By Tomisin Ajibulu

I have pondered on the rot that made some people to refer to Nigeria as a failed state and I came to the conclusion that the problem lies not only in the hands of our leaders, but also in the formation of the country. The geometrical decline of the infrastructures and the socio-economic welfare of the citizens call for stock taking, re assessment of our value and charting  new strategies for a fresh start.

Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello – founding fathers of Nigeria

No doubt, Nigeria came about mainly for the administrative convenience of the colonial masters. The thought of a nation was far from their minds. Worse still,wedges were put in the diverse tribes through the ‘divide and rule’ antics employed.

Also, the indirect rule approach could not have laid a good foundation for a nation-state as the ruling class created was not only alienated from the masses but also indoctrinated to see things from the point of view of the colonialists.

There was no way the leaders that took charge of the country at independence could have had the exposure, experience, training and skills to successfully steer Nigeria for a smooth take off in the jungle of international trade alignments and diplomacies. The first crack in the house reared its head during the initial motion for independency.

Unfortunately, the trend continued unabated in form of inter-tribal clashes, religious uprisings, military coups, civil war, wanton destruction of public utilities by militants and miscreants,political  unrests and emergence of terrorists. The indices of self destruction had long been implanted in the emerging nation.

The amalgamation of the protectorates into one entity produced one big country of different nationalities. People say in our diversity lies our strength but I do think in our diversity lies complications beyond our imagination.

After over 50 years of nationhood, we have not been able to master the art of harnessing our potentials in human and mineral resources to shame our  detractors who hold the view that the black man cannot run a prosperous state or even plan for the future. Then came the oil era..The oil was a gift from God to better our lives. Meanwhile, it remains our biggest curse. Thousands of lives have been lost in senseless fight over power and control of our now oil-based economy.

In the days of oil boom, power changed hands several times; from one dictator to another. And instead of the oil revenue to improve our lot, it only heightened our sense of marginalization and hate.

Power has moved from one region to another, neglecting the cries of the people. The oil has created a demon among us. Corruption grows by the day. Political positions are made to be as juicy as heaven. People would kill just to be in the political class, billions of Naira is looted from the treasury, no questions asked.

The case of the oil is like giving a two-year old child a real gun to play with, instead of a toy gun. The child would kill the people around him and possibly himself.

The masses are hungry and an hungry man, they say, is an angry man that tends to behave irrationally. Hunger, not in the sense of food alone, but also in the deprivation of knowledge, shelter, medical care and security. To reverse the trend, we must convert our weaknesses into strengths, take advantage of our size and population.

Why have the efforts at forging unity such as the NYSC, quota system, creation of states, etc failed to achieve results? The answer lies with us all? The WILL to reason rationally and put aside greed and selfishness is missing. The time has come for us to put the past behind us and forge ahead as a nation.