OH WHAT A TIME TO BE A NIGERIAN!

Peter denied being disciple of  Christ because the situation at that time was terrible and he felt playing safe was the best for him...oh what a time to be Christ's disciple! Perhaps, the situation at hand in our dear country is more scary than it was for Peter. We are getting ripped apart and nearly everyone felt more comfortable to associate with one's surname than bearing national image. Truly things are changing 'unfavourably'.

Where do we start from? The Politicians are milking us dry, the corruption in the land could make you feel they're Pharisee that Christ condemned. Economy is going down the cliff if not already in it. Naira was 0.765 to a US dollar when I was born and as of today it is 480 to one US dollar. Just like a Football commentator would like to say it; Oh what are you doing Nigeria! Businesses are shutting down, I wonder what Mark Zuckerberg would have thought when he was at the arrival wing of Murtala Mohammed international airport. The last time I checked, the escalator was not working. What really is our problem? What is wrong with being black?

Oh God of creation, direct our noble cause. The question is what is our noble cause? Stealing? "Mindlessness or directionlessness"? As Hon. Patrick would have it said; We have not really defined our noble cause or our perplexed situation that has birthed us, recession has really made us to lose focus on what our noble causes are. Oh what a time to be a Nigerian! Help our youth the truth to know. The youths are not really ready to know but to wail on Facebook that a youth like them turned to a business empire. We have become guests of honour at a pity party. So how do we move from here?

There's an interesting story in the bible. Governor Nehemiah was narrating how they fought recession and was able to build the wall of Jerusalem by attributing their success to one thing: 'so we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, FOR THE PEOPLE WORKED WITH ALL THEIR HEART. Neh 4:6'. At the last verse of the chapter he said, 'Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the Guards with me took off our clothes...even when he went for water'. That is our duty at this time, oh what a time to be a Nigerian.

We must be ready to work with all our heart. Tough times need tough decisions to make things right. Recession time is not time to sell assets but time to build, time to communicate positively, time not to play politics with our development as political parties are doing. We need to work with all our heart and do away with nepotism, not being divided along ethnicity nor religion. If you bomb any national asset in your locality because you are upset or felt cheated, nobody would suffer more for it than your kids you would later raise in that environment. We have to be wise how we handle situation. Let us help our economy and not rely solely on government.

We need to be more compatriot and work with all our heart. We have everything at our disposal to effect the turnaround we desire. We will work with all our heart and generation yet unborn will bless our memories for creating a beautiful, prosperous nation for them. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY NIGERIA.


ODUNMORAYO OLALEKAN MATTHEW
AUTHOR AND SPEECH WRITER