Occasionally, every healthy mind swings back and forth between the past and the present in an effort to extrapolate its future prospects from the summation of those two co-ordinates. Sometimes, this process of self-assessment is conscious and deliberate but at other times unconscious and reflexive. I assume that this occurs with every one of us periodically.

Since I became a conscious Nigerian, and that has been well over forty years now, I have always envisaged a great future for Nigeria . Each time my mind swung into the retrospective gear, it was difficult not to be optimistic about the future, given the fine founding minds and visions that sired that nation, and the great human resources she is endowed with, not to mention the beautiful landmass and the alleged pool of mineral resources she straddles.

Rather than a jingoistic fanaticism, it was a sound and sober patriotism that informed my staunch belief in the Nigerian project. After Nigeria survived the civil war, I saw her poised, ready to launch onto the orbit of the worlds most respected nations, powered by her vast natural resources. She was going to champion the cause of Africa and, of course, be the pride of the black race. Regardless of all the knocks and bumps I never doubted her ability to overcome all odds. Oh yes, I had great dreams and I was passionate about her.

But in the recent past, more recent than past, that passion, regrettably, is fast wearing away. When all the props that hold one’s dreams have been knocked off, one after the other, one can’t help doubting one will live to see one’s dreams come true. There comes a time in every ones life, especially after the dawn of late middle age, when one ineluctably becomes more self-critical, self-examining, and more realistic. One is despaired over the up-coming generations whose today’s dreams of tomorrow are probably as fiery as one’s were yesterday. 

For more than forty years I have waited and fevered for something good, no matter how little, to come out of Nigeria , alas, except for tenuous and sporadic veneers, I have witnessed only the contrary. Every news, every personal experience seems to be more diabolic than the other. Each time I think I’ve seen the worst; the next proves me totally wrong. After decades of constant disappointments my expectations are no longer lofty. Disillusioned, I now barely hope that our humblest necessities some day might be provided.

Quite often, in my despair, I have quoted late Kennedy’s famous speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” But the Nigerian reality has, with time, thoroughly disabused me of that grandiosity. I have come to realize how hollow this speech sounds within the Nigerian context. A nation that intends to fully tap into the potentials of her citizens must provide them with an enabling environment to unfold their capabilities. Today, rather than ask what they can do for Nigeria, many highly talented Nigerians, athletes, artists and technocrats are giving their bests to foreign nations.  

I no longer believe that it is mere imprudence and insensitivity on the part of leadership alone that has incapacitated a country like Nigeria for almost all her adult history. I am afraid the inability of a nation as wealthy as Nigeria to provide simple basic amenities like security, clean portable water, functioning power supply, reliable healthcare and solid public education systems to her citizens, in nearly fifty years of self-rule is symptomatic of a far deeper problem; a hideously depraved common psyche!

How else can one explain the noxious self-hatred Nigerians often display in all their actions and utterances, especially when dealing with each other? How else can one explain this age-long oxymoronic fusion of xenophobia and splitophobia - these diverse groups of people, who can neither live together nor let each other go their separate ways? One does not need to look much farther than this forum to notice the egregious misconception of nationhood even among Nigerians who one assumes should no better.

What about the neo-colonialist and corrupt attitude of all the regimes that have ruled this nation since her independence, save a handful of her founding fathers? Why this pathologic obsession with Machiavellian dilettantes at the helm of our affairs, again and again, this helplessness in the face of a calamitous polity? More recently we have been witnessing a spate of grand larceny perpetrated by leaders entrusted with our public funds; not only are they not being brought to book but worse still, there are people among us who would actually see nothing wrong about such felonies. They defend and hail them as heroes. Why?

See the kind of slums in our cities, worse than slums anywhere else in this whole wide world. The general environment, in fact everything between the living areas and the roads, is rotten beyond words. There is corruption everywhere, even worse than before the demigods in power declared their mendacious war on it. The moral decay is so putrid it stinks to high heavens, yet the churches and mosques are overfilled, and everybody pretends everything is normal. Why?

Out here in the Diaspora, in our meretricious comfort, we incessantly blow hot air while growing old and preparing to bequeath our progenies with a moldy legacy we call a nation, just like our ancestors did with us, albeit, with the highly significant difference that they were enslaved and colonized and were not generally as educated and exposed as we are today.   

The fact that forty years after the Nigerian civil war, regardless of all the known facts, a particular ethnic group is still being held culpable and being chastised, directly and indirectly, for a conflict that should be blamed on, at least, all the major ethnic groups of Nigeria, is one of many insidious spin-offs of this specter of depraved common psyche. Till today no meaningful attempt has been made at nation reconciliation. When you marginalize any section of a nation, you marginalize everybody. Why is it difficult to comprehend this fact? As long as this psychic depravity holds sway in our common subconscious, I am afraid any meaningful progress as one nation shall remain to us a chimera.         

Robot  # 1 | 31.08.2007 21:38

...Read the full article.

