THE STATE OF NIGERIA

It’s a pity that it had to take hundreds of Nigerians losing their lives to act as a wake up call for me and I hope other Nigerians. Nigeria is on the brink of real disaster. Have u ever said “when I return to Nigeria I would like to do something positive”, “how I miss home”, “how I wish I could do something for my country”. Well what has been stopping you? Its honestly not easy to help Nigerians, everyone is under suspicion of trying to defraud u. now is our chance to make a difference and do something that really counts. To help the less fortunate, those who are suffering and make a big difference in someone's life.  Being charitable is not a Christian thing. It is a human thing. Look into your self and ask what u have done for your country. And if you feel you have done something was it enough. The fact that u can read this means u have email access or u know someone who does. Which means u can afford more than most other Nigerians can.

Many Nigerians now look on their passports with embarrassment. If you travel a lot, when you go and get a visa you’ll understand why. People world over do not trust us and live in fear of being duped or defrauded by Nigerians. The fact is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to do something for a country that does absolutely nothing for you but give you a bad name. But as Martin Luther King said ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. He was talking about the US of course but I think what he said can be applied all over the world. Whether you are living in your country or not, whether you were born there or not, for most of us Nigeria is our mother land. Not foreign shore who have adopted us on paper. We all seem to be doing so well for foreign countries that don’t really need our help and forgetting where we are needed most to make a difference.

We cannot fully imagine how it must be for those who are truly suffering, prostitutes with no other choice, orphans with no where to go, drug addicts who are just waiting to die from their habit, aids victims with no suitable drugs or treatment, homeless people with protection form external factors, the list is endless. We live sheltered lives away from all this and funny enough it’s the international news that brings what is happening in our own country to our attention. I’ve been into work too many times with people telling me what other butchery ahs gone on in Nigeria before I heard about it myself. Its sad and disturbing and in our usual way we seem to be taking it as a fact of life. As if our situation cant be helped. That is so untrue. There must be something all of us can do to make a difference.

The Day I will NEVER forget!

Sunday January 27th could have been any other Sunday. At about 4.30pm just before the first explosions went off, people were either at home relaxing just before the start of another work week, at their churches for evening fellowship, or out with friends or family. I was on the football field watching my boyfriend and his friends play, something I’ve done almost every Sunday evening for the past 2 years so I didn't think this Sunday was going to be any different until the buildings around us started vibrating and we heard explosions coming from only God knows where. No one knew what was going on and the rumors circulating didn't make matters any better.

The first of such was that there had been a coup and all the army cantonments were being bombed (which in retrospect doesn't make any sense). The second was that Osama bin laden had been hiding in Nigeria with the knowledge of the government so the Americans were bombing us! Yet another was that the Cameroonian government was attacking us because of the dispute over the Bakassi peninsula. Such were the rumors and even greater was the panic. We later got to find out that apparently, a fire had somehow started at the armament dump in the Ikea military Cantonment which in turn set off all the bombs and missiles. It was easy for me so far away from the general direction of the explosions to actually laugh at the absurdity of the rumors we heard but for those who actually lived next to the Ikeja Military cantonment, the rumors were as real as the missiles flying past their heads and the bombs falling into their compounds and who could blame them?

In a bid to escape the "coup plotters" or "American Militia" whichever seemed more real to them At the time, over a thousand people jumped to their deaths at the Oke-Afa canal somewhere between Oshodi and Ajao estate in Isolo. One picture I will never be able to erase from my mind is that of a pregnant woman with a baby strapped to her back just after being pulled out of the canal, just as dead as the bodies around her. Panic and pandemonium were the order of that evening.People were confused and scared not knowing where to run, others lost their brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, grandmothers in the panic and the "area boys" seized the opportunity to unleash terror on the already terrorized souls. They rape, attacked and robbed people too helpless to do anything. Most people driving were too scared to take the third mainland bridge, which is the more popular connection between the mainland and the island for fear of its collapse. While others trekked for unheard of kilometers just to get away from the mayhem. Some people actually trekked to the Ojota Motor Park and boarded buses going as far away as Kano and Kaduna! And in all of this, there was a communication breakdown. All radio stations with the exception of Rhythm 93.7 were playing music like nothing was going on.

To then add salt to a fast festering wound, our wonderful governor Bola Tinubu had the gall to come out on air later in the evening to say that he was alright and so was the president and so there was no need to fear. God knows if I had him in my sights at that moment, I would have done something psychotic. Who cared if he was okay or not? People were littering the streets like debris and we were being told everything was okay? One female caller on Rhythm 93.7 could not have said it any better when she said to tell the governor and his commissioner for health that "ori won o pe!" What kind of government places an arms dump right in the middle of where people live? As bad as things are now, I can only thank God that the bombs didn't go off the following day (Monday) for there are about 6 schools located within the cantonment and There would have been so many people at work and yet even more people on the streets- the Death toll would have been better left to the imagination. Right now there are still so many people missing. Some families have been completely wiped out, some fathers are still searching for their wives and children, wives looking for their husbands or children, children their parents, brothers their sisters.....it just goes on and is terribly disheartening. As if being made refugees in their own country is not enough, to further add to their misery, the red-cross that had been helping them had their ware house burnt by person or persons unknown destroying medical supplies.

The donations that have been pouring in totaling God knows how many millions of Naira are yet to find their way to the people for who the donations were made in the first place-another case of sleazy, greedy, soulless morons whose only thought is enriching themselves at the expense of the less fortunate. They delight in the misery of others. God knows I want so much to believe that something good will come out of this country but when your president visits a recently bombed site with people scared and hurt that they've lost loved ones and their homes and his best response is: "Shut up! I don't need to be here" then a lot has to say for our priorities. To those who were somehow affected by the bomb blasts, I sincerely sympathize with you and to the rest of us, please say a prayer for those who died, those in mourning and those that have been maimed for life-mentally or physically.