WakdokSamuelStephen.
I had to change school in my Primary 2 because the proprietress of the school was relocating abroad. When I got to my new school, its motto was:” The Young Shall Grow". That was 24 years ago, funny how time flies. Looking back at all the years gone by, comparing the kids we were and who we have grown to become, that motto makes sense. There have been various transitions through life stages from biological to education, to family, exposure, relationship, career and many others. In 1985 Nigeria was 25 years as an independent nation and we are 49 years today with our jubilee march to the golden age of 50. When I think again on the past and present I am tempted to review the motto to "The Young Should Grow".
When we were young we looked forward to the future with pride, a bright future at that. We were made to believe that if we worked hard, read well, passed our exams etc we will get to be the future of the nation. We will have good life and all that comes with a qualitative life for deserving nationals of a naturally endowed country. This was very true. At twenty five, Nigeria as a nation was young and talking about the maxim; the young shall grow we ought to have grown now beyond where we are. But when we look back and see the level of realization or failure ,one would ask; is it enough to just wish that the Young Shall Grow? Can’t we rather assert that the Young Should Grow? If we had four refineries way back, they are now shadows. If we have more cars on our roads now, after spending billions of naira we have the worse roads ever. If we have more hospital buildings and churn out more doctors today, we have always caused the doctors to migrate and looking at the population explosion with the decay in health facilities we are an unhealthy nation. Checking out the exponential growth in universities and schools but observing the standard of education, the quality of teaching and incessant strikes, we should answer if we have really grown. We had several textiles in Nigeria years ago, today all the textiles in Kaduna and most elsewhere are wiped out and with them thousands of jobs and linkages gone. This is definitely not a plus for industrial growth. If we hosted COJA in 2004 and U-17 world cup and at various times hosted various tournaments, we have found it extremely difficult to host the U-17 world cup in 2009 without FIFA threatening to withdraw the hosting right.
The dramatic irony of it all is that the average Nigerian wants us to grow. I stand on the hills as an average Nigerian to lend my unheard voice: The Young Should Grow. I want us to redefine our destiny, we should rediscover our prosperity, and reclaim our lost glory. It is excruciating to see smaller African countries with little or no resources out smarting us in various ways. Look at sports, education, health, stability, unity and even Leadership. It is so upsetting that no Nigerian has won the M O Ibrahim Award for African Leadership which comes with a Five million dollars cash prize and subsequent annual grants. The award committee can not even find a suitable candidate for this year's award which is a big indictment on Nigerians; four out of every five black men in the world are Nigerians. Our sheer size, resources, clout in the international political system and the role we play in the global stage need make us perpetual winners of this award. If only we had transformational leadership in this nation this kind of award should not elude Nigeria. The most striking thing is that M.O. Ibrahim the founder or Celtel is a Sudanese. Sudan has been at war for close to 30 Years either between North and Southern Sudan and most recent the Darfur region of Western Sudan. After establishing Celtel and taking it to the peak of telecommunications he sold the company to Zain and part of the proceeds is used to promote leadership and good governance in Africa. That is lesson in corporate leadership for us in Nigeria.
The young should grow. Nigeria should have grown more by now. We can only grow when and if we break the jinx of "Pharaohic ruler ship" in Nigeria. Why must we keep running abroad when we have more than what it takes to make Nigeria better than those countries? At a point Dubai was a desert but look at what they have transformed that desert into today. Singapore was so tiny to survive on its own that they begged to join Malaysia as a federation and they were even expelled. Singapore depended on neighbouring countries for land to be used for military trainings, they imported sand at a point because they sit on water, and Singapore has a land area of 685 sq km only with a population of about 5million people. Today Singapore has transformed from a third to a first world country. Years ago Brazil was only known for its samba dance, football and sugarcane. With a land area of 8.5million square metres and a population of above 192 million people, Brazil is second to Nigeria with the highest number of black population in the world. Today Brazil has catapulted itself to become a technological and economic giant. Rio de Janeiro just won the right to host the 2016 Olympics and the country aims to invest 356 billion dollars in infrastructure alone over the next 30 years that is about 11.8 billion dollars yearly. Nigeria with a land mass of 923,768 and an estimated population of 140 million people ought to have become a power house by now when we imagine that almost all the mineral resources found on earth have deposits in Nigeria. Our capital investment has fallen over the years. Singapore is smaller than Nigeria in population and land mass, it has grown. Brazil which is bigger than Nigeria in terms of land mass and population too is growing at an increasing rate. So size whether big or small is not the cause for failure, ditto for population.
We have all the resources and brains to transform our nation into a comfortable and wonderful land for every citizen and resident to live peacefully with dignity. We have people and ideas that can make the system work for us. Why then are we second class citizens in our land? We can destroy hunger, erase power outages, eliminate bad roads, eradicate poverty, stop further de-industrialization, arrest unemployment, kidnap crime and assassinate corruption. We can grow, the young should grow. Nigeria must grow. We should make it grow.
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