Amy  # 2 | 01.09.2007 04:39

A classic representation of the melancholic and despairing discourse the Nigerian project has turned out to be... slowly but surely robbing even the best of us of that belief in nationhood and our unflinching commitment to it. I thoroughly understand the author's position, however, regarding Nigeria, against all hope, I choose to believe in hope. Even when our dreams turn to annoying nightmares, I choose to hold on to the straws because losing all hope in the face of the frustrations induced by the useless ruling class we have managed to create and the lack of an enabling environment that can facilitate real creativity and productivity in our endowed masses, is akin to resigning to an annihilating pessimism that brings rottenness to the bones of an individual as well as a nation. In the face of the raw facts presented by the author, I truly do not have any prescriptive formulas to offer that can sustain his faith in HOPE, but I do strongly believe deep within my soul that the ONLY chance there is of transforming our present realities and resolving the present contradictions that have generated such stagnation and hopelessness everywhere you look in Nigeria is to keep HOPE alive. I have purposed never to accept the fatalistic logic that Nigeria is irredeemable or that our realities are irreversible and even if the dramatic changes do not happen in my lifetime, I firmly believe that we shall reach that maximal point when the suffering dominated class by courageously inserting ourselves in the process of change at personal risk of even death, will manage to bring about a dramatic tension that will result in the radical change of social structures. Enough of sporatic changes... the social fabric of our society must be overhauled for sustained transformation to come to fruition. Right now our people are slow in recognizing our collective power and that I hope forums like NVS can alter in both big and small ways. For too long we have tolerated and encouraged accommodation and uncritical acceptance of every rubbish dished out to us by the ruling class as the way things have to be since we can not match their strength. Only the belief in hope will eventually bring about a class consciousness that things can be different and properly done as a way of life in Nigeria. Without that hope, our people will continue to accept the kind of thinking that preserves the present realities and robs us and our children the pleasure of daring to do some fresh thinking of our own. I pray the author keeps that hope alive somehow no matter the hopelessness of the hour because without that hope we are as good as moving corpses robbed of the very ingredient that will create the future we desire... and that is hope! Later o.

denker  # 3 | 01.09.2007 13:33

I choose to believe in hope amy, my dear: hope is element of negativism. projection of element of negativism on transformative trajectory of life-span(a span of life) is ROOT of mother of all PAIN(mental plus physical). discerning MIND accepts REALITY. nigerian reality(present state of condition) is irredeemable; elements of progressive structures are not there....once this is accepted the soul is at ease and the spirit abides in absolute tranquility. best regards!

Amy  # 4 | 01.09.2007 20:02

=denker;204351>amy, my dear: hope is element of negativism. projection of element of negativism on transformative trajectory of life-span(a span of life) is ROOT of mother of all PAIN(mental plus physical). discerning MIND accepts REALITY. nigerian reality(present state of condition) is irredeemable; elements of progressive structures are not there....once this is accepted the soul is at ease and the spirit abides in absolute tranquility. best regards! Interesting perspective... rarely have I heard pessimism so glamorously defined nor the resignation to the fatalistic logic that Nigeria is irredeemable so glossily expressed. I respect your inalienable right to subscribe to any ideology you deem necessary for your mental health and peace of mind, however, needless to say I do not subscribe to such a disabling perspective and I fail to see what possibilities such an ideology can afford anyone in real time. I belong to a more progressive tradition that is condemned to an emancipatory process brought about through the conscientization of the masses... basically the act of illuminating reality from a critical perspective and concretely engaging in a struggle against oppression, exploitation and corruption in high places. Better to dream & die with hope and a smile on my face than to lose hope and relive the misery of hopelessness on a daily basis. In today's Nigeria there's sufficient reason for one's heart to fail him or her in the absence of hope. In the wisdom of my ancestors, they opined that, "Aguru nwere nchekube anaghi egbu mmadu" (Hungry with hope does not kill it's victim.) Michelangelo in his famous quote asserted that, "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it". Never forget that you ultimately get what you think about and accept as your lot, be it negative or positive. I will rather invest mental energy into believing the best is yet to come for Nigeria, regardless of what the status quo dictates today. Frankly, none of us knows enough to be a pessimist. In addition, when you argue for your limitations and disabuse your mind of every hope of change, you may just get what you asked for... gloom, doom and more limitations. With the violent opposition in the Niger delta and the increasing dissatisfaction that is brewing silently all across Nigeria, I believe the dialectics of confrontation will ultimately bring about structural change of sorts at some point. It may not seem feasible today but life has taught me that things are not always as they seem. Appearances are not as real as we sometimes make them out to be. Nigeria is not beyond redemption and I will declare just that to my grave. Afterall, we will not be the first nation to experience the contradictions we are experiencing currently... it will come to pass in God's time as we insert ourselves in the process of change in both big and small ways. Later o.

Sapele Man  # 5 | 02.09.2007 05:25

=Amy;204412> With the violent opposition in the Niger delta and the increasing dissatisfaction that is brewing silently all across Nigeria, I believe the dialectics of confrontation will ultimately bring about structural change of sorts at some point. It may not seem feasible today but life has taught me that things are not always as they seem. Appearances are not as real as we sometimes make them out to be. Nigeria is not beyond redemption and I will declare just that to my grave. Afterall, we will not be the first nation to experience the contradictions we are experiencing currently... it will come to pass in God's time as we insert ourselves in the process of change in both big and small ways. Later o. Dear Prophetess Amy, You na proper Igbo pikin. I want make you dey for dis Village for long long time. But I beg you, make you no let Nigeria wahala send you to the grave too quickly. We wen dey for dis Village love you well well. I beg ooo.