Happy 50th, Nigeria (better late than never, so shut up!)

I've often been accused of being a bit slow (u know...up there...) and this post does nothing to de-bunk that. anyway, i've been meaning to post lately and specifically about nigeria's independence party or celebration of its 50th year of independence. so i'm gonna do just that; whether late or not.

when i told a colleague that i was going to a nigerian independence day celebration, he suddenly burst out laughing and demanded to know what in fact we have to celebrate. you should be crying, he jested, not celebrating. at the time, i was a bit offended; afterall, he's from cameroon. how much better are they at governance? this is my country he's making light of! but secretly i could not agree with him more. the half century mark should be something special within any context, most particularly the difficult task of nation building. moreover, by all accounts, this hastily amalgamated country of multiple nations should have failed a long time ago. admittedly, i found very little to celebrate on october 1.

but i kept digging for something, anything, to cling to - to celebrate. as i sat at that independence day ceremony and listened to the guest speaker remind us that the challenges facing nigeria are not unique and the solutions are neither impossible nor new, as i listened to a non-yoruba speaking south africa singing a yoruba song, and as i pondered over the words of the recited poem by a young nigerian girl saying "na dis be nigeria, nothin lesss dan de best..." i started to get it. "it" in this context was what it meant to be nigerian. certainly, arbitrarily drawn lines don't define the country (if it were so, we should have split into hundreds of clans a long time ago). what i got was that what really defines the country are its people. an article in cnn contended that "the real wealth of a country lies in its people and people is one resource that Nigeria has in abundance". i couldn't agree more.

so i decided i was not going to celebrate the country as an entity for lasting 50 years; rather, i would celebrate (and encourage others to celebrate) her people, for thriving for 50 years. Nigeria has produced so many great people that the moment these people, collectively, begin to use their abilities and capabilities in a utilitarian way, the progress of the country will be off the charts. I chose (and choose) to celebrate the Chimamanda Ngozis and Wole Soyinkas and Chinua Achebes for their literary genius, the Obafemi Awolowos and the Nnamdi Azikiwes for their revolutionary and thoughtful political leadership, the Nuhu Ribadus and Babatunde Fasholas for their unabashed political leadership, risking their lives to go against the flow and deliver for the nigerian people, the Chris Abanis for his inspirational leadership, the Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealas and Charles Soludos and Lamido Sanusis for their economic and visionary strength and the list goes on...In virtually all areas of society (academia, civil service, politics, private sector), there has been an influential nigerian making a difference. these are the people i celebrate on independence day - the brilliant, resilient, thriving, passionate, change-seeking, driven people of nigeria. i am proud to be a nigerian.

post-post: i know that there a lots of other nigerian doing lots of great things around the world, in their individual communities. I would like to actually get a database going to keep track of those. If anyone reads this and knows some personal stories about nigerians doing good and doing well anywhere in the world, please email me or leave their names in comments.

independence schm-indepedence. potential my foot.

a long time ago, i swore to slit my throat if i hear another person usher the words potential and nigeria in the same sentence. ok, i didn't really swear to it. and happily, i haven't carried it out. but this past week saw a lot of nigeria and potential talk.

it was nigeria's independence last thursday and the annual parade of articles and op-eds began, lamenting the fact that there's hardly anything to celebrate, while tirade-ing on the vast potential that lies in the future for the country, ready to be tapped. brief tangent: i've been a baseball fan for some time now, and whenever scouts and coaches start talking of potential of a player, you should run away, quickly. for some reason or another, potential seems to underlie something that others think they see in someone/some entity that somehow rarely ever seems to materialise. this counldnt be more true in the case of nigeria.

since i can remember, people have been talking about this ubiquitous potential that will be untapped at any moment now. most people my parents generation will look forward to the days when the current generation dies away and paves the way to newer set of leaders my age (conveniently forgetting that people my age tend to learn from people their age, while perfecting the art of taking as much from the country for themselves and giving back the absolute bare minimum). honestly, i once fell into this trap as well, professing that change was on its way! and even writing an op-ed piece in a local newspaper about how/why nigeria continues to fly when all indicators suggest it should have collapsed a long time ago (like a bumblebee). nowadays, i must admit i'm not so hopeful, but all hope is not yet lost. it cannot be. without hope what is there?

independence day meant little to me this year. besides so good naija cooking and a chance to catch up with some friends, it didnt really mean that much to me. in a sense, i think i didnt want to celebrate the day because it would make me truly assess the situation of the country. and that, my friends, is not pretty. from violence in the niger delta, to militants laying down their arms somehow (also suspicious...why would they do this? whats the government giving them in return? what closed door deals are going on to keep ordinary nigerians begging for food at the end of the day?), to the normalcy of power cuts and blackouts, to the smog generating from generators, to universities striking for the 30975623rd time (ensuring that my age mates are still struggling to finish university), to the stock market devaluing by nearly 60% over the last year and a half...things arent pretty. of course, theres always signs that optimists point to to argue for nigeria's come back, like the brain gain thats continuing with educated and successful people moving back to nigeria to start or run businesses or the laying down of arms by militants (tho with unknown pre-conditions), but i fail to see how these alone will turn a country like nigeria around.

but i love nigerians. as one independence day article that my mom sent me stated: if theres one thing to celebrate, its the achievement and the perseverance of nigerians. this cannot be denied. ex: i got an email from a friend of mine in nigeria, one of those age mates still stuck in the smelly cesspit known as nigerian universities. after going on a tirade about how bad and hopeless things are at the moment, he ends the email saying that we must be happy, hopeful and responsible. 2 things that nigerians cannot be faulted for are being enterprising and hopeful! i don't get it sometimes, but when all is hopeless nigerians keep hoping and actually making the best out of situations. the article my mom sent me listed countless nigerians that have ventured to win several awards and accolades for the work theyre doing in several fields from literature to science research to government and on and on.

so i guess there is something to celebrate afterall as nigeria turns 49. and its not its potential. rather the heights that have been reached by numerous nigerians. now why cant we have a government that reflects our best citizens and our best ambitions (i'll even settle for average), instead of one that fights to reach new lows on a daily basis. in the words of chicago-ans: theres always next year.

post-post: ever had a clogged sink or tub? maybe it wasnt fully clogged, just enough so that when u ran the water, it drained very slowly. not to mention u kept adding to the clog by shaving or bathing. ever bought the wrong solution to clear up the clog? u pour the entire bottle in the sink/tub and run lots of water and nothing happens. more clog. now the water soaks up even slower than before. then u ask someone at the store to give u advice on the right solution/brand to use. u get home, do the drill and it works. water flows like it used to. better than it used to. ever bled? your blood says everything.