SUMMARY OF NIGERIA's HISTORY TO DATE (as compiled from @Chxta's Timeline)
There was a country...
1905: The British government bought a total area of just over 900,000 sq km from the Royal Niger Company. Cost: £845,000.
1910: A report was sent to London indicating that for three years running, the Northern part had failed to meet its production quotas.
1910: same report also pointed out that the Southern part had exceeded its production quotas by a factor of three in the same period.
1913: The decision was taken to merge the Southern and Northern parts for "administrative convenience".
1914: Nigeria was born.
1960: Having "been together" for 46 years, the Nigerians petitioned the British parliament for independence. Their plea was granted.
1963: Nigeria nominally severed ties with the UK by becoming a "Republic". Our politicians still took instructions from London.
1964: Western region descended into chaos as a fight between the regions two leading lights, Awolowo and Akintola went national.
1966: Frustrated at the bullshit from the Feds, six young army officers, five of them Igbo, conducted a bloody putsch.
1966: Other army officers, angered at the pattern of killings in the earlier coup started a reprisal which went beyond the army. 30,000 die.
1967: Embittered by the injustice of the previous year, members of the Igbo ethnic group main victims of 1966's second putsch, seceded.
1967-1970: Civil war. The Igbos were soundly defeated. War crimes committed by both sides, but more by the Feds.
1970: Despite claims of "no victor, no vanquished", Igbos were dealt an economic knock out punch, £20 in return for all your money.
1972-1974: Nationalisation of foreign owned companies in Nigeria. A lot of Nigeria's "old money" was made here. Rise of super perm-sec.
1975: third putsch, bloodless. Entire civil service leadership retired on the whim of the new leader. THIS IS THE EVENT THAT DESTROYED US.
1976: much loved and dynamic, but temperamental new leader assassinated on his way to work in Lagos traffic.
1977: FESTAC event held. Another example of the monumental waste that is our country's culture.
1979: rushed return to democracy. A clueless and weak school teacher is installed as President on a hastily thought up "2/3" majority.
1979: were it not for the 2/3 business, we'd have had a financial genius who for all his many faults, was "the best president we never had"
1979-1983: our economy went into free fall. The weakness of the man at the centre meant that government officially became a bazaar.
1983: second experiment at democracy was truncated. The new man in charge was fresh from chasing insurgents 50km into Chad.
1984: The new man promulgated WAI, and decree 4 to prevent criticism of government. IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT NIGERIANS FORGOT HOW TO THINK.
1985: The WAI brigade was kicked out by the gap toothed one. He made "populist" gestures on assuming power. Released all treasury looters.
1986: the gap toothed one had his best friend executed. IT WAS THIS MOVE THAT THOUGHT NIGERIANS HOW TO BE RUTHLESS.
1990: some naive young officers tried to unseat the gap toothed one. They failed because they were naive. All of them were shot.
1993: after years of dribbling, the gap toothed one finally organised an election. The best we've had till date. Then he deleted the result.
1993: unable to face the pressure that accompanied his action, the gap-toothed one "stepped aside".
1993: the replacement to the gap-toothed one was the dark goggled one. Unlike gap-tooth, he did not feel a need to be liked.
1993-1998: some say this was the darkest period in Nigeria's history. What is unarguable is that during this period, Nigerians learned fear.
1998: the dark goggle one died suddenly. Nigeria began a journey towards something resembling a democracy.
1999-date: Nigeria has been slipping. And our society has gone from bad to worse. The only thing better than 93-98 is that I can type this.
What is unarguable from this brief history lesson is that too many people have gotten away with murder in this country.
As things stand, people who have raped our country have been left scot free. So where are the lessons for our kids to learn?
Our national motto says "Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress". I make bold to say that we have not one of the four in our country.
Too many people see themselves as Igbo, before Nigerian. As Hausa before Nigerian. As Yoruba before Nigerian. As "Minority" before Nigerian.
Heck, our cowardly President said of a bunch of insurgents, "They are my people." He made that statement on October 2, 2010, after a bombing.
There you go, there is no unity.
Our President's wife was ill. She went to hospital in #Germany. Our Minister of Petroleum needed to remove her appendix, she went to #UK
Our Senate President needed treatment, he went to #Isreal. Not one of them has kids that are entirely Nigerian schooled.
To be fair to them, I had to finish my own schooling outside of Nigeria because of a lack of faith in the system.
That explains the "faith" part of our motto, there is none.
In our country, there has been a low intensity conflict in one section or the other since the first mass killings of Igbos in 1954.
EVERY single year has seen a large group of people killed somewhere with nothing done to bring the perps to book.
The Nigerian police kill more people per annum than any of the insurgent groups in the country.
As Abagana, Maisatine, Asaba, Odi, will tell you, the Nigerian Army is an equal opportunity brutaliser.
We have had a low intensity conflict in the Niger Delta since 2003, and it has by no means ended.
We have had a low intensity conflict in our North-East quadrant, and it has begun to intensify.
