Facts about Nigeria, the Giant of Africa -By Abdulrahman Rahmat Akere

Nigeria is a country located in the western part of Africa, it is regarded as the giant of Africa because of its marvelous population. My country, my father’s land, Nigeria, is where the rich are getting richer likewise the poor people are getting poorer. Nigeria is where the subject (leaders) enjoy and spend their lives luxuriantly and in exclusive happiness while the masses suffer from severe agonies to the furthest point.

Our fathers’ land is a soil of vanity to the masses, many indigenes had gone into extinction even from their own homeland because of the painful therapy being a poor Nigerian subjects them to. Where we belong to, Nigeria, is now a turf we wish to deny. If what becomes of our graduates is using their certificates to hawk and roam around the street, it’s even impossible to fantasise the lives, state of or talk about the illiterates in the midst.

The cause of this problem is that Nigerian lawmakers are also lawbreakers. Nigeria is a country where the law was being made as rule but not regulated by its leaders. It is thus ultimately scandalous for the giant of Africa to be captured in such an episode instead of her being a role model to other countries around her.

Nigeria’s system of government is said to be a democratic system of government but it is not, in any nice way, put into practice, rather our incumbent representatives prefer always to utilize the aristocracy system of government. Our leaders aspire to be in bulletproof, upscale cars, to own private jets and live in exorbitant mansions while instead they should subsidise the less privileged residence.

My country is where everything requires connections. A man must know someone, another high-profile individual in a particular field, before he could be granted a favor. The job seekers must have connections with top personnel in the organizations they want to work in. Thousands of graduates are now left unemployed, not because they didn’t graduate with well but because they don’t have long legs which they call connection in the sense that Nigeria’s system of allocating jobs is not based on what you know but who you know.

Although Nigeria truly has everything to be the real giant of Africa, she is blessed the most amongst her co-Africa countries but her blessed natural resources are mismanaged by its managers (government). Every resource owned by the country for personal development of its stakeholders and not at all for national development. Only if Nigeria’s natural resources like crude oil, coal, tin and agricultural produce among others were properly utilized, the country would have switched from a developing to a fully developed country.

Similarly, Nigeria is a nation where those that are fortunate to be employed are not paid properly for the service rendered, this then tempts its mostly young people to become criminals and terrorists with the motive of fighting for their rights, typical results are cybercrime in the south and banditry in the North.

Nigeria is 61 and we’ve still not got it right. But all ills are duely caused by our so-called leaders, until they have the mind to change, Nigeria will keep bearing the fake flag of being the giant of Africa.

Abdulrahman Rahmat Akere is a 200 level student of History and international studies department at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS), +234 812 133 4161.