IN CASE YOU THINK WE FORGOT

In the past months, the news has turned itself to face with full attention, the dangerously growing cancer called the global financial crisis. Over the years, a series of both subtle and obvious events have occurred which have led to the exposition of a not-too-comfortable financial statement of the world’s economy. To combat this, various governments have reacted swiftly, trying in anyway possible to ensure that the effects of this financial challenges do not become unbearable for the common man. The already developed countries, with their experts and functional systems , seem to have arrived at a formula that ensures that with a few sacrifices, a lot of progress can be achieved. Multinationals may make mistakes, but these are quickly accommodated by a system that works.
In my country however, things are slightly different. Yes, the leadership admits that a problem exists; the countries commercial banks won’t lend to each other, those that lend to the street trader do so at interest rates that can do nothing but strangle the little life out of these SME’s, depositors now demand higher interests on their savings and as such a cold tension grips the air. The Naira shakes against other currencies constantly and job cuts seem to be the order of the day. Nothing is new though, as these are very common characteristics of a recessive economy. The developed countries were not built in a day. The United states has experienced a recession before and maybe has learnt a few tricks of the trade that the entire African continent is yet to comprehend.
Being a younger citizen in these times, I must say that my parents generation has not in any way impressed me. Where I cannot blame them for the current financial quagmire which we find ourselves, I can readily blame them for the sheer deceitfulness that seems to surround their generation. The deceitfulness that sees the members of our National assembly getting away with adjusting the 2009 appropriation bill suggested by the Executive arm of the government. For petes sake,fathers and mothers, allow me to ask if the portion of your memory that stored the horrors of the civil war has been so easily erased that you cannot see another pending disaster in the horizon. How do you begin to give account of your tenure so far? In the midst of this impending financial crash, the best that you can do is inflate budgetary figures of National assembly members from 64 billion to an alarming 111 billion? Do you know how many boreholes 5million naira can sink in communities that have not seen pipe borne water in decades or ever at all? Do you think that this is better spent in making the ‘representatives’ comfortable? Have you so much lost touch of the word on the streets? The crisis in homes of thousands of civil service workers who need to feed, clothe and shelter families on a minimum wage that is far less than your sitting allowance? Were our parents fast asleep when more than a trillion was being used to pay the entiletlments of public service office holders without a second thought ?
I am a child and as such I speak as a child, so I believe that I would require some form of deep understanding, which is currently possessed by my parents , to help me comprehend the reasons behind certain decisions. Enough of the ‘we would not understand’ theory that makes it seem like we all are dummies stupid and gullible enough to believe that this bunch actually represents the people. I say this because even at my tender age, I know better than to shatter the windows of my state house of assembly office in an obscene and violent tantrum, just in a bid to drive home a point. That behavior is not even acceptable by kindergarten standards. If I may ask; who is supposed to pay for those broken windows? Me? Myself and my taxpaying colleagues? Parents please tell us; what sort of system did you create? Or even better still, did you create a system at all? What we see in today’s Nigeria is a modus-operandi that evolved over time and has now been accepted as the norm. the problem is: the system, if it is existing at all, is not working. From PHCN to the NNPC, from the water board to the civil service, this system has done nothing but put more and more into the hands of those whom I refer to as the least deserving. My generation has no reading culture, lacks identity and worse still is taking after its predecessors in its lack of integrity.
Do we not have a conscience? Do we not learn lesson from those that came before us? For the few young men and women in my generation, who have been fortunate enough to get some form of occupation or the other, I am more than grateful. However, my heart bleeds for my classmates who rounded up studies the same year as I did, but have not been able to land a job as a clerk in a ministry. One can tell that something is wrong with a system when a job as a banker is considered a goldmine and the height of employment opportunities. Fathers and mothers, is this what you sent us to school for? to graduate, wander on the streets for years, end up at the mercy of political thugs and sponsors and pursue a career in professional kidnapping. or better still, to study hard at some of the still standing federal universities, come out with a degree and then fight tooth and nail to get out of the country like a curse awaits anyone who tries to build a Nigeria that is worth smiling upon. If so, why did you bring us here?
From generation to generation, the act of and art of deceit has continued to water down. For years the ‘system’ as we know it has continued to reproduce at a massive pace, slowly growing to become one massive landscape of disjointed, un-united and deeply corrupt entities. But like Malcolm gladwell has so rightly said before, a tipping point shall be reached when the cup tips over and its contents begin to gush out in an unprecedented and uncontrollable rush. Not even the high fences and flimsy personal ideas of our ill selected ‘leaders’ will be able to save our parents generation from the wrath of this rush. We still have time to act though, time to look back and retrace our steps, determine where it was we went wrong and right those wrongs but if this is not done, then the wrath of the children shall be visited on their parents. We must pray against these times, but more importantly, we must plan against them.Youth of Nigeria, you are talented, business oriented and full of energy. Let’s use this time wisely and develop ourselves. In good times and in bad, we shall reign supreme. Welcome to the future.