Opinion

Nigeria at Sixty: The Odds and the Dots

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;98&period;1 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"7D9gKtOR" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Idris Hamza<&sol;p><div class&equals;"DiaWE1xT" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>One perfect phrase that describes Nigerians is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;impatient yet tolerant&period;” I will begin with the latter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From the onset&comma; the daring act by the colonial contractors to merge hundreds of nations into a supposedly homogenous entity begged for an extraordinary tolerance&period; And&comma; since then&comma; Nigerians have been nothing but tolerant&period; Tolerant of one another&period; Tolerant of different indescribable governments&period; Tolerant of nepotistic and insatiable politicians&period; Tolerant of merciless military juntas&period; Tolerant of faithless faith leaders&period; Tolerant of poverty and hunger and precarity&period; The list is endless&period; In fact&comma; Nigerians deserve a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nobel Prize for Tolerance&excl;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;26&sol;nigeria60-formation-of-political-parties&sol;">Nigeria&commat;60&colon; Formation of political Parties<&sol;a><&sol;p><div class&equals;"4WK7KNel" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Despite our tolerance extraordinaire however&comma; Nigerians are very impatient&period; We are impatient with the development of our country as a nation&period; We tend to count Nigeria’s ages – with its corresponding trajectories – the way we count human ages&period; That is the root of our impatience&period; It is very common to hear people complaining that despite sixty years of existence&comma; the country still acts like it got its independence yesterday&period; The irony of these statements is that it is not far from being true&period; Nigeria is still a TODDLER&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;98&period;1 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;98&period;1 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If the conception &lpar;read pregnancy&rpar; of Nigeria can take decades before it was given independence &lpar;read born&rpar;&comma; why do we assume that its growth can happen overnight&quest; Sixty years&comma; in this respect&comma; is indeed an overnight&period; Yes&comma; we have had many governments during these years and many events have occurred as such&period; If we look at how the other nations that we fancy calling &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;developed” have developed however&comma; we will realise how far we are from being a fully-grown nation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I am not being apologetic to failed governments&period; I am also not oblivious of the fact we could do better&period; Nigeria has been plagued by bad leadership&period; I am sure you will agree with me that the most promising governments in Nigeria were the short-lived&period; This is one of our country’s misfortune&period; Apart from this misfortune&comma; citizen’s attitude towards the failed leadership compounds our quandary&period; Our nonchalance has given the leaders the impression that they can do anything and get away with it&period; This must change&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The growth and development of every nation rests  on the shoulders of citizenry&period; Nigerians must not be different&period; We must stand up&comma; with sincerity and patriotism&comma; to rescue our country&period; It is time to say enough is enough&period; We must stop voting leaders whose only manifesto is looting our country and enriching their families and friends&period; We must also start holding accountable the ones we vote into offices&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Community and faith leaders must shy away from their insatiable egotism and selfishness and make the interest of the people&comma; who trust them with their lives&comma; their priorities&period; The youth must also outgrow the pathetic sycophancy they engage in and realise that their future is in their hands&period; They must stop extolling the invisible virtues of valueless leaders and start demanding for good leadership and sustainable development for themselves and the generation unborn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If we connect these dots&comma; the odds will be in favour of Nigeria in sha Allah&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Happy sixty years of independence&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Amin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;98&period;1 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;98&period;1 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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