EATDEPENDENCE

Over a decade ago, the whole neighbourhood in which I lived in was thrown into darkness. This lasted for a whole year, it all started when our transformer blew up and stopped generating power. All efforts to make the government then in power provide a new one proved abortive. Within that year a lot of people moved to another neighbourhood, I don’t know what held my parents back. it was a year of candles and lanterns all night, only a few people were privileged to own a generator , which was so rare then.
The only times we took cold water or drinks was when mum bought iced block from the other part of town, we resorted to sun drying as our major means of preservation of perishable foods.it was like living in a village. Now when I look back, I began to wonder, how did we survive a whole year in darkness? Again this same incidence repeated itself when we moved to our new neighbourhood, that lasted for well over a year, about a year and 7months. A lot of people went beserk, we couldn’t abandon our own house and move.
About 2years ago and just recently as well , two people I know died, they were involved in ghastly road accidents, rushed to the hospital but where left unattended to in darkness and in an overcrowded room. They needed to pay for even first aid in a general hospital I suppose.


A nurse I know complained of buying rechargeable lanterns for the hospital where she works, to aid the nurses on night duty take deliveries and run the affairs of the hospital, a government hospital. Some times they even had to get money for fuel from the patient who could afford it.
What about our educational system, I hate to think of the fact that the average Nigerian graduate is not fully equipped as should be, infact like a friend of mine said the average Nigerian graduate today irrespective of grade is about 35years backwards just because our curriculums have remained the same. Our lecturers give out what the were taught decades back, we don’t know practical but theory, cramming and theory .if you are now so unlucky has to come from a very, very humble background, you are done for, no education even if it is half baked for you.Afterall as much as they declare free education scheme, education is still not free! A lot of these people, illiterates and semi – illiterates drop out, get into crime, girls get impregnated , further poverty and lives are ruined.
One would have thought all these existed in the past, but looking at the situation today, nothing has changed still. Except that now almost every house possesses a generator which has turned out to be the messiah for so many businesses and then a lot of people have learned to live with the hardship and abnormalities in all the other sectors too. Such that we don’t even know what is normal anymore. Everyday of our lives we are affected one way or the other by the selfish and terrible decisions our leaders and rulers make either consciously or unconsciously. We leave our houses everyday hoping that each new day will be better than the previous; hoping that our daily hustles is fruitful and blessed by a handsome reward.
Hoping that bad, tattered and untarred roads we tread daily leads us to greatness, luck and fulfillment. But many return disappointed.


We have so much learnt in this country to make do with what we have, to make the best of every unfavorable circumstances and situations and still survive. We are indeed a great people I must say but if things continue this way, I doubt we’d be able to keep up with the consequences of remaining stagnant in development as a nation.
If we continue to face the same challenges, address the same issues and problems every year then we are headed for more frustration, more vices and probably destruction. I wonder how we have managed to survive till now, God knows.
I know that I should proffer or suggest what I feel in my opinion is the solution to all of these, at least that is what a lot of people have been doing and it still seems fruitless but then what I ask myself what really is the way out? How do we overcome? When ?Either our leaders are too selfish to think straight or they lack right advisors or probably we are suffering as a punishment for the sins of the past committed by the nation. Or maybe it is just that we still haven’t gotten independence like we thought we got 54 years back.


I still haven’t and won’t give up on this country, I know that too much time has been wasted awaiting the desired change but I believe and know that it will come.
Browny