Nigeria @ 65: The 65th Anniversary Of Confusion

 Nigeria @ 65: The 65th Anniversary Of Confusion Nigeria has turned 65, and like an old man who spent his youth chasing shadows, we are aske...

 Nigeria @ 65: The 65th Anniversary Of Confusion

Nigeria has turned 65, and like an old man who spent his youth chasing shadows, we are asked to clap for a country that has perfected the art of going nowhere very fast. They say at 65, wisdom should be dripping from your gray hairs, but Nigeria at 65 still crawls like a toddler in borrowed diapers.

Tell me, what exactly are we celebrating? Is it the confusion that greets every election like masquerades at a village square? Or perhaps the judiciary that twists the law the way a roadside akara seller twists akara balls in hot oil? Maybe we are to clap for INEC—the “Independent” National Electoral Commission—that is independent only in incompetence.

Nigeria at 65 has achieved a PhD in corruption, with professors of looting graduating every election cycle. Insecurity is the national anthem, poverty is the national pledge, and citizens are the unpaid actors in a tragic comedy. While other nations at 65 are writing memoirs of development, we are still drafting excuses for why the light goes off when you are ironing your shirt to attend interview for a job you may never get.

Oh, but do not forget that Nigerian leaders will wear agbada and roll out drums, telling Nigerians that are “the giant of Africa.” Yes, the giant that sleeps while pygmies run marathons. The only thing giant about the country is the appetite for mediocrity and corruption.

So let us raise a toast to 65 years of uncompleted projects, 65 years of recycled politicians, 65 years of promises sweeter than honey but bitterer than aloe. Nigeria at 65, but a country that has mastered the dance of one step forward, then ten steps backward.

Happy anniversary confusion , Nigeria. The world claps, not in admiration, but in wonder at how a nation can celebrate nothing with so much enthusiasm.

Family Writers Press International