I believe that the creator of everything has a purpose for all the emotions he put into us as human beings. Some of these emotions are love, hate, anger, anxiety, pride, shame, and so on. All these emotions must be present before anyone is considered a complete human being.
The nation Nigeria is considered an independent entity under the law; an entity that can sue and be sued. As such, it is expected to exhibit emotions just like a human being.
I have seen the pride of the Nigerian state in 1996, when the national football team won the Olympic gold medal. It was glorious. Every Nigerian grew taller that night as Nigeria stood tall in the comity of nations. My head nearly exploded with pride when I saw other nationals display flags which read “Respect the giant of Africa” and other such inscriptions.
I have also seen the anxiety of Nigeria when our president, Musa Yar’adua was sick. The mood of the nation was very clear. We prayed and whispered our fears and suspicions to each other until our worst fear was confirmed.
I have seen the love and care of Nigeria in moments of grief such as the numerous air crashes that took many lives, the Boko Haram carnages, the road crashes among other mishaps. At such times Nigeria usually shows some love, even though not as much as the occasion demands.
I see the shame of Nigeria whenever her citizens are reported to have died in deserts in the desperate bid to get into foreign lands. I see the shame of Nigeria when it is reported that her citizens spend days sleeping on the bare floor at the various embassies just to get visas that will enable them run away from their homeland.
I see the shame of Nigeria when we hear that her citizens are maltreated in virtually every other country and accused of every manner of misconduct, sometimes, justifiably. I see the shame of Nigeria when she is still counted as a needy country in spite of her enormous wealth. The fact that Nigeria must beg for and receive foreign aid before she can immunize her citizens against illnesses is a source of shame. The fact that her aged citizens are subjected to untold hardship is awful. I see the shame of the nation when her citizens have to travel abroad to access reliable health care. I felt the shame of Nigeria when a foreign doctor describes the schools we describe as high-profile here as not fit to be approved for poultry keeping in her country. I am not sure Nigeria as an entity has the capacity to feel shame.
Shame is antithetical to pride. When a human person feels ashamed of anything, there are two possible reactions depending of the personality make-up of the fellow. He will either go further into the depression that goes with shame or spring up from that pit and get angry at the situation. Remaining in depression in such a situation is a sign of defeat. It shows that the person has been weighed down and may not be able to recover his confidence and poise ever again. However, getting angry is a sign that the person is ready to change certain things to ensure that the cause of that shame is removed completely.
Although some people believe that anger serves no useful purpose, that view is obviously not based on facts. Anger actually energizes people towards achieving great goals. A student whose grades are very low may remain at that level until he gets angry and decides to tackle those factors that have kept his grades low. An Igbo proverb says that a young man must get so angry and act like a mad fellow before his kinsmen will see the need to get a wife for him.
I believe that one of the reasons why Nigeria remains the way it is is that as an entity, she has not yet become angry. I expect Nigeria to rise out of the pit of shame and depression and wax hot and angry at those conditions that have kept her citizens in the valley of despair for too long.
Nigeria should get angry at the rate at which her citizens desire to run away from her to embrace another mother. Even when these strange, foreign mothers treat them like animals, they still cling to them, preferring to die in a foreign land than live in their mother land. Nigeria should get angry at the poor quality of education her citizens receive. She should get angry that fifty six years after independence, she has not been able to design a curriculum that addresses her peculiar conditions and needs. She should be angry that she still has to fall back on the leftover of the colonial administration; the kind of education that produces non-practical and abstract graduates who are best at speaking empty grammar. Nigeria should be angry that she has not been able to set up and organize universities that will raise future leaders. All she can boast of are institutions that turn young people into vermin under the supervision of vampire lecturers.
Nigeria should not only get angry but go mad at the absurdity of having to import refined oil from other countries even when she is one of the greatest producers of crude oil in the world. It has gone beyond national shame. It should become a national craze; the kind of craze that will spur the Nigerian state into action. Nigeria should get so angry that all borders should be closed to petroleum importation. Let the citizens walk on foot if they must but let it be that our refineries are activated to full capacity so that all petroleum products will be produced here and the excess exported to other nations. Nigeria should be angry that while oil prices are crashing in other countries, her citizens have to buy fuel at cut-throat rates.
I expect Nigeria to get angry about her dumping ground status. She is known by other nations as a consumer state. This status makes her the destination of every imaginable product, especially the fake and useless ones. These other nations know that Nigeria does not encourage local production of commodities, and is ready to import everything, including the very simple ones like tooth picks, so they take advantage of this sorry situation to dump their waste on our shores. This nation should be angry that her citizens are short-changed daily, made to pay for things that will not serve them because they have no alternative than to buy things that have found their way into their land, including fake drugs that quickly open the gateway into the grave.
Nigeria should get angry that there is no hospital that is good enough to treat her leaders within her borders. Is it not embarrassing that governors, presidents, senators and other political leaders jet out of the country to do simple medical check-ups periodically? Should Nigeria not be able to equip at least one hospital in each of the six geo-political zones or even one in each state of the federation such that all the facilities that exist in those foreign hospitals will be available in them?
When we consider that most of them get to be treated in these foreign hospitals by Nigerian doctors and nurses, we just wonder what is wrong with Nigeria.
I will like to see Nigeria rise in hot anger to address these and many more issues. It is a task for the leaders holding sway now. The citizens are angry and are willing to co-operate with them but it is their duty to activate the anger mode of the Nigerian state so that she can unleash her energies and effect positive change in all areas that have hitherto brought her shame.
Nnenna Ihebom
