To whom much is given, much is required

~Jesus Christ (Luke 12: 48)

I am currently typing this article from the comfort of my room, where everywhere would have been pitch-dark if not for the rechargeable lamp that I am using to write this article.

This time yesterday there was light but today apart from the brief supply in the morning we haven’t seen the electric bulbs blink. Almost everywhere in my city and the country is in darkness and this is a result of the industrial action by the electricity workers union. They have grievances that they felt the government has refused to pay attention to and also to fulfil some promises made to them.

Well, I don’t blame the striking electricity workers for embarking on strike even when we all know that industrial actions such as this affects mainly the common people.

We have a government that doesn’t listen to its citizens or take the necessary steps until when the matter gets worse or out of hand.

Note, that the electricity workers aren’t the only ones on strike. The university lectures have been on strike for the past five months and the government hasn’t been able to carve out a deal to satisfy their demands.

Sometimes, I look at my country and I see nothing to be proud of. When we try to patch things up in one sector another section is getting worse or collapses.

Reference to the quote at the beginning of my article:

Imagine you sent your child to the best school that has the best teacher and is equipped with the best facilities for learning. You’d expect that child to perform well in the national exam, isn’t it? But if such a child fails to pass the exam or couldn’t make it to average. As a parent or guardian, won't you be disappointed by the poor performance?

Nigeria

The same scenario is playing out in my country. With all the resources Nigeria has been bestowed upon, She has failed to live up to expectations.

Nigeria is a country that is blessed with an abundance of resources. The country is one of the top exporters of black gold (crude oil), she has fertile lands and an amazing climate that can support different types of food and cash crops, and she has a lot of mineral resources like bauxite, iron ore, and many more.

Apart from the natural resources, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and ranks 7th in the world, meaning she has a lot of potential human resources that could be harnessed to make greatness.

But with all these blessings the country has failed to develop into a powerhouse or country where there is abundance for its citizens.

We’ve overtaken India to become the country with the highest number of people living in poverty.

The region called Nigeria is a place filled with milk and honey but most of the people who live there are languishing in abject poverty. The country is crumbling every day and it saddens my heart.

Nothing seems to work, the educational system, security, and job opportunity are all in decline. The only that can be said that is not in decline is “corruption”.

Every day well-meaning and highly skilled Nigerians are leaving the country to settle down in other countries with better living standards. Currently, there is a brain drain going on. Nigeria has a lot of potential and resources to achieve great things but everything is getting worse by the day.

Make the little things work!

This doesn’t surprise me why?

I’m not surprised because the country has failed in little things and once you fail to make little things work you can’t make complex things work.

Our government and citizens are both responsible for the decay.

A country that can’t make its cities clean and the set people that keep throwing waste into the drainage on the floor can’t run for example; a nuclear power plant.

Many politicians will campaign about how they going to make Nigeria great by doing a white elephant projects that might not live to see the light of the day. Even if those projects get completed they would eventually be run down and all the money spent will just get wasted.

Conclusion

My message to any incoming government and people who want to change the country for the better; is to start from the little things. Those crazy things we do as a people that many thoughts are insignificant but the reality is that they carry huge significance.

Make the simple or little things work and the complex or bigger things would fall in place gradually.

You don’t start learning maths by learning complex algebras rather you start by learning simple addition and subtraction.

18-08-2022

10:00 am

Thanks for reading

Note: I began writing this article yesterday's night, and I got it completed today.

It is great to finally hear that the strike by the electricity workers has been called off. What a relief!