By Denrele Animasaun

I pointed out to you the stars and all you saw was the tip of my finger- Swahili Proverb

We are nearing that time of the year again, where we look back collectively as a nation. Nigeria is 53 and if the truth be told as a nation, there is so much more we should be doing at that age; in fact, we are worse off than we were at 10 or 20 than where we are at 53.

I recalled a conversation with a colleague recently when his company reached 18 years milestone. He said to me of the milestone that he expects that his company continues to mature and progress every year. He emphatically told me anything less, means that the company is failing. I wholeheartedly agree with him.

So Nigerians, where are we at 53? What are we doing as a nation to mark a milestone of a failed government, legislature, politics, institutions, people and structures? I made a vow personally, that the marking of Nigeria is not for me. That now is not a moment of celebrating our independence especially when we remain dependent on handouts; at a time when we should be self-sufficient, be a power broker in our zone and a pride of place in world politics. We could be the food basket of our zone, a world tourist attraction; a place where its citizens live a life of relative standard.

What do we tell our young ones? That they are the future, when we have not safeguarded their rights to all the basic necessities of life; no adequate drinking water, safe transportation or safe roads, no adequate health care or social care for that matter, lives are two a penny, greed and corruption reigns supreme.

Is this really the preferred present we envisaged for the next generation? So what is the future going to be like for our young people when they have been denied a present, how can they forge ahead with such legacy?

When I initially set to write Outside looking in, I naïvely thought I would have many good new stories to share, showcase what Nigeria has got to offer, find the gem in the rough, people potential so that I for one, wanted to stand up and wave the flag for Nigeria.

There is so much of the negative it seems and I have read and converse with so many Nigerians-home and abroad about their experiences of the underbelly of daily living in Nigeria, by ordinary Nigerians and it is so grim.

Sometimes, I find it difficult getting my head round why this is made to continue unabated. I cannot fathom nor make sense of the current dire situation without feeling a twinge of frustration and dismay.

About three years ago, I vowed to seek notable Nigerians, who have contributed positively to Nigeria’s history and its people. Last year, I wrote about Ken Saro-Wiwa, the writer, artist, journalist, and television producer, President of the Association of Nigerian Authors. He devoted his later years entirely to the nonviolent struggles of his fellow Ogoni people. He was truly a man of the people.

This year, I am celebrating the author, Buchi Emecheta, born to Igbo parents in Lagos on 21 July 1944. Dr.Buchi Emecheta is a prolific novelist who has published over 20 books, plays and shorts, including Second-Class Citizen,The Bride price, The Slave Girl and The Joy of Motherhood .“I grew up hearing these stories. Then, when I got married, my mother-in-law told me stories. Her own children would not listen, but I listened”.

She moved to Britain in 1960, where she worked as a librarian and became a student at London University in 1970, reading Sociology. She worked as a community worker in Camden, North London, between 1976 and 1978.
In 1983 she was selected as one of twenty ‘Best of Young British Writers’ by the Book Marketing Council. She lectured in the United States throughout 1979 as visiting Professor at a number of universities and returned to Nigeria in 1980 as Senior Research Fellow and visiting Professor of English at the University of Calabar.
Buchi Emecheta also wrote several novels for children, including Nowhere to play (1980) and Moonlight Bride (1980).

She published a volume of autobiography, Head above Water, in 1986. Her television play, A Kind of Marriage, was first screened by the BBC in 1976.

Buchi was made an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005.
She played an active role in and was a member of the Home Secretary’s Advisory Council on Race in the UK, where she lives.

I remember picking up Second Class Citizen and enthralled and blown away by the first hand depiction of survival against adversities. Every page was like experiencing the struggle and then the eventual joy and triumphs despite every obstacle.

“Then I showed it to my husband and he burned it. He just burned the book. So I had to start all over again. I started really writing when I left him. “

She did not shy away from telling it as it is. Not many African women were brave enough to go it alone; she never gave up when she was dissuaded from following her dreams, and her steely determination paved way for many others to follow.

“I believe it is important to speak to your readers in person… to enable people to have a whole picture of me; I have to both write and speak. I view my role as writer and also as oral communicator.” – Buchi Emecheta wrotes.

I admired her honest depiction of child slavery, motherhood, female independence, breaking through and gaining her independence by dogged determination to be educated. This found resonance with the readers; it brought hope and courage. She won world critical acclaim and awards.

“That’s why I say education is important. Get yourself educated and you can emancipate yourself from any kind of slavery. Education is freedom”, she wrotes.

Emecheta was married at the tender age of sixteen and moved to London with her husband. After six years of marriage, they separated. She took an honours degree in sociology while supporting her five children all by herself.
Her first book, “In the ditch” was published in 1972; it was a short story collection about her experiences as a poor single mother in London. She was a fighter, a survivor that she had in her hand the choice to leave a violent marriage, one that was stifling her life and that of her children.