From 1960
(if not 1914) Nigeria
has been running on generator. That’s at once an empirical,
profound and unassailable statement. There’s not one sector of our national
life today that would keep this country breathing one more second, if we shut
off the perennial, inevitable life support. There never was, yesterday and, the
way we’re going, there may never be, tomorrow.
God forbid! That’s
our habitual consolatory refrain, right? Wrong. I can no longer be consoled
with the silly daydream that Eldorado would fall on me, after I vehemently
elected to ignore the fact that heaven had empowered me to create it. That’s
the tragedy of our reality: Nigerians have what it takes to fix Nigeria but we
would rather she remained on life support forever.