Nigeria: Your Broken Promises

Nigeria: Your

Broken Promises!

On Saturday, October 1st 1960:

Nigeria! Nigeria! Nigeria!

Where are the promises?

Promises! Promises! Promises!

you made before heavens,

vow before angels and

celestial hosts,

social contract you 

proclaimed.

Saturday October 1, 1960-

hope-you placed before millions

dreams-you made many dreamed 

vision you made uncountable 

envisioned.

On that sunny day,

Race Course-you rocked 

thunderous ovation rocked

four corners of the land;

thunder-Sango-the-god

of lightning emitted, 

sworn oath from you 

made Atlantic Ocean quiet.

Covenant before Nigerians 

for a better tomorrow

made Lagos Lagoon

disappeared,

promises upon promises

before fifty-six millions-

set a new beginning 

for the new nation.

Babies awaiting arrival,

generations still on coded 

DNA,

north, south, west, and east-

heard the pledge you made-

I shall lead you into the 

 “Promised Land.”

Fifty-seven years after,

Passengers’ train still at the station,

commercial flight still in tarmac

cruise ship on anchor,

passengers’ bus still waiting at

terminus,

commercial vehicle still 

loading at motor park,

okada, camel, and horse

riders are yet to take off;

waiting for traffic control

officer’s clearance.

Fifty-seven years ago,

you bonded-

Nigerians-

I shall give you quality 

education,

your schools shall be 

home and haven,

oasis of peace,

to raise, nurse, care, and 

nurture generations.

Six decades after,

ghost education 

you give-

education without character,

education lacking quality, 

education that can’t stand 

test of time,

education without 

tomorrow in view.

Today’s Realities:

Schools have become 

breeding centers for 

vices,

training grounds for

depravity,

Sodom upon which sin cities 

are built in larger societies.

Fifty-seven years ago,

Nigeria-you pledged-

delicacies belonging to 

kings,

your children shall eat,

wines and liquors serve to  

queens and nobles

they will drink with menu.

Water-yes-clean water

shall run in homes,

desert will turn wet land,

wet land will enjoy nature

year round,

never will be flood on our 

coast line,

forest shall never lack 

greenery scene,

wooded land shall remain 

so.

Fifty-seven years after,

nature-you abandoned-

land-you turned enemy,

water-you ignored.

Hunger and deprivations

inheritance-

you have bequeathed

to your children,

in poverty-they wallow,

hardship and penury,

clothes you place upon them.

Fifty-seven years ago, 

assurance-you gave-

generation after generation 

shall have access to

quality and free health care;

elderly, physically, and mentally 

challenged,

people of limited means

homeless, and vulnerable,

shall find succor in 

caring heart of combined

medical personnel and

facilities within length and 

breath of a new nation.

To these days,

several generations have not 

known,

what quality health care is,

rather dilapidated structures,

obsolete equipment,

scarcity of drugs, and 

dearth qualified health

personnel,

their share in the land

flowing with milk and honey.

Which Way Nigeria: 

Cured or abolished diseases

elsewhere-rule as king over 

your children,

epidemic curtailed elsewhere,

decimate your children without

pity,

advanced medical care enjoyed

elsewhere,

turns mirage in Nigeria;

common diseases forgotten

elsewhere,

ferociously unleash anger 

upon your children.

Decades ago,

Nigeria-you vowed-

every soul shall have 

roof over his head,

no sun shall scorch you,

no sweltering heat shall

overcome you.

No rain shall beat you,

no cold or winter shall

made you uncomfortable.

Nigeria-you vowed-

your pathways-

I shall make highways, 

footpaths to freeways,

trails and traces to

superhighway;

narrow pathways to 

multi-lanes carriage way,

bridges to arch, beam, 

cable-stayed, suspension, 

truss, and cantilever.

Several budgets and 

seven developmental plans-

uncountable relief and 

social programs you 

launched: the three “Rs”

Operation Feed the Nation,

Green Revolution,

MAMSER, Better Life for 

Rural Women, 

Petroleum Trust Funds, 

OMPADEC.

Today, your children are

no better than years ago,

death traps-roads you give them

to walk on,

sinking and erosion damaged 

roads-they travel daily,

collapsed bridges-gifts-

on roads-they travel.

Nigeria-you swore before 

my grand parents,

your sons shall have 

quality and well-paying jobs,

congenial business 

environment for entrepreneurs-

local and foreign,

decades after-no industrial blue

prints;

years after-no specific pathway-

for development,

all you know is crude oil,

your concern is apportionment of

oil wells.

If Niger-Deltans 

die of environmental 

degradation,

Bayelsans have no portable

water to drink, 

River State has no motor able

ways,

Cross-River and Akwa-Ibom 

live in shanties,

Delta, Edo, and Imo washed

away by erosion,

Ilaje-Ese-Odo/Okitipupa 

in Ondo State are cut off

from Nigeria.

As long as oil flows from the

rigs and platforms,

Nigerian landlords and their 

foreign collaborators smile 

to Euro-American banks,

So be it.

Jobs you have failed to 

provide for youth,

few available are already

gone,

industrial spirit 

spearheaded by 
private-ownership-you 

continue to muffle;

burden-you have become to

your citizens,

children have remained stunted

never wean from parents,

still their breasts-they suck.

Safety net for your 

children’s future you pledged,

happy future you promised,

unfortunately, many had gone 

to graves with pains and cry, 

squalor-most live now,

in poverty majority live,

gratuity and pension-

years after service,

many never receive. 

Security of life and property,

you assured our uncles, aunts,

fathers, mothers, grandparents,

their children would have

years ago;

today, paid “foreign herdsmen”

kidnappers, and thugs

have made death preferable

to life in neighborhood.

Nigeria: World is Watching.

With gargantuan security 

vote every year,

with daily recruitment of

security personnel,

with local and foreign

trainings provided 

security agencies-have

become insecure agencies-

partners of killer gangs and

mafia-

year-round pain to tax payers.

Collective ownership of

national institutions-

you proclaimed; 

Nigeria for NIGERIANS.

Nigeria shall be owned 

managed, and controlled  

by ALL Nigerians-

from west, east, south, and 

north,

no discrimination.

Promise-you made at 

Race Course years ago,

today-sectional or tribal 

ownership of patrimony

we see, 

religious favoritism-

in place of secularity 

you practice and promote.

Federal Character-

a balancing policy-of 

all-inclusive-Nigerians

in the scheme of things,

you have jettisoned,

use only when it favors you;

instead of four-cardinal 

geographical spread of

appointments and

developmental programs,

regional control-you prefer
and promote 

Freedom, liberty, and 

justice,

my ancestors never 

knew under colonial rule,

you vowed to give,

today, justice is delayed,

justice for the highest bidder,

freedom-you turned dee-form,

liberty-you turned-

cash and carry,

fairness-you define by

politics, personality, and policy.

Promises! Promises! Promises!

Where thou be?

Gone with winds at 

Race Course? 

Our heroes' deeds-

are they not in vain?

Our freedom fighters-

of what use their sacrifices?