The Nigerian Mandate

I woke up this morning and I stretched out my feet, said a thank you prayer then I brushed up my teeth, a little exercise then I grabbed something to eat… as I ate I started to reminisce… on this great country Nigeria.. and wondered when we will start fighting for ‘The Nigerian Mandate.’

Talking of mandates, I have heard a lot about the Niger Delta clamour for resource control, the marginalisation of the Igbos, the educational deprivation of the North, the stolen political posts of the Yorubas… but I have heard very little about ‘The Nigerian Mandate’.
What do I call The Nigerian Mandate, a mandate that enables Nigerians, rich or poor, young or old, northerner, easterner or southerner, to have access to basic amenities such as good education, good roads, constant power supply, good drinking water, effective health care systems, general safety (effective police force), just to mention a few.

The Nigerian Mandate, a mandate that gives the Nigerian Niger Delta control over their resources, a mandate that encourages the North to go back to agriculture and mining, where northerners realise education is a necessity and not a burden, a mandate which allows the Yorubas to continue churning out professors and building good educational and agricultural systems, a mandate that builds a new African IT and Financial capital in Nigerian Yoruba land. A mandate that turns Aba into the mechanical engineering capital of Africa, where Nigerian made cars are built in Igbo land and exported all over the world, where clothing, shoes and electronic factories drive an economically vibrant eastern Nigeria. A mandate that sees the Nigerian South-South region investing wealth gotten from oil in green technologies and sea farming. This is what I call The Nigerian mandate.

This mandate has been stolen from us, and as Dapo Lam Adeshina stated in his Political Declaration Speech (October 25th 2009, Dapo Lam Adeshina for House of Reps on the Action Congress Platform, Lecture Titled: Youths Participation in Nigerian Politics: How Visible?) “To those enemies of an egalitarian and new Nigeria, The end has come, We shall defeat you.”

These thieves are amongst us, we see them riding their cars from ill-gotten wealth, they are glorified by the press, they are guarded by our police. And as Dapo stated further in his speech

‘'Nigerian youths, we must rise up now and save our future. The present crop of leaders must be made to realise it is our future they are toying with. We must end this visionless tenure by 2011 with our votes.'’
“We must reclaim the true meaning of citizenship, restore our sense of common purpose and realise that the few obstacles cannot withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change. Divided we are bound to fail.”
“Now is the time for us all to forget our differences, sheathe the swords, call back the warriors, end the war and face our enemies, the enemies of progress, the enemies of our future, and the enemies of our dear country, Nigeria.”

I say to all Nigerians, the time is now, we cannot afford to wait any longer, The labours of our heroes past (Nnamdi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Ken Saro-Wiwa etc) MUST not, and WILL not be in vain. Let us rise up and fight for a new Nigeria, let our votes count, let us get involved in this new Nigeria, wherever you are, whatever your tribe or religion, it is time to act, we must strive to leave a legacy for generations yet unborn, we must put a stop to the politics of greed and stupidity, the politics of personal enrichment and impoverishment of the masses, the silly politics of giving fish to the masses instead of creating an environment that enables them to fish for themselves. The politics of deceit, politics of enslaving your own people, politics of militancy and kidnapping, politics of ASUU strikes, politics of office holders using our money for personal gains, politics of thuggery, politics of personal ego, politics of flexing financial muscles… we say… the time has come… and all this has to come to an end.

I implore you to join me, join the youth of this great nation in this fight, the fight for a greater Nigeria, the fight for the future of a nation and the survival of a people, for if we do not rise now… we will have failed the generations yet unborn, just as the generations before failed us.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.