Nigeria, The Enigma – How Can There Be War & Peace At The Same Time?
Please, please, please come to Lagos with me this summer!” I begged my best friend, Emma who is British. “I have a swimming pool in my house and you can see how amazing Nigeria is,” I added, desperately trying to persuade her. Emma shook her head firmly again and replied. “I can’t Dara. It’s not safe. Even if I wanted to, my parents won’t let me because going to Nigeria is like going to Iraq or Syria. You know, it’s a dangerous place.” Her reply hit me like a slap and long after the conversation ended, her words remained etched on my mind like stubborn wine stains on a white shirt.
That chat happened many years ago when I was a 13 year old in an all girls boarding school in England but after doing a quick search for Nigeria on Google this morning, it hit me like a fresh slap again. Emma was very right. As a white girl who had only been to the finest countries in the world, Nigeria must have seemed like Iraq to her. Even more worryingly was how, a white girl who had only been to the finest countries in the world and thought Nigeria was like Iraq, saw and described Nigeria more honestly than anyone of us have ever dared to do. Everything she said was and (even sadder) IS still right. Nigeria is a dangerous place, it’s not safe and her coming to Nigeria was/is like her going to Iraq or Syria. They have ISIS and we have Boko Haram. I now understand that.
However, there’s still a great deal I just cannot understand. How can Nigeria be the largest economy in Africa and be compared to Iraq at the same time? How can there be peace and war at the same time? How is there so much wealth and so much poverty living side by side? How can Nigerian children be in all the best schools around the world and Nigeria has the highest out of school children in the world? How can Nigerians in Nigeria live like all is well in the country? How can our government lie to us so blatantly in this day and age and we just accept their lies?
Our problem in Nigeria is bigger than the upcoming elections and it troubles my heart to see that many of the politicians can’t see this. Our problem isn’t one political party or another. Dare I say, our problem isn’t even our current president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. I just don’t know what the exact problem is and this is why my heart bleeds for the enigma that is Nigeria.
If you know what our beloved county’s problem is, please share.
This is an opinion piece by Dara Rhodes.
Image Credit: Yay Images