Nigeria on the Crucible

It was Theodore Roosevelt who once said that 'There comes a time in the life of a nation, as in the life of an individual, when it must face great responsibilities, whether it will or not. We have now reached that time.' The time Roosevelt refereed to is so apt that failure to act has the potency to plunge the next generation into despair.

It is cliche that there are so many issues bedeliving our nation today. It is also true that we are a people forged by perennial and untold hardship, that have made us resilent; too resilent in fact, that it has toiled with our collective senses.

Amidst the heightened political climate, the nation celebrates her 58 years of independence. With only two years to it becoming six decades of self rule, we find ourselves singing the same song, grappling with familiar spirits and contending with ominious signs. Beyond the political hysteria of the PDP potential presidential candidate, the chronicled travails of Ambode in Lagos politics, the intrigues of the just concluded Osun governorship election and the many political sub-plots across various states, this is the time to purge ourselves of sentiments, maintain a clear head and show an unadulterated conscience. It has been said and not without reason that politicians are at the bane of our national plight for many years. Nigerians must refuse to be blind acolytes to any political stalwart or flawed interest. We must speak up and act, away from the comfort of tweets and Facebook posts. There comes a time when what is needed is not just rhetoric, but boots on the ground. Everyone must take a position, realizing that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. For there comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.

The elites of society must also snap out of their docility, for to think one is rich in the midst of squalor is delusional. The story of Nigeria's increasing poverty populace is one that should give the so called middle class and elites sleepless nights. In today's Nigeria, the inequality gulf is so sharp and wide. The very rich live side by side with the very poor. This is a time bomb. For one day when the poor has nothing to eat, he will eat the rich.

To end with the words of Martin Luther King Jnr, 'There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.' In the final narrative, Nigeria does not need new heros. We have had and still have enough of them. What is required is for us to recover our collective senses, accept the home truth that we have been passive and ruled by petty interests for too long, and act to change the tide. The 2019 general elections provide us with an opportunity.