NIGERIA; GOOD LUCK AND FRESH AIR OR STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS? WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

The state of the nation in the past couple of months can be rather said to be very interesting and disturbing. Interesting in the sense that Nigerian citizens have masterminded the art of going around doing their daily duties to survive and not interfering in the dramatic charades of those in power. This is disturbing because everything from the decisions of the executives to the silence of the citizens is a sign of nonchalance on the rule of law from the executives and more nonchalance from the citizens who suffer worse fate due to the decisions of these monsters in power and yet go around daily and act like all is well.

A fellow wrote on twitter a couple of weeks back and I quote “a lot has changed, yet nothing has changed”. Some may wonder how this is possible, well it’s true, a lot has changed since the completion and exit of the Obasanjo administration. While Baba was in power, we criticized him and made him look like the devil. Obasanjo made an effort to ensure that every elected politician under him respected the rule of law and maintained law and order; he also made an effort to woo back couple of successful Nigerians in Diaspora. The Obasanjo administration carried out a lot of reforms, stepped on toes, and made sure the country was at peace till the completion of its tenure in 2007. The administration had its flaws alright but judging from the past and now, it pretty obvious Baba Iyabo did a better job than those in power now.

The most spectacular reforms I vividly remember are;

· El Rufai- FCT minister who maintained the standard of the FCT master plan and kept the capital city meticulous and traffic free.

· Soludo – Governor Central Bank of Nigeria who reformed the banking sector by setting a target for them to meet up with to avoid foreclosure crises.

· Ribadu- Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s Chairman who made sure major corruption and money laundering cases during this administration were dealt with irrespective of class or political positions held by various people in power.

· The introduction of mobile cell phones in and around the country and this development offered self employment to a good percentage of unemployed Nigerians.

After handing over to Late Yar Adua in 2007, Nigerians had higher expectations from the humble man who left the four corners of the classroom to rule his people. Before his unfortunate demise, he didn’t have much impact as the people expected him to, rather, his wife was all over the media marrying off her daughters to men in power and enjoying the media eye in and out of the country.

After the demise of Late Yar Adua, the mantle of power was handed over to his lucky vice, Goodluck Jonathan. The nation mourned and yet rejoiced that a younger man and at least one from the south- south who was ‘learned’, was going to take over and free Nigerians from the stagnation and mediocre state of affairs that the late president left the nation in.

Sadly, even after electing Goodluck Jonathan in as the new president of the country, the state of the nation gets worse daily. There’s been drastic rise in road accidents due to the terrible condition of these death traps we call roads today. Poor security round the nation due to incessant bomb strikes which is almost a daily occurrence now, citizens go round scared to their bones and praying to go earn a living and return home safely without been bombed victims. Education is now an option to most youths who feel they can pay their lectures and party away all through school years instead of reading to acquire knowledge like other students round the world do. Higher institutions are now a haven for young girls to become sex toys for these miserable men in power who send their kids to the best schools overseas and wreck the lives of the kids of the common man. The health system in the country is not even recommendable at all, as the doctors and even nurses lack necessary equipments and expertise to deal with health cases daily. The high and mighty gets all the treatments they need overseas and leave the poor to the unfortunate fate of the miserable and unequipped health facilities round the nation.

Too much ill fate has befallen the nation since the demise of Late Yar Adua and it gets worse daily. The present president ‘Goodluck’ whom Nigerians blindly believed would bring them luck is silent and one wonders if there is even a head figure in power, there is no sign of anything good to come from this administration so far. The most amazing thing is buying the trust of a man who promises fresh air instead of positive developments and reformations in the society. We don’t need luck to fix our roads, to return values to our young women, to equip our hospitals, to provide necessary facilities for our emergency response agencies, to prosecute and provide justice to law offenders, to make sure the nation is at peace and citizens around their daily lives with assurance of safety. Luck and fresh air won’t provide all these. It’s high time Lucky Jo picked his guts and grabbed his balls to face these critical issues like his predecessor Baba, we don’t need luck, we need action and strategies, and if he can’t do his job, he should get the hell out of the presidential seat and go get some fresh air for himself and his dame and allow real men do the job.

NIGERIA!!!!!!! ANY FUTURE FOR THE YOUTHS?

