education and by skill we marry them off at tender ages. According to Wikipedia “forty-three percent of girls are married off before eighteen, seventeen percent of them are married off before fifteen, these figures are higher in northeast and northwest Nigeria, where nearly three out of four girls are married before their eighteen”. Our girls are married off, robbed of their childhood, youthful age and above all their education. They are subjected to VVF, child pregnancies, I would not call it teenage pregnancy because most of them are not yet teenagers when they are married to people old enough to be their fathers, if not grand fathers, they face the challenge of being locked in a house to cook, clean and bear children under the title of  “HOUSE WIFE”. In northern Nigeria girls are denied the opportunity to go to school, “so they do not get exposed to   things   of the world and lose their morality”. In my honest opinion this mediocre    mindset is caused by common illiteracy which we know is a fast spreading disease in Nigeria.  There is a popular African saying that goes thus “when you educate a boy, you educate an individual, educate a girl and you educate a community.

According to Melanne .S. Vervee “when women progress, we all progress .No country can get ahead when it leaves half of its people behind” We want a developed nation? Then I have a solution, according to Koffi Anan” there is no tool for development more effective than empowerment of a woman”. It is the truth that    has   worked for many developed nations. For example England achieved a lot with Theresa May, Germany is still achieving great heights with Angela Merkel and Finland has also made history by having the youngest prime minister in the world in the person of Sanna Marin (a female) and many others.

The digital world has so speedily transformed the world that the richest people in the world today are those that embraced technology. Countries that embraced technology are today where   the people are happier, wealthier and more at peace. No wonder why my Nigeria which has continued to live major oil producer is today a very poor nation. Someone described Nigeria as a rich nation of the world’s poorest people.

In the past   people have raised arguments like “technology can lead to the extinction of our dynamic culture and our sublime historical backgrounds”. I am an advocate for the continuity of culture so I will not encourage what will cause harm to our culture. Today because of the relatively well educated population with technological skills and cultural traditions that appreciate education and achievement, the Asian tigers of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan have transformed their previously rural economies to manufacturing industrial hubs. This is living evidence that our rich culture combined with technology can bring us great success.

I believe that the Nigeria of my dreams can be achieved through hardwork, honesty, justice and some measure of fairness to galvanize the abundant natural resources and talented humans which God Nigeria with , to make Nigeria level up with the Asian tigers and even surpass them. YES ,Nigeria can do it, because records of Nigerians in Diaspora show us that given the right environment the average Nigerian can beat all others.

We should never say it is impossible because according to Mohammed Ali “Impossible is not a fact, it is an opinion, Impossible is not a declaration, it’s a dare. Impossible is a potential, Impossible is temporary, Impossible  is  Nothing”

The missing link is poor leadership but  if given the opportunity I am equal to the task.