A POEM FROM A YOUNG
NIGERIAN MIND.... I AM NIGERIAN; PLEASE
CELEBRATE ME I have Enormous tracks
of land and vast
volumes of water, but
cannot feed myself. So i
spend 1billion dollars to
import rice and another 3billion on milk. I am 53
please celebrate me.
I Drive the best cars in
the world but have no
good roads. So I crush
my best brains in the caverns, craters and
crevasses they crash
into daily. I am in
Unending mourning,
Please celebrate me.
My school has no Teachers and my
classroom has no roof. I
take lectures through
windows and live with
15 others in one room.
All my Professors have gone Abroad, and the
rest are awaiting Visas. I
am a university
graduate, but I am an
Illiterate. I want a
future, Please celebrate me.
Preventable diseases
send me to the
hospitals without
Doctors, Medicines or
Power. i have the highest maternal and
infant mortality rates in
the World; and future
generations die before
me. I am Hopeless and
Helpless, Please celebrate me.
For Democracy's sake, i
stood all day on Election
Day. But before i could
ink my thumb, results
had been broad cast. When I dared to
speak out, silence was
enthroned by bullets. My
leaders are my
oppressors, and my
Policemen are my Terrors. I am ruled by
men in Mufti, but i am
not a Democracy. No
voice, Please celebrate
me.
My Youth have no Past, Present nor Future. So
my Sons in the North
have become street
Urchins; and his brothers
in the South have
become Kidnappers. My Nephews die of
thirst in the Sahara and
his Cousins drown in the
Mediterranean. My
daughters walk the
streets of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt; while
her sisters parade the
streets of Rome, Italy
and Amsterdam. I am
grief-stricken, Please celebrate me.
Pen wielding bandits
raided everything in my
vaults. They walk the
Land with haughty
strides and fly the skies with private planes.
They have looted the
future of generations
unborn; and have money
they cannot spend in
several Lifetimes, but their brothers die of
starvation. I want a kit
of Kindness, Please
celebrate me.
I can produce anything,
but I import everything. So my Toothpick is made
in China; and my
Toothpaste in South
Africa. My Salt made in
Ghana; my Butter is
made in Ireland; my Milk is made in Holland; and
my Shoe is made in Italy;
my Vegetable oil is made
in Malaysia; my Biscuit is
made in Indonesia; my
Chocolate is made in Turkey and my Table
water in France. Ooh! my
taste is far flung and
Foreign, Please celebrate
me.
I have genuine leather but choose to eat it. So
i spend billions of dollars
to import fake Leader.
I have four refineries,
but prefer to import
fuel; so i waste more billions to import Petrol.
I have no security in my
country; but send
troops to keep peace in
another mans Land.
I have hundreds of Dams but no Water, so I drink
" Pure Water " that
ruins my Innards. Please
celebrate me.
I have no Power but
choose to flare Gas, so my people have learn to
see in the dark and
stare at the glare of
unclear flares. I am
shrouded by darkness,
Please celebrate me.