By Tiola

The loss of a child at birth is heart-breaking; forget that you may not have even named him or her. A healthy, thriving baby should be the reward for nine months of labour.

No? Indeed it is the very promise of this that makes every gut wrenching contraction worth it. One can only imagine the utter disappointment, the dismal sense of futility if, God forbid; that labour ends in a still birth.

Our several attempts at nationhood can be described as a series of aborted pregnancies and stillbirths. For fifty years, Nigeria has been pregnant with greatness, promise and growth, and there have been moments when it seemed we were going to carry the pregnancy to full term, but each time something – ambition, greed, malice – got in the way. And once again, the good people of Nigeria were left with nothing but blood and scars and broken promises to show for it.

And like a woman who has repeatedly gone through several miscarriages and stillbirths, it is easy to despair, become weary and at times give up hope. One can understand how, to this person, it would seem pointless to continue to try.

Once again, we are going through gut wrenching pain; labouring to birth forth a new nation. Will this be the one we’ve all been waiting for? The one that will usher forth a new Nigeria, a nation we can all be proud of?

While one should focus solely on the work at hand, like the woman described above, one cannot help but look back at all those other times before… and be a bit apprehensive as to the outcome of this particular struggle. My country is going through birth pangs…will we have a thriving healthy baby to show for it… or another still birth?

It’s been a long drawn out week, and it’s only Wednesday…, at least it is now as I write this… Only God knows what else would have transpired between then and now… If you listen carefully, you can hear the people holding on… You can literally hear the groaning…

And I wonder what state this woman is in… She’s weary…, has been neglected and is malnourished… and yet, again she bleeds and is being scarred deeply…Can she do this again…? Can she hold out…? Does she have the strength it takes to push? Then, the next big question is, if she does, will she survive it? Or will Nigeria as we know it die in the course of this labour? Only the coming days will tell.