A Nation of Amnesia, By ESOSA OSA
Over the last two decades, so many questions and problems have surfaced in Nigeria without any credible answer(s) as to why they happened and how such can be resolved.
When something happens, people will wail and wail, only for the passing of time to erase it from everyone’s mind.
If Nigeria were a teacher and its citizens were students, the ratio for questions asked and questions answered would be up to 90% to 10 % ratio. This is the sad reality we have faced and lived with everyday of our lives across the country.
As a teenager, I am extremely mortified at this manifest societal dysfunction, which has become a normal way of life to us as Nigerians.
Sadly, our leaders are taking undue advantage of this unfortunate situation, while doing whatever they like, knowing full well that the passage of time will make most Nigerians forget it. Even those who remember don’t bother to follow up on it anymore.
Some of the unanswered questions in recent times include but not limited to missing Chibok girls. Today, where are the remaining Chibok girls? As an oil-bearing country, why are we still importing petroleum products?
The most painful of the unanswered questions troubling my mind as a young man is the obvious attempt to ridicule education as a necessary tool for effective and efficient governance in any human society.
Why is a Secondary School Certificate, or its equivalent the minimum educational qualification to become the President of Nigeria?
This issue of the missing Chibok girls is one of the saddest things to have happened to this nation, when in April 2014, 272 Chibok girls were kidnapped by the terrorist group, Boko Haram.
When that disaster struck, people were hopeful that the national security intelligence agencies would be able to successfully rescue these kidnapped girls and wipe tears from their parents’ eyes.
But sadly, the intelligence agencies have not been able to locate and rescue the 112 remaining missing girls after the initial return of over 100 of them. We are happy with the ones that have been found and we mourn the ones that lost their lives in the process.
My only worry is that time is fast erasing the thoughts of advocating the rescue of the girls and I hope that one day, the river of tears currently flowing from the eyes of the affected parents of the missing girls will experience a miraculous drought. Indeed, I pray!
Why do we import petroleum products, even as the sixth largest “producer” of crude oil in the world? Nigeria remains the only member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, that imports petroleum products.
It is sad that when this country stands out for something, it is always for the negative. Nigeria’s importing fuel is like Jeff Bezos’ begging for alms on the streets of New York. It cannot happen, and it should never happen.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria spent N1.7 trillion on the importation of fuel in 2019. Now, how much do we need to build a new refinery? Someone somewhere must be benefitting from the seemingly unending fuel importation at the expense of the country.
This importation of petroleum products will likely continue till God knows when. But I urge the current administration to do whatever they can to solve this embarrassment that is turning into national disgrace.
If we need to build more refineries, then we build. We must do what we can to solve it now instead of continuing with the bad habit of new administrations inheriting more problems than the former.
I complained about this in my previous opinion article titled, “The Nigerian Dream”, and I will continue to complain. Why is the educational requirement for becoming a governor or the President of Nigeria very low?
Right now, the requirement is a West African Examinations Council, WAEC, Certificate or its equivalent, whatever that means. I know some people will disagree, but I think two of the major reasons most of our leaders perform poorly in office are inadequate exposure and education.
This is the reason we have produced leaders who are poor critical thinkers. The standard set will only foster the election of poor thinkers, thereby stunting the development of the nation.
I strongly admonish the Legislature to make a change to this law and increase the benchmark for the academic qualifications of those aspiring to the offices of governors and the President.
These are some of the unanswered questions troubling my mind as a Nigerian teenager. We have become a nation that forgets, at best we engage in selective remembrance. Truly, we are a nation of amnesia! The earlier our leaders provide answers to these questions and many more, and begin to remember those things that define us, the better they rekindle our hope in our country, Nigeria!
▪︎Esosa Osa is a student of Covenant University, in Ogun State, Nigeria.
