It's 4:18am and I can't sleep. I always thought I loved Nigeria but the truth is, I loved the idea of Nigeria. I really want to love and adore my country but it is so hard.
I opened twitter and searched the #NigerianIndependenceDay hashtag and my face and heart dropped. Every tweet I saw was declaring its love for Nigeria, talking about how Nigeria is such a wonderful country and praying, God bless Nigeria.
I'm on my bed wondering if I have missed something. Last year's Independence Day, on my twitter, I rambled on about how Nigeria is not where it's meant to be but is on its way. I professed my undying love and dedication to Nigeria. This year, today, I couldn't. Nigerians really need to stop deceiving themselves. I tweeted about how Nigeria needs to grow up and I got a random reply from somebody I don't know, telling me that no country achieved success overnight.
I am confused. Can't we see that we are in love with the idea of loving Nigeria? The people praying for God's blessings on Nigeria prayed that prayer probably since they could talk and will pray the same prayer every Independence Day till they die. God forbid, I'll sit and watch. The truth is, God has done his part for Nigeria, he has blessed us already with every good blessing. Nigeria has the natural resources and human capital to be one of the greatest countries in the world, yet our people wallow in abject poverty.
Thinking about Nigeria always makes me sad and evokes very strong emotions in me. Thinking about Nigeria on the 1st of October every year, breaks my heart. It is particularly painful because it is one day that many educated Nigerians take to the internet to say something about the country and a whole lot of them are saying the same, "I love my country" "God bless Nigeria" "Nigeria will get there".
I didn't even want to write anything about Nigeria today because I knew I didn't have anything new to say. But opening my twitter and seeing what Nigerians had to say about the country kept me awake in my bed. Maybe as the day progresses, the angry Nigerians will hit twitter. The Chibok girls are still missing and 50 per cent of the Nigerians claiming to love Nigeria on Twitter, have never left their state in Nigeria or been to other regions. It's so sad that we obviously desperately want to love our country but the government (present and past) have done little to help us love it. Thus once a year, on the first of October, we deceive ourselves that our very unwell and wicked country is loved and advancing.
This is how google sees Nigeria. In the words of Fela, suffering and smiling. Suffering and waving our flag seems more apt.
Dara, what exactly are you saying? The summary of my late night tossing and turnings today is, Nigeria needs to grow up. But as we all know, growing up is never easy.
With all my love,
Dara Rhodes
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