These and a lot of others take care of the "Peace" part of our motto. There is no peace.
This year, 39% of our students passed their SSCE exams. The best results in six years.
Our own National Bureau of Statistics only last week told us that 67 million young Nigerians are unemployed. That's 40% of all Nigerians.
The NBS stats do not include older Nigerians, so it is safe to assume that as a base, Nigeria's unemployment rate is above 40%.
Only yesterday, our Minister of State for Education said that there are 40 million illiterate Nigerians. That is more than 20% of population.
Can someone please say what to do with 40 million illiterates? I like to think that I am intelligent and have ideas, but frankly, I'm lost.
At the beginning of this week, between 20 and 50 students were killed. What has become obvious is that it was a Student Union thing.
Killing over the leadership of a school? These are our future leaders?
To be honest, I can pull a lot more of these stats out of my arse, I have PLENTY of them. But I guess these few take care of the "Progress"
Forget whatever our President said on October 1, WE ARE NOT MAKING PROGRESS, we are retrogressing.
When you stand still, the rest of the world moves forward, and because of errors due to parallax, you regress.
In our own case, we are not regressing based on errors of parallax, WE ARE RUNNING BACKWARDS.
On 05-06-2012, a mob killed some young men based on a mere suspicion of theft. And some IDIOTS recorded cold-blooded murder on their mobiles in 2012.
That incident alone shows that the mentality is still very much stuck in 1429.
For #Nigeria, "Unity and faith, peace and progress" is a waste of our time.
We live in a country where military chiefs were appointed, and the first question in most of the papers was about their states. NO UNITY.
We live in a country where the leadership travel abroad for treatment when they have cramps. There is NO FAITH.
We live in a country where there has been a low intensity conflict for over a decade now. There is NO PEACE.
We live in a country that has an unemployment rate of at least 40% and where at least 20% of the population can't read or write. NO PROGRESS.
We live in a country where our law is not fair. Our courts are a bazaar available to the highest bidder.
We live in a country where footballers call God 12 times in 20 seconds, but lie about their ages.
We live in a country that killed its attorney-general, and the killers have not been caught. A DECADE LATER.
We MUST tell ourselves the truth. We MUST. Nigeria needs a complete overhaul, and that price must be paid in blood. Nigeria needs JUSTICE.
(Culled from @Chxta Bee's Timeline)
THIS IS 2013, now think, think Nigeria, think Nigerians..
There was a country...
1905: The British government bought a total area of just over 900,000 sq km from the Royal Niger Company. Cost: £845,000.
1910: A report was sent to London indicating that for three years running, the Northern part had failed to meet its production quotas.
1910: same report also pointed out that the Southern part had exceeded its production quotas by a factor of three in the same period.
1913: The decision was taken to merge the Southern and Northern parts for "administrative convenience".
1914: Nigeria was born.
1960: Having "been together" for 46 years, the Nigerians petitioned the British parliament for independence. Their plea was granted.
1963: Nigeria nominally severed ties with the UK by becoming a "Republic". Our politicians still took instructions from London.
1964: Western region descended into chaos as a fight between the regions two leading lights, Awolowo and Akintola went national.
1966: Frustrated at the bullshit from the Feds, six young army officers, five of them Igbo, conducted a bloody putsch.
1966: Other army officers, angered at the pattern of killings in the earlier coup started a reprisal which went beyond the army. 30,000 die.
1967: Embittered by the injustice of the previous year, members of the Igbo ethnic group main victims of 1966's second putsch, seceded.
1967-1970: Civil war. The Igbos were soundly defeated. War crimes committed by both sides, but more by the Feds.
1970: Despite claims of "no victor, no vanquished", Igbos were dealt an economic knock out punch, £20 in return for all your money.
1972-1974: Nationalisation of foreign owned companies in Nigeria. A lot of Nigeria's "old money" was made here. Rise of super perm-sec.
1975: third putsch, bloodless. Entire civil service leadership retired on the whim of the new leader. THIS IS THE EVENT THAT DESTROYED US.
1976: much loved and dynamic, but temperamental new leader assassinated on his way to work in Lagos traffic.
1977: FESTAC event held. Another example of the monumental waste that is our country's culture.
1979: rushed return to democracy. A clueless and weak school teacher is installed as President on a hastily thought up "2/3" majority.
1979: were it not for the 2/3 business, we'd have had a financial genius who for all his many faults, was "the best president we never had"
1979-1983: our economy went into free fall. The weakness of the man at the centre meant that government officially became a bazaar.
1983: second experiment at democracy was truncated. The new man in charge was fresh from chasing insurgents 50km into Chad.
1984: The new man promulgated WAI, and decree 4 to prevent criticism of government. IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT NIGERIANS FORGOT HOW TO THINK.
1985: The WAI brigade was kicked out by the gap toothed one. He made "populist" gestures on assuming power. Released all treasury looters.
1986: the gap toothed one had his best friend executed. IT WAS THIS MOVE THAT THOUGHT NIGERIANS HOW TO BE RUTHLESS.
