MY ENTRY FOR THE NIGERIA CENTENARY AWARDS (WEEK 16) IKEM DEBORAH EVA, ideboraheva@facebook “AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL NIGERIANS” Fellow Nigerians, By way of introduction, I AM A NIGERIAN! My name is Ikem Deborah Ucheonye, a native of Onicha-Ugbo, and a proud descendant of the Anioma people of Delta State. I am very proud to be a Nigerian but I am also very sad to be a Nigerian. I’m saddened by the fact that the Nigeria of my dream has not been born and I’m scared that if I, as a young and vibrant Nigerian youth, do not take steps towards change, the Nigeria of my dream may never be born. I may not be a part of the Nigerian government! I may be ‘too young’ to make decisions for the Amazon called Nigeria but I AM A NIGERIAN and for that sole reason, I have a DUTY to see that this country progresses; and I will work tirelessly to see that she grows, because I CAN! With this letter, I will take my chances; and I will use this medium to share what has always been the Nigeria of my dream, and also use it to give my own pointers as to how it can be achieved. From the stories I heard while cuddling up to my grandmother, about two decades ago, I expected to grow into a Nigeria that is nothing like what she is today! I dreamt of a Nigeria where peace reigns, and not the Boko Haram ‘infested’ country we have today! I dreamt of a crime-free, violence-free and struggle-free nation, and not a nation where people go missing every hour on the hour, and not where an average Nigerian family cannot afford to go to KFC every Sunday after church service! I dreamt of a Nigeria where all men will be equal, and not the ‘big-man’ controlled country that we have today! I dreamt of a Nigeria where a man can leave his door open and go to sleep, without fear of losing his valuables, and even his life, before daybreak! I dreamt of a Nigeria where our multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity will bind us, and not a country where the Ijaws and the Itsekiris of the same Delta state will always be at war! I dreamt of a Nigeria where language will never be a barrier, and not a country where an Ilaje man will confuse an Osun man with his peculiar variant of the Yoruba language! I dreamt of a Nigeria where state will not rise against state, and where brother will not rise against brother, and not a country where the Yorubas abhor the ‘abokis’ I dreamt of a Nigeria where a person’s choice of religion will be respected, and not where every Muslim lady in ‘full’ purdah will be considered as anti-social by Catholics and/or other Christians! I dreamt of a Nigeria where dirt and decay will not overwhelm us, and not a country where a body of water cannot flow freely because it has been blocked by human waste! I dreamt of a Nigeria where nobody will have to beg for bread, and not a country where there are more beggars and mad people on the streets than sane people! I dreamt of a Nigeria that can stand chest to chest with world giants like the United States of America in all areas, and not a country that cannot ‘adequately’ produce its own energy! I dreamt of a Nigeria where youths like me won’t have to migrate like birds to other countries, in search of greener pastures, and not a nation where youths prefer to perish in the deserts of Libya in the course of travelling out of the country! I dreamt of a Nigeria where I can travel from one state to the other safely, and not a nation where I cannot ‘stroll’ from my street to the next street without losing a limb! I dreamt of a Nigeria where I can go to the Bureau de Change to transact a financial business without being tracked by Anini’s descendants, and not a nation where using the ATM after 8 P.M is dangerous! I dreamt of a Nigeria where a Lagosian and a ‘Maidugurian’ will know their rights and how to enforce them, and not a nation where a policeman with a gun can slap me and get away with it! I dreamt of a Nigeria where fire outbreaks will be almost non-existent, and not a country where our fire-fighting tankers do not have water to put out fires! I dreamt of a Nigeria where health services will be readily available every hour on the hour, and not a country where many doctors are quacks! I dreamt of a Nigeria where a senator and a pepper seller can both send their children to tertiary institutions of their choice, and not a country where most of the children of the ‘masses’ have to stop schooling at form 5! I dreamt of a Nigeria where a student will graduate from the tertiary institution and get immediate employment, and not a country where he/she has to work in a polythene-producing factory with a medical certificate! I dreamt of a Nigeria where when it rains, I can sleep soundly, and not a country where it rains and I cannot rest assured that I won’t be swept away by flood! I dreamt of a Nigeria where I can move about without fear of being kidnapped! I dreamt of a Nigeria where our leaders will not misplaced their priorities! I DREAMT OF A NIGERIA WHERE GOVERNMENT IS OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE, and not a country where our leaders have turned political offices to family seats of power that should be passed down from generation to generation! I had a lot of dreams about my dear country, and it will take years to write them all. Alas, what do I get? Broken, shattered and unrealized dreams! WHY? Because we have simply lost our IDENTITY as Nigerians! We have misplaced our priorities! We have many misguided leaders! Because all of us have lackadaisical attitudes! We are all guilty of contributing to Nigeria’s present deplorable state and until we start realising that the change we want must begin with us, Nigeria will remain nothing but a cowering midget instead of being the GIANT that she ought to be, regardless of her beauty, abundant resources and her ‘great children’ like you and I! However, there is always the light at the end of the tunnel. There is still time for the Nigeria of my dream, the Nigeria of our dream, to be born. If you are not ready to make a change, I AM. I may not be able to do it alone, but I can START it alone because a journey becomes less daunting when the first step is taken. At this juncture, my letter will now proffer suggestions, recommendations and tips as to how the Nigeria we crave can be created, and this I will do using what I call the SPERM G! S- SOCIAL Our multi-ethnicity as