Oh my mother land

Good afternoon to you guys, I hope you guys are doing good

Before I start talking about my topic. I want to say a miss you all, I can't even believe it that I can be away for a day talking of me been away for a week. I have a gist for you about my whereabout for that whole week later but that will be another time

So do well to check my page so you can read the gist I have for you later.

I also want to thank some special people here, please don't misquote me; all of you are all special to me but one to thank some people for showing me love and giving me words of encouragement people like. @Success1 @Olasquare

@FarmGirl @Kristofferquincy

You too much guys.

Today I will be talking about my mother land

Each an every one of us here have our mother.

my motherland, a land of hope and purpose, diversified in ethnicity and prided in our vast traditions. Loyalty was our watchword, honesty was our super-power, and the fight for our freedom and establishment as an independent nation was beyond any comparative relation.

A land full of people with caring heart and love. A place full of energetic youth and old full of wisdom and knowledge.

That makes me to remember a verse in the Bible which says the power of youth lies in the strength and the wisdom of the old is in their gray hair.

I have grown up reading about our past heroes, listening to tales of their dexterity, the likes of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Anthony Enahoro, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Funmilayo Ransom Kuti, among others. All these men and women and many others had a future in view for the younger generation, together they fought together side by side for the establishment of our present independent country.

our lands flowed with milk and honey, agriculture blossomed and we had already discovered petroleum at Oloibiri, in Bayelsa State some four years before our independence, so we were basking in abundance.

The streets and houses were painted green and white, and every public building had the Nigerian flag. Its green and white colors spoke volumes, its green representing agriculture, natural resources and fertility, and its white representing peace, purity and unity. The soil was painted with droplets of sweat from enthusiastic farmers and laborers alike, who were certain of a comfortable meal after a hard day’s job.

Children would sit and listen to tales of the tortoise and his trickery, moonlight plays were the climax of every childhood as there were no fears of kidnapping or ruthless murders of our children and our streams and rivers were a place the children would visit both male and female, with much enthusiasm, and without fear of rape. Even the fishes in our waters would swim to river banks, because the fishes counted it an honor to be caught and eaten by a Nigerian citizen.

The major difference between the rich and the poor was in the structure of houses and elegance of the school attended by their children, because food and a shelter was no determining factor to distinguishing between both classes. A primary school graduate was educated enough to land the position of a secretary in an organisation, the high-school graduates became headmasters and principals of schools, and the university graduates became professors in universities and CEO’s of various organisations respectively. Unemployment was unheard of.

We were rich in culture, and our art soared like Eagles in the clouds. Our football team was on another level, and we were never to be compared to any African nation. In economy we were top, in arts we were gods, in resources we ruled, in money we were richest, in all things, we were never to be compared. We constantly exchanged students and military personnel with European and American states, and we soared. Our movies brightened the childhood of every African child, and we were models to every other African nation. We rocked!!!!!!

Men looked at the nation Nigeria and its people and called us GIANTS OF AFRICA, lets face it, who can dare compare gods with mortal men we were like the direct descendants of Zeus, and it was summed in the lines of our first National Anthem:

Nigeria we hail thee,

Our own dear native land,

Though tribe and tongue may differ,

In brotherhood we stand,

Nigerians all, and proud to serve

Our sovereign Motherland.

Our flag shall be a symbol

That truth and justice reign,

In peace or battle honour’d,

And this we count as gain,

To hand on to our children

A banner without stain.

O God of all creation,

Grant this our one request,

Help us to build a nation

Where no man is oppressed,

And so with peace and plenty

Nigeria may be blessed.

In this dispensation, we were proud to call Nigeria our motherland.

We had only one notable downside: Trafficking of our women that gained public recognition from the late 70’s to early 80’s.

Fast forward to today and Nigeria is already living in the shadows of its past and our founding heroes lay to rest six feet below the earth’s surface only represented by statues, memorials and images, our farmers no longer till our soil with enthusiasm, one Dollar is worth a whooping 363 Naira. I am so pained and filled with so much ignominy.

Nothing of wonderful heroics, nothing of heroes, nothing about legacy, but so much on corruption, deaths, bloodshed, pain and trauma. Our once green pastures are now turned red from the blood of the innocent, our white is now black, as the hearts of my fellow citizens are being clouded with hate and anger.

Corrupt leaders have crept into our public offices. Truthfully, corruption is evident in every country, but in Nigeria, we are fore-runners. Our old men sit and wail at the predicament facing our current generation, and all they can do is think about the old glory days. Everyday our papers are filled with news of gullible leaders who pride themselves in the wealth accumulated from their corrupt deeds and we are slowly becoming immune to the effect of the bad news.

Electricity and good roads are hard to come by, resulting in countless road accidents. Our health sector is deteriorating leading to deaths of our citizens. The education sector is nothing to write home about these days, as an average Nigerian cannot afford top-quality education again. Unemployment rate is proliferating.

Unwarranted killings are nothing new, as my fellow countrymen cannot freely move in their neighborhood for the fear of terrorist attack. Crime rate is increasing spontaneously and our armed men cannot protect those they swore to protect. We are living in a dispensation where bribery is the norm and kidnapping is nothing new.

Should we talk about the youths, who have taken to new occupations of fraudulent acts, thereby soiling the name of our great nation.

These current ailments that has befallen this nation is captured in our current national anthem and a call has been made to us all.

Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey

To serve our fatherland

With love and strength and faith

The labor of our heroes past

Shall never be in vain

To serve with heart and might

One nation bound in freedom, peace, and unity.

Oh God of creation, direct our noble cause

Guide our leaders right

Help our youth and truth to know

In love and honesty to grow

And living just and true

Great lofty heights attain

To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.

Whether we have seen it or not, I am opening our eye today to the truths contained in these national anthems.

The first national anthem talked about how great a nation we were, how our flag was a true symbol that faith and justice reigns, how irrespective of our different ethnicity we still stood in brotherhood and love, to pass unto the next generation a banner spotless, all these with only one request and the request was to build a nation where no man is oppressed and so with peace and plenty Nigeria can stay blessed. What an anthem this was and I still stand in bewilderment as to why it was changed. This national anthem was a representation of who we were as a nation and what we stood for.

The second and current national anthem is a call to every Nigerian to arise, to not put the efforts of our heroes to vain, and in this current anthem, we have two requests. For our leaders to be guided rightly, and for our youths to come to their senses. Which we have failed to oblige to, though we sing the songs almost daily.

It is with so much wretchedness that I am writing this today, calling every Nigerian to stand up and fight for our pride as a nation, we have been basking in past glory for so long, but we are in dire need of a fresh anointing, we need to come as a collective body, contributing in our minute individual ways for the greater good of a nation that is failing. This is a call to developers, writers, bloggers, activists, aspiring entrepreneurs, aspiring politicians, undergraduates, post graduate students and every other Nigerian out there, that together we can bring about the change we so crave for, we keep saying that we are the future of tomorrow as youths, but the truth is, The Future Is Now and until we realize that things are not going to get better unless we do something today, and there can be no future for the generation to come after us unless we take a valiant step ourselves, there is nothing that can be changed.

I as an individual have made a decision to fight for the sanity of my country until my name is inscribed into the walls of our history books as a hero of the 21st century. I implore you reading this to do same today, because together we are stronger.