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!