What comes after Independence

23 65
Avatar for Tomi-Ajax
1 year ago

When I was a teen, the wish to become independent and move away from my parents' house started kicking in my mind. I felt like I was living in a cage and became tired of their nagging and criticisms.

The thought of Independence was glorious to me then, and the only thing that stopped me from materializing my dreams was money. I had no money because I had no good-paying job.

But today, I am a young adult, and I laughed at that teenage idea of mine. Not that I don't want to be independent again like I wished for when I was a teen.

The reality is that the yearning to be independent has increased, but the difference between the present and those teenage years is that; I don't view it as glorious as I once did and daydream about it every day. Why?

The reason is that I have come to realize what adulthood is all about.

Today, I am not dependent as I was during my teenage years, so I would say that I'm pseudo-independent. I became pseudo-independent some months ago, and I can see how tough adulthood is, especially in the aspect of finance.

The prodigal son

Sometimes when I recall my teenage thoughts, the biblical story of the prodigal son comes to my mind.

For those familiar with the Bible, would remember a parable by Jesus Christ about a young man who rebelled and decided to leave his father's house.

Before leaving, he demanded his share of the inheritance even despite his father not being dead. His father gave it to him, and he traveled to distant lands with his newfound wealth.

He squandered his money lavishly on wine, women, gambling, and merriment. He made friends with the wrong people, and they gladly helped him waste his money. He became broke and started looking for menial jobs.

I could go on narrating the full story, but that is of no importance.

The ending of the story was that he realized his mistake and went back to seek the forgiveness of his father.

Just like the prodigal son, many seek freedom or to be independent of whatever we feel is repressing us.

Rush to independence

I am of the opinion that like the prodigal son, my country hastily sought independence from the colonial master. (Not everyone agrees with this, but that is what I believe).

Nigeria's rush to gain independence without sorting out some key issues, especially in tribal and political sectors was a grave mistake if you ask me, but some factors made our independence in 1960 unavoidable.

  • One of the reasons that fuelled Africa's urge to gain independence was the success of India's national movement in gaining Independence from the British.

    India's independence inspired African countries most especially those under the rule of Britain to push more for the right to be self-governed.

  • The second would be that our closest English-speaking neighbour Ghana; gaining independence in 1957, was another push.

  • The last factor was that the British were also eager to leave, due to the effects of the second world war and the nationalist rising in African countries.

Conclusion

In the end, we have no one to blame for the decline in wealth, peace, and power but ourselves.

Just like the prodigal son who misused the wealth given to him by his father, Nigeria has also squandered the wealth bestowed upon her for decades.

Now, my dear country has become like the prodigal son whose father was a rich man but resulted in doing menial jobs.

05-09-2022

3:50 PM

Thanks for reading!

17
$ 1.39
$ 0.99 from @TheRandomRewarder
$ 0.10 from @Giddyboy
$ 0.05 from @gertu13
+ 10
Sponsors of Tomi-Ajax
empty
empty
empty
Avatar for Tomi-Ajax
1 year ago

Comments

I do agree on how we rush to become independent, a colonial master once said we were not ripe to stand alone but our greed pushed us to where we are.

I have been independent my whole life and to tell ya, it's not that very fun, especially with the country's special prices.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Seriously? You must be a hard worker. How do you maintain the finances?

$ 0.00
1 year ago

The scale of preference help and the ability to control yourself helps too.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Woah....this is likely to be true...I love the comparison used in matching both the prodigal son and our dear country which has gone into shambles. Is there really hope for the citizens as we live our life like is the last day on earth...squandering the money that is ought to be used in taking care of our economy.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Nigeria is a rich land, but we the citizens are poor.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Honestly, after independence. Nigeria would have become a great country with many future hope but some set of greedy people put us in this mess. Funny fact is that this set of people are still in power

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Hmm, that's true to some extent.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Nigerians are stingy and we are not united. If we are, we wouldn't be having ethnic problems. We were in a rush of getting our independence. Look at us now

$ 0.00
1 year ago

So sad. We have to fix everything good we've broken ourselves

$ 0.00
1 year ago

The prodigal son teaches a great lesson and ultimost one, you should not rush to your independence let it come and meet you naturally.

Thanks for the article

$ 0.00
1 year ago

That's the lesson. We shouldn't rush our independence

$ 0.00
1 year ago

yes that true

$ 0.00
1 year ago

I think the blame is not on lack of planning before independence. We just didn't have the right leaders. Greed and corruption displayed by our leaders at that time was the stemming root of all these things we face now.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Yes you're very right Sylvan.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

The mistakes came from our leaders as at the time truly. Exactly what my dad believed in, we were too in haste to be freed without having the adequate knowledge and wisdom to rule after.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

This sums it all. The knowledge and wisdom to rule wasn't adequate.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Perhaps every teenagers wanted to get such independence once as you wished but couldn't because of financial issues. We learn things as we grow. Yupp the success of Indian Movement urges many movements and nations to get freedom and independence.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Thanks for agreeing with my article.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Lord have mercy on us🙏. Our forefathers thought that Independence will be a better experience.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

It suppose to be but we made mistake while being excited by independence

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Starting when I traveled to the city to apply some work and it was my first time my friend I was a fresh graduate that time I became independent.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Wow, I'm still an undergraduate

$ 0.00
1 year ago

It's okay my friend soon you will graduate with your course and apply some work after.

$ 0.00
1 year ago