By Benzak Uzuegbu
Close to two decades ago, I experienced a burst of emotions that startled me to my bones. I was sitting in the living room of my late uncle Dee Bob Ogbuagu who was gracious to accommodate me in the course of serving my Father land whilst under taking the National Youth Service Corp programme.

Cross section of members of the Not Too Young to Run Group during a brief ceremony where the President signed the Not Too Young to Run Bill at the Aso Chambers, State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 31/05/2018

I was contemplating the state of my beloved nation. And after a period of deep reflection, I could not help but burst out sobbing uncontrollably for close to an hour. My beloved nation and the dreams I had of her had become a living nightmare. It was filled with shattered hopes and dreams with everything unraveling right before my very eyes.

Birth of patriotism

To this day, I remember with nostalgia the very day the patriotic zeal for Nigeria was birthed in me. I was in primary three in Command Children School, Dantuku Road, Kaduna; listening attentively as my social studies teacher, Mrs. Akanji, taught us about our independence struggle and how we finally got it.

She proudly stated that we had achieved the feat without firing a single bullet or spilling a single drop of blood. This she explained was as a result of our great wisdom and acumen as a people which ensured we beat the colonial masters at their game and sent them packing.

Not only was she a good story-teller, she was a great artist as well for she painted a glowing picture of the future Nigeria. She ended by saying that in a couple of years, our colonial masters would be running back to us cap in hand, begging to learn and be taught how we achieved the building of a great nation.

I sat down and listened with rapt attention and could feel the rush of pride and patriotism flowing through my veins eventually filling my entire being. My imagination went into overdrive as I could not help but picture how great we would become and I chose on that day to be part and parcel of the Nigerian project.

NYSC rebels

One of the things that made me sob uncontrollably in my uncle’s living room as I sat contemplating, amongst others, was the realization that fellow youths like me who I thought would all come together to join hands to ensure we built a strong black nation weren’t in the least bit interested.

I had over the years been in discussions amongst my peers and was surprised to hear some of them say, if they got into power, they would steal and do worse than leaders I had come to detest had done, but nothing prepared me for the shocker I heard right in the NYSC Orientation Camp, Umudi, Imo State.

As a ritual, every morning all Corpers were required to partake in the early morning parade where instructions and activities for the day were spelt out. Before anything could be done, we had to recite the National Anthem, the NYSC Anthem, the National Pledge and the NYSC pledge.

Whilst reciting the National Pledge, fellow Corpers all around me would recite thus loudly “I pledge to Nigeria my country, to be unfaithful, disloyal and dishonest, to serve Nigeria is not by force…” I could not believe what I was hearing. At first, I thought it was a joke, but it turned out it wasn’t. It was recited that same way, day after day, until we finally left the camp to our various places of assignment.

Looming trouble

Sitting in the living room, it was clear to me Nigeria was in trouble, a very big trouble. I saw the future and it wasn’t the picture that Mrs. Akanji has painted to me and my classmates. No, on the contrary, I saw a grim and bleak future and that future is playing out today; Nigeria has failed the youth and they are out for vengeance.

The very youths who are meant to build the nation are destroying it right from the North East, to the Niger Delta, to the South East, the North Central and beyond. The nation failed them when it mattered most and now they are taking their revenge and failing the nation. Rather than taking up their trowel and bricks to build, guns, grenades and bombs are being burnished to destroy, and the nation is bleeding out whether we like to admit it or not.

Just look around and you will realize it is the youths who are entrusted with the future that are bombing the pipelines, fighting the State in the North East, and agitating for Biafra in the South East. If the FUTURE is destroying present and indeed the future, what hope is there then?

The craze

My favourite musician M.I Abaga saw what was coming and warned us in his song “Craze” but nobody was listening. He screamed to our hearing:

“Na so craze dey start, let’s face the fact

that the people are slim and the Governors are fat

and the people laboring, only the oga relax

…It’s just a matter of time, the people are going to react.

You don’t need to be a psychic to notice majority of our population are living hopeless

so if the 90% are now the brokest, then you know you’re going to fight fire with the smoke”

…before we start to kidnap,

e don tey wey we dey struggle and the times are hard.

Niger Delta where we live is like a hole in the map

only the oil is respected, but the people are crap.

…So when the shooting and looting and the putting

oyinbo in the boot is the new thing

think about the polluting and using the land and refusing to

put in a few things…”

NA SO CRAZE DEY START.

The craze has started and is leaving a trail of blood, tears, pain and destruction behind, but how can it be stopped?

Redemption

How can we go back to building a nation of our dreams rather than a nation of nightmares? How do we get our youths to put down their guns and take up their plows, trowels and bricks and begin to build a nation where peace and justice reigns? How do we get our peoples to come together again though tribe and tongue differ so that in brotherhood we stand?

It starts by rebuilding our faith in the nation, where no child is discriminated against and no man is oppressed because of his or her tribe. It starts with our leader knowing he is not the President of the North alone, but the President of Nigeria. It starts with a President respecting the youths and not insulting them before peoples of the world. It starts with distributing opportunities and positions equitably.

It starts with voting the right president into power in 2019. Only if these things are done, will the youths and indeed all Nigerians proudly lift their hands once again and say: “I  pledge to Nigeria my country, to be faithful, loyal and honest. To serve Nigeria with all my strength, to defend her unity, and uphold her honour and glory, so help me God.”

Benzak Uzuegbu, an Estate Surveyor and Valuer, writes from Lagos.