2015: The courage to begin
The courage to begin is the courage to win. Let us begin anew in Nigeria. Let us remember that those who sought power by foolishly riding the back of the tiger ended up inside. Let us explore what problems unite us instead of those problems which divide us. Let us seek to invoke the wonders […]
The courage to begin is the courage to win. Let us begin anew in Nigeria. Let us remember that those who sought power by foolishly riding the back of the tiger ended up inside. Let us explore what problems unite us instead of those problems which divide us. Let us seek to invoke the wonders of diversity instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce. Let us begin, as the trumpets summon us again to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war.
We must begin from this March 28th election and the ones a fortnight after, to set our country on the path to glory and fame, by not giving our mandate away and trade our future and that of our children for a morsel of meat like profane Esau, for just like him also, free flowing tears of regret will not recover a mortgaged destiny.
Let us begin by buying the future with the present, knowing assuredly that the future is a collection of choices of the present and wrong and unwise choices of today will turn back to hurt us as pains and agonies in the future.
Let us begin by learning from our past mistakes or the mistakes of our past leaders as well as us followers and how it has cost us dearly thus far and determine not to repeat same. As the saying goes, he who fails to learn from his past mistakes stands the risk of repeating them in the future. God forbid that it should be our lot. The mistakes of ethno- religious, nepotistic, divisive and stomach only politicking rather than solution based, driven by accountability, political stability, effectiveness in governance, control of corruption, adequate regulation and rule of law should be corrected this once!
I once told a friend that if all of us in Nigeria are relocated to the United States of America and Americans brought to Nigeria to settle here, in the next 50 years, this land Nigeria would have transformed for the better and will be like America and vice versa. So, what does that mean? Attitude. Abundant natural resources profit little in the hands of people with a wrong attitude. Let us begin to change our attitude to our nation, to our neighbours and to ourselves. This degenerate attitude found in a vast many was not innate, but learned. So it can be unlearned. The good attitude can be learned too. Those ‘little little’ things we do or fail to do to ourselves, our neighbours and for our nation are the difference between the great nation and the gory. Therefore, as we match out this Saturday and two weeks thereafter to elect leaders to various offices, fellow country men and women, let us begin.
Pharm. Oluleti Olalekan, Zone B, Gbazango Extension, Kubwa , FCT <[email protected]>;