Of recent,
Nigerians are bedeviled with myriads of problems ranging from epileptic power
supply, poor education, incurable diseases, bad roads, unpatriotic leaders, unemployment,
kidnapping, to high rate of insecurity. The sweet dreams of our yesteryears
leaders have not come to fruition; but rather, had turned into nightmares.
During independence and post independence, Nigeria played vital roles in
enthroning and establishing democracy in Africa; but today, its very own is
being endangered.
Now, I had termed this maiden piece, Remedies to Nigerians’ Woes because from
my analysis, the problems looking us on our faces today are the consequences of
our negligence and misdoings. The Almighty Allah stated that He doesn’t change
the condition of a people unless they change that which is in their souls;
meaning What You Do is What You Get (WYDiWYG). As such, if we want to have a new lease of
life where light will be
stable 24/7, quality health care and education flourish, every person is
gainfully employed, leaders are good and
compassionate to their subjects, and
above all, have peace
of mind in
this world and
hereafter, we need to look up ourselves in
the mirror, reject and discard
the bad
characters in us and uphold
and continue the good ones. Else, we will continue to
wallow in darkness and suffering. We seek refuge in God from these! Amin!
So far, I have identified four predicaments bedeviling the
Nigerian state: bad leaders, poverty, disease and insecurity. Because these foursome
replicate into other problems, I strongly believe that
if the heads
of these monsters are
cut away Nigeria could then aspire to
be a member of the comity of developed economics such as
Indonesia, Malaysia, India China,
etc; nations, she started the
marathon race of national development with. I proffer here ways out of the
doldrums of the country called Nigeria, which excels only in negativity: corruption,
election rigging, fraud, poverty, prostitution, diseases, etc.
The first on the list of problems is bad leaders. A nation or state without
good and visionary leaders is on the verge of collapse because leadership is a
necessity that distributes available resources amongst its citizen, provides
security, good health system, employment and basic amenities, and coordinates
the day-to-day activities. A society which is devoid of a good leader is just
like a rudderless ship, which Adamu Adamu of Daily Trust said, “even if it doesn’t sink, it is not going to
reach its destination”. Do you wonder why we have been dilly-dallying around
one point, taking one step forward and two steps backward?
Do you also ask “How do we get quality leaders?” Simple!
It is just by changing our attitudes. These leaders were not imported from Mars;
they grew up from our midst. They knew our weaknesses and strengths. They are
aware that many of us cheat by beating the sides of cans
and jerry cans when measuring,
misappropriate the trust given put on us by our brothers, bosses or
community, refuses to give out Zakats,
and encircle their
homes praise singing them to be given peanuts. Why will they be afraid to
steal when they know we are also guilty and gullible? Then when the elections come
by, they splash out their ill-gotten money on us; we collect, rejoice, campaign
for them and give them our mandates again. We deny the good and trusted ones
just because they didn’t ‘see us’! And therefore the vicious circle continues.
The ball is in our court; we can stop it from rolling
by shunning all wrong doings, depress selfish desires of our souls, and become industrious
and productive. When we do this, I assure you these people we employed to look
after our affairs will become subservient to us. In short, let us all become
the potential quality leaders we dream of. As Mahatma Gandhi puts
it, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” WYDiWYG!
Poverty, the second scourge that needs to wiped
out of the
surface of Nigeria, also contributes to present
predicaments plaguing us. It is an upshoot of bad leaders. Many shallow-minded individuals have
been pushed the wrong ways
because of lack of
sufficient money to cater for
their basics needs. For a long time, the average Nigerian
had been reported to be living below N168 only per day. Poverty had ruined many
homes, turned some people to armed robbers, prostitutes, and others to destitution
and begging. It is no longer news that
Northern Nigerian is the poorest
region in Nigerian which has the
highest number of beggars which it
export to other regions of the country. When you see a beggar in Auchi of Edo
State, Uyo in Akwa-Ibom, Port Harcourt or Lagos, you need not to ask of his or
her identity. The status quo would
always is that they are from the Northern half of Nigeria.
The antidote to poverty, no matter what district, state,
region, country or continent, it is
for the citizenry to be hardworking,
persistent in their work, be
prayerfully and above
all give out from even the
little in their possessions. Prophet
Muhammed was reported to have said that every morning, two angels descend from heavens and
one of them prays, “O Allah give replacement to he who gives,” and the
other supplicates, “O Allah make he who refuses to give out lose.” It is a
golden rule, “give and you shall receive.” The onus is rests on us, the led. What
we do is what we get!