1990: some naive young officers tried to unseat the gap toothed one. They failed because they were naive. All of them were shot.
1993: after years of dribbling, the gap toothed one finally organised an election. The best we've had till date. Then he deleted the result.
1993: unable to face the pressure that accompanied his action, the gap-toothed one "stepped aside".
1993: the replacement to the gap-toothed one was the dark goggled one. Unlike gap-tooth, he did not feel a need to be liked.
1993-1998: some say this was the darkest period in Nigeria's history. What is unarguable is that during this period, Nigerians learned fear.
1998: the dark goggle one died suddenly. Nigeria began a journey towards something resembling a democracy.
1999-date: Nigeria has been slipping. And our society has gone from bad to worse. The only thing better than 93-98 is that I can type this.
What is unarguable from this brief history lesson is that too many people have gotten away with murder in this country.
As things stand, people who have raped our country have been left scot free. So where are the lessons for our kids to learn?
Our national motto says "Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress". I make bold to say that we have not one of the four in our country.
Too many people see themselves as Igbo, before Nigerian. As Hausa before Nigerian. As Yoruba before Nigerian. As "Minority" before Nigerian.
Heck, our cowardly President said of a bunch of insurgents, "They are my people." He made that statement on October 2, 2010, after a bombing.
There you go, there is no unity.
Our President's wife was ill. She went to hospital in #Germany. Our Minister of Petroleum needed to remove her appendix, she went to #UK
Our Senate President needed treatment, he went to #Isreal. Not one of them has kids that are entirely Nigerian schooled.
To be fair to them, I had to finish my own schooling outside of Nigeria because of a lack of faith in the system.
That explains the "faith" part of our motto, there is none.
In our country, there has been a low intensity conflict in one section or the other since the first mass killings of Igbos in 1954.
EVERY single year has seen a large group of people killed somewhere with nothing done to bring the perps to book.
The Nigerian police kill more people per annum than any of the insurgent groups in the country.
As Abagana, Maisatine, Asaba, Odi, will tell you, the Nigerian Army is an equal opportunity brutaliser.
We have had a low intensity conflict in the Niger Delta since 2003, and it has by no means ended.
We have had a low intensity conflict in our North-East quadrant, and it has begun to intensify.
These and a lot of others take care of the "Peace" part of our motto. There is no peace.
This year, 39% of our students passed their SSCE exams. The best results in six years.
Our own National Bureau of Statistics only last week told us that 67 million young Nigerians are unemployed. That's 40% of all Nigerians.
The NBS stats do not include older Nigerians, so it is safe to assume that as a base, Nigeria's unemployment rate is above 40%.
Only yesterday, our Minister of State for Education said that there are 40 million illiterate Nigerians. That is more than 20% of population.
Can someone please say what to do with 40 million illiterates? I like to think that I am intelligent and have ideas, but frankly, I'm lost.
At the beginning of this week, between 20 and 50 students were killed. What has become obvious is that it was a Student Union thing.
Killing over the leadership of a school? These are our future leaders?
To be honest, I can pull a lot more of these stats out of my arse, I have PLENTY of them. But I guess these few take care of the "Progress"
Forget whatever our President said on October 1, WE ARE NOT MAKING PROGRESS, we are retrogressing.
When you stand still, the rest of the world moves forward, and because of errors due to parallax, you regress.
In our own case, we are not regressing based on errors of parallax, WE ARE RUNNING BACKWARDS.
On 05-06-2012, a mob killed some young men based on a mere suspicion of theft. And some IDIOTS recorded cold-blooded murder on their mobiles in 2012.
That incident alone shows that the mentality is still very much stuck in 1429.
For #Nigeria, "Unity and faith, peace and progress" is a waste of our time.
We live in a country where military chiefs were appointed, and the first question in most of the papers was about their states. NO UNITY.
We live in a country where the leadership travel abroad for treatment when they have cramps. There is NO FAITH.
We live in a country where there has been a low intensity conflict for over a decade now. There is NO PEACE.
We live in a country that has an unemployment rate of at least 40% and where at least 20% of the population can't read or write. NO PROGRESS.
We live in a country where our law is not fair. Our courts are a bazaar available to the highest bidder.
We live in a country where footballers call God 12 times in 20 seconds, but lie about their ages.
We live in a country that killed its attorney-general, and the killers have not been caught. A DECADE LATER.
We MUST tell ourselves the truth. We MUST. Nigeria needs a complete overhaul, and that price must be paid in blood. Nigeria needs JUSTICE.
(Culled from @Chxta Bee's Timeline)
THIS IS 2013, now think, think Nigeria, think Nigerians..
Sigh
ReplyDeleteOne day na one day. There's no way Nigeria can change without some people having to gooooooooooo.
ReplyDeleteha Atilola, you know its true the price of freedoom is always blood, didn't Jesus have to die to set us free?.. happy new year to you Da injurer!
Delete