Just sitting here wondering and pondering if there is any reasonable future left for my country Nigeria! A lot is going on and no one seems to care.
Kidnap, money laundering, prostitution, rituals, fraud and every other evil you can possibly think of are the order of the day now. Couple of days ago the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) went on a strike and the whole nation was in a blackout, one can imagine how much was lost economically and otherwise, now wait a minute, we’ve never had stable power supply in and around the country, people and businesses depend on alternative power supply to get by. During the Obasanjo administration we all were aware of how much money was laundered all in the name of restoring the power sector to a perfect standard, commissions where set up, cheques were signed and the job…… was NEVER executed. A panel was set up to prosecute the offenders, but we all know how such panels end up thanks to the corrupt executives, legistives and judiciaries we have as leaders, they all end up with nothing and these ludicrous culprits go free as honored members of the nation.
Just today, I read in one of the online papers, “FG invests $12bn on power, rail” and I can’t help but ask “who are they fooling again?” . What I think is this, they are embezzling all the money they can to sponsor themselves in the forth coming elections. The FG claims this administration is doing all it can to alleviate poverty but all I see is these old shameless men enriching themselves and leaving the country in a total state of chaos.
In other news, the FG released N100m trust fund to female politicians, now what the hell is that? (Excuse my French)!!!! We have lots of children on the streets of Nigeria who can’t afford an education, to talk more of quality education (which is dead and almost buried). Now what do female politicians need a trust fund for? Is it for expensive laces or to lure young men to bed? I can’t see any positive thing any female politician past or present has done to help alleviate the sufferings of the common man, instead they travel abroad to get breast implants, liposuctions and buy the most expensive jewelries. I honestly felt as mothers, they’ve got better sense of reasoning than the men, but no they are worse.
Let me talk about the education sector too, education in Nigeria is as good as education in rural areas….. *sorry but true*, the only good schools left anywhere in the country are the private schools. A year hardly goes by without incessant strikes from the education unions in Nigeria. No books or learning facilities are in place in government schools in Nigeria and even if money is approved for projects that will benefit the Nigerian kids today and in the future are given to the appropriate quarters, the money goes into their pockets out of greed and no one cares how or what went wrong. 75% of common men in Nigeria can’t afford to pay their wards through private schools in the country because of the exorbitant prices, the high and mighty send their wards abroad to get the best education and allow the common man’s kid to be at the receiving end of their malicious decisions. Millions of naira is embezzled in the name of power (electricity), national reforms, rebranding and a whole lot but nothing is being done to revive the educational sector in Nigeria. Knowledge and information they say, is power, but the future looks bleak and unpleasant for Nigerian kids today.
To end my note for today, is our silence helping or making things worse, when will we wake up to speak for ourselves and get rid of all our grandpas who have turned our nation into a home of shame and despair?
NOTE; feel free to correct my errors and also make your comments!

IS IT RIGHT?

I went through a pretty difficult time coupla months back, trying to decipher wat i really wanted from the relationship i was in. It all seemed perfect, but I knew there was a problem, I loved him like my own skin, protected him and did my best to make it work, but we didn't share anything in common except our love for football. i knew he cheated twice (de times i was indeed aware) but I also forgave and kept loving, BUT was I right?, was I too good? was I too quiet? these are questions I keep asking me. I've heard folks say, "fight to keep love" but I aint no fighter! I'd rather love........ so i let go @ a point, cause no matter how deeply i loved this guy, we just weren't meant to be. its been 3months now, I'm relieved I let go even if I still get the nostalgia feeling of been with him. Couple of hours back my kid sister sent me a text saying she just broke up wit ha boyfriend of over 5yrs, and I'm wondering what went wrong? I asked her and she says she cant cope no more. My concern is this (has always been) is it okay to let go after all these years or does it make sense to hold on and try working things out instead of starting from scratch? how are we sure the next guy aint worse? how many more are you willing to let in, all in the name of searching for MR. RIGHT? Are we ready to let in some other stranger who acts all nice from point "A" and show his true colors at point "K"??!!?? If we cant work hard to make a realtionship work then how can we make our marriages work in future? Is it just right to let go of something you really cherish cause of problem worth solving?