A Blessing turns to curse: A Response on the face of Nigeria at 60 years.

A Blessing turns to curse: A Response on the face of Nigeria at 60 years.

I have been looking for an adequate word or expression that will best explain the pathetic situation of Nigeria as a nation and I am most often faced with the following expression” That Nigeria is a nation that has plenty but the blessings she possesses have turned to a curse” Nigeria is like a person in the middle of the ocean but the soap has covered his eyes that we can not see again. The worst is that the person has even forgotten he is in the middle of the ocean. And today this confusion called Nigeria has turned to 60 years.
A man that has reached 60 years is no longer a youth and should not even pretend to be one for he can only present himself as a round peg in a square hole if he strives to present himself like a young man of 20, 30,35. A man of 60 has reached an age of integrity, he can only be young at heart in an unpretentious humility.
At 60, one has about 5 years to complete the working age. Therefore following this analogy, Nigeria has five years to complete its work and its active operations judging from Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. According to Erickson, there are eight stages of psychosocial development. Nigeria at 60, according to Erickson should be operating within the age of Generativity vs. Stagnation. Generativity versus stagnation is the seventh of eight stages of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. This stage takes place during middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65 yrs).
Psychologically, generativity refers to “making your mark” on the world through creating or nurturing things that will outlast an individual. During middle-age individuals experience a need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, creating positive changes that will benefit other people.
Those who fail to attain this skill will feel unproductive and uninvolved in the world. The question becomes, what can we boast of in Nigeria as a country. Which sector of development can we boldly say we are flourishing? This is a question to every Nigerian.
The case of Nigeria is becoming so pathetic that we can begin by saying that there is no way forward.
Because the foundation in which Nigeria rests seems to be like the Biblical parable of the wise and foolish builder in the Math 7:24-27. The question we must answer is “whether Nigeria is built on a rock or on the sand.” The answer to the above question is obviously made manifest on the many problems and crisis we experience and instability in every sector that we are surrounded by in Nigeria.
Twenty years ago, Nigeria celebrated her 40th independence and there was an argument on the hope of Nigeria judging from the famous Idiom “a fool at forty is a fool forever” The question then becomes since nothing is working out in Nigeria after she became 40 years, can we then say that Nigeria has no remedy again. Do we still have hope?
Nigeria at 60 has seen her most difficult period in the known history of Nigeria Poverty is at the hike, insecurity, infrastructural wreckage and devastating road network, frustrating school system, economic and financial crises and unmerited hardship, corruption has also become the other of the day. These and many other crises have really dealt a heavy blow in the lives of people in this our blessed country Nigeria. Hence, our blessings we have turned to a cause!
Nigeria is a nation blessed with milk and honey and many other natural products but all these riches have turned to a curse. Since my childhood, we Christians, have been offering prayers for Nigeria. We began with “a prayer for Nigeria in distress” and later ” Prayer against bribery and corruption” was added but it appears that nothing is working out. The distress is at the breaking point and corruption has become the way of life. We are then left to answer the question “Who did this to us?”
Looking at the Nigerian situation and how we pray to God it will look as if God does not answer prayers but may I ask; “what has God not done for us in Nigeria?”
God blessed us with good weather and then gave us a wonderful geography landscape and blessed our land with rich mineral resources. Unfortunately, all these blessings have turned to a cause because of Selfishness and foolishness. Selfish attitude, foolish and myopic reasoning have blinded us that we can no longer manage our blessing hence it turns out to be a curse because each person is busy greedily and selfishly filling his pockets voraciously without minding the effect.
Selfishness makes our leaders think that they have the need to store money that their 5th generation to come will spend and foolishness made them hide them in foreign countries impoverishment their own country. Many building unnecessary houses and making an investment that has zero benefits to Nigerians. The Nigerian government is a total failure. Nigeria at 60 has failed. All the past, present administrators have failed. Nigeria can not afford basic amenities at 60 sounds incredible. Hunger and poverty are quaking in many homes. Many people are roaming the streets without a home.
I will encourage each person to pray to God for Nigeria but I know that God has settled us. If you pay your sons school fees and he comes back asking for the same school fees, what response will you give to your son? You will always tell him that you have paid his school fees. I think that is the same response that God will be giving to us when we pray for blessings. I think all left to be done are in our hands. Let us wake up and face our challenges. Let every person voice out against the challenges and the bad effect of 60 years of bad governance in Nigeria. I child born on this day 60 years ago, has seen 60 years of corruption, suffering and disharmony. Finally, I pray to God to intervene in this problem facing the Nigerian nation. The predicament facing Nigeria is much and Nigeria at 60 is still a nightmare.