a culturally diverse country is a great advantage that we have failed to make use of. However, the government can start by looking for a way to find a common ground for Nigerians and their diverse cultures. This way, a typical Lagosian will not feel superior to the traditional Nupe man. Thus, ethno-centrism will reduce and eventually cease; and the various tribes within Plateau state will stop clashing. A project like TINAPA for instance should also not be for the wealthy Nigerians alone. An average Igbo man should be to afford a vacation there. Governing processes must also be made as undiscriminating as possible- a Hausa president is as good as an Igbo president! To you and I as the governed, we also have our various parts to play. We have to stop discriminating against tribes and cultures. For instance, if an educated Igbo girl like me sees a Birom girl wearing colour riot on a university campus, it won’t be bad if I lead her aright instead of making jest of her for being a ‘bush girl’. If we all play our parts, our diversity will unify us, rather than divide us as it is doing presently. P- POLITICAL As regards the political aspect, our government has the major role to play. To start with, political offices are not birthrights! Our leaders should stop turning political offices to family titles that should be passed from father to son. For those 80-somehting year old public office holders, please do your bit and leave the rest for other people! Governing policies should be prioritized. This way, our leaders won’t concern themselves with indecent dressing laws when the Boko Haram sect is threatening to wipe Nigeria off the world map! To you and I as the governed, politics is not for Jonathan and his cabinet members alone! I don’t have to be David Mark before I can make laws that will affect my country positively. As such, my little campaigns against illegal littering of the environment, are laws in their own rights! E- ECONOMIC Nigeria’s export of crude oil alone is enough to make her as wealthy and as economically stable as Saudi Arabia. But as it is, we are not even as economically stable as Togo! To the government, there are a million and one ways to build Nigeria’s economy. Apart from the crude oil gotten from the Niger Delta areas, there are other sectors such as the agricultural sector, the labour sector, the industry sector, and even the educational sector, for the government to explore. Our leaders, especially my kinsmen at the Niger Delta region, should also stop embezzling our oil money! As for Jonathan and co, please employ and empower other people such as the farmers, the youths, the unemployed graduates and the able-bodied men and women in this country, instead of giving all the jobs to their family members. Our economy will be steady if and when we begin to obey the simple rules of division of labour! In addition, I really do not support the idea of an architect being the vice-president when there are political scientists there. To this end, PLEASE MAN YOUR FIELDS! To the governed like you and I, we should also contribute our own quota. Nigeria is about the only country where a Banking and Finance graduate becomes the manager of a boutique, not by choice of course! Students too should endeavour to face their studies and excel in all their chosen academic fields. The Nigerian students who lead their classes in Harvard do not have two heads! Besides, our economy won’t grow if we have dullards at the capital market or if we have half-baked graduates crawling all over the Nigerian Stock Exchange! We can also pressure our government to create more jobs! After all, we are the future leaders of Nigeria and we can start leading now! R- RELIGION An Ifa worshipper is as much a Nigerian as an Anglican Bishop or a Muslim cleric. To those at the helm of government, they should be as religion-friendly as possible. A catholic president must attend an Egungun festival if and when he is invited, because he is the number one citizen and as such, his personal religion shouldn’t influence his governance. Laws should also be made as general as possible, religion wise. To the governed like you and I, let us put a stop to religious bias and discrimination which is one of the leading causes of religious crises. To those involved in the Boko Haram saga, please settle your differences, without bloodshed, and stop using religion as a cover! Baptist students should mix with the Muslims; Catholics will also not be crucified for discussing with Ifa worshipping students. We are all Nigerians…….and religion is personal! Atheists should also not be discriminated against because we have no right to judge them. Their reward is in heaven! M- MILITARY Thank God that the era of bloody coups has passed in this country. Nonetheless, our government should rule right so that the military will not have cause to take over government again. Besides, those at the helm og government should also stop giving some Nigerians the cause to think that military rule is better than civilian rule! To you and I as the governed, membership of secret societies should never be an option because it is also as ‘military’ as it can get. All forms of hooliganism should also stop among youths because there is nothing trendy about it! G- GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS The government should govern and rule us right, re-arrange their misplaced priorities, empower youths and the less-privileged, create more employment opportunities, put more efforts into making Nigeria more secure and above all, they should not abuse their offices. The governed like you and I should also put a stop to the lackadaisical attitude of ‘leaving’ our leaders to deal with Nigeria’s various issues alone. DO YOUR PART BECAUSE AS A NIGERIAN, YOU OWE A DUTY TO THIS COUNTRY! In summary, the Nigeria of my dream, of our dream, can still be achieved but it begins with you and I; and as for me, I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR to put in my all and make sure that Nigeria progresses, so that the labour of our heroes past will not be in vain, and so that posterity will not judge, and curse, us. SO HELP ME GOD! Yours faithfully, IKEM DEBORAH UCHEONYE Self-proclaimed CFR (Concerned-citizen of the Federal Republic)
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 21:07:06 +0000
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