The next teething problem is disease. Hitherto, Nigerians have a popular saying that “Small diseases
no dey kill Africa Man.” This is no longer the status quo today. Small and big diseases now kill Africa man and
woman, young and old as well. Cancer, tuberculosis, diarrheoa, cholera, polio,
malaria, hemorrhoids (basir), pile, syphilis, gonorrhea, and the gang leader,
AIDS, are few of the continuous list of diseases that have been plunging lives out of the world citizens.
What is the cause of the multiplications of diseases? It
is not farfetched. “If ever immorality spreads in a community and there is no sense
of shame on its occurrence or mentioning it, diseases which were not present in
time of their predecessors will spread among them,” were golden words of
prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) some 1400 years. A cursory look at the above saying reveals
our complacency and therefore our predicaments. Nowadays, fornication is no
longer an odd thing; it is rampant everywhere and taken as fashion.
Every day, new trends of immoralities are been
introduced. There is no more shame for two or more friends to be chatting of
their illicit sexual indulgences, and condoms are broadly displayed in chemists
for sale and given an enticing name. Today, a married man will indulge in ‘away
matches,’ contract these deadly diseases and come home to inject them into his
wife or wives. The vice-versa is also
true. It is a pity! Surely, the end of the killer diseases will not be sighted
unless we halt our social promiscuities, men and women, young and old.
The mother of all problems in Nigeria, insecurity, has also claimed the lives
of many Nigerians and afflicted life-threatening injuries to those saved from
the cold jaws of death. Insecurity here refers to bad roads, poor health systems,
substandard education, inadequate or absence of portable drinking water, and absence
of safety in our homes, on the road, at workplace or places of worship. In the
history of Nigeria, she has never been insecure like recent years! “50 people
killed in a Road Accident”, “Cholera Claims Dozen”, “158 Passengers Killed in
Dana Air”, “84-Year-Old Grandmother Kidnapped, N124 Million Demanded”, “Policeman
Killed Bus Driver over N20,” or “84 People Killed in Bomb Attack” are some of
the news making the headlines of most Nigerian media. Nigerians are so terrified
today that a joke goes round now that “you have to look upward for plane crashes,
downward for bombs, ahead for police and backward for kidnappers”.
The cause of insecurity is bad leadership which siphons
money meant for societal development, allows corruption to thrive thereby
disregarding standards, and applies wrong treatments to undiagnosed ailments and
fears God not in most of its undertakings. Having good leaders is not myth; it is
a possibility. The prophetic saying
I quoted above also stated that “if they
(the people) renounce their commitment to Allah and his messenger,
they will be governed by an enemy who is
a stranger to them and who will take away some of what
they posses.” (Ibn Majah) Could this be the reason our leaders are like
enemies to us? They hate us, despises us, hunt us, and at times even kill us. They
snatch away the hard-earned money we manage to gather through fuel subsidy removal
and price hike. So what is the way out of this predicament? Let us all to turn to
our Creator and Saviour wholly, do all He enjoined us and shun all He discouraged.
When we do this, the whole world will become as we wished.
On a final note, I will end this piece with the hadith I
have quoted extensively in this write-up. Ibn Umar (R.A) reported that the
messenger of Islam Muhammad (P.B.U.H) said “O muhajirun (this applies to all mankind), beware of five traits. If ever immorality spreads in a community and
there is no
sense of shame on its occurrence or mentioning it, diseases which were
not present in the time of their
predecessors will spread among
them. If they decrease the measure and weight, they will be overcome by poverty,
their provisions will decrease and their rulers will be unjust. If they refrain
from paying Zakah due on their properties, they will be deprived of rain,
unless they get it only for the sake of their cattle. If they renounce their
commitment to Allah and His messenger, they will be governed by an enemy who is
a stranger to them and who will take away some of what they possess. If their
rulers do not rule according to Allah’s Book, they will be afflicted by civil war.
Allah forbids that these should happen to you.” (Ibn Majah).
As it is now clear to all of us, the woes we are
wallowing in were brought about by our own hands. So let us study ourselves
very well, identify where we strayed, correct them and work hard towards enthroning
a better tomorrow for ourselves, our children and those to come afterwards, in
Nigeria and the world at large. The world can be a better place. It begins with
me and you!
