Guest Post: I’m getting tired of defending this country

So I absolutely love it when people message me or tell me when they see me that they read my blog. It’s like my baby and I’m pleased with the progress it’s making, hit 5,000 views over the weekend and I trust that it’s only going to move onwards and upwards from now on.

I’m one of the very people that is actually enjoying my NYSC year, I’ll talk about the benefits of it in an upcoming post. But a very obvious benefit is that it’s an opportunity to increase your network. I have met a wide variety of people through NYSC, in my platoon, my room, the band, the local government, random people you meet in camp, even before NYSC started I was making new friends because of the scheme.

Anyways, I met Ihinosen in camp, he was my Close Friend’s Bunkie and we had a lot of fun times in Mammy Market (Bimpe’s tent) and on the parade ground (under the canopy). He messaged me earlier today and said he writes and will like to feature on my blog. I was pleasantly surprised, a hidden talent, it’s a pretty opinionated piece with very relevant and necessary words.

Hope you enjoy it!

I'm getting tired of defending this country.

I really am, it is getting too difficult to say you are Nigerian and be proud of it. In recent years, we have suffered too many developmental set-backs and our economy and people are paying for it. With blood, sweat and tears(yes I know, Mr Kuti already told us something similar) but he wasn’t around to see this brand new face of terror, which is the Harams that Boko. Too deep.

We  have had our troubles since independence but we have been managing ourselves since then (suffering and smiling sha). We suffer the daily traffic, interrupted power supply (Confirmed), abuse of Power (severe corruption), failed presidential administrations, misappropriate use of funds and worst of all a system that doesn't work. Whether it's the police force, postal service, airport or roads, nothing built by the government shows long-term promise or even performs at 50% efficiency.

 If you haven’t noticed, there is no government owned infrastructure that actually works to serve the people satisfactorily. In order to get quality service from the government you are going to have to negotiate a bribe or be prepared to go the normal route which leads to a wasted day and sometimes no results. So we have a lot going for us and now we have terrorists??

Terrorism exists in other countries but it is not something we ever believed would be happening to us as we always had other problems to worry about. We always believed Nigerians were too happy or too “cultured” to resort to such methods. But it’s a lie, at this very moment, Nigeria is in a “State of Emergency” whether you like it or not. Easy example, I’m writing this article from a very reasonable laptop and top speed internet but there are 223 female students held hostage in a jungle in the SAME country that I reside.

I am thankful to God that I am not held hostage but if I were one of those girls, I would hate me right now with a passion. Instead of me to get up and find a way to save these girls, I’m giving an account of my opinion. This is the best I can do though because at the end of the day I am only a citizen. Nigeria has a president, an army, naval officers and a PRESIDENT. I think they would be of more help to those girls than I would but here is the issue, those girls have been missing for 2 MONTHS. Clearly, not much has been done to save them and the aforementioned justice leagues of Nigeria are all alive and kicking. Their kids go to school, they are not being forced in to a religion under the motto “Western education is a Sin”, and they are not being abused so we just go on like nothing happened. But, be honest, it looks like we don’t care and it will take a while for God to forgive us on this one.

So we are in the 2^nd week of june in 2014 and those girls are still missing. Everyone has made sure they have hashtagged “BringBackOurGirls ” on one social media platform or the other but billboards and radio air waves are hyping our chances of winning the world cup. Very sad. Infact, that is all that is being discussed now, can we win the world cup? Are you kidding me?

Apart from the fact that the chances of us winning the world cup is virtually the same as these terrorists releasing the girls, people are still more hopeful of the former than the latter. Where has our faith gone? More importantly, where is the love? How can the world cup be that important? I have watched the last 5 world cup tournaments that Nigeria participated in and we have taken the same attitude and pattern towards all of them. We NEVER go far! Some very good teams will justifiably knock us out or we just play horribly. So why do you people want to win the world cup? Winning the world cup this year can only further harm our chances of recovering those girls from captivity. So it is clear now, we are beginning to forget them.

That right there is our greatest problem, that shallow Nigerian mentality has crept in and we have started focusing on the less important things. I would like us to begin to think differently, at least make an attempt, just think. This country can’t survive on convenient amnesia. It’s great that Falomo roundabout has their names on cardboard so at least you can humanize them and feel their pain. They are people too.

So the world cup is about to start, enjoy the games (at the end of the day that’s what they are for and it’s not brazils fault) but let us not be content with the current state of our home. We can do better, we owe those girls so much love and attention that it would be better off if our televisions don’t come on for the next 3 weeks. But no, we are Nigerians, we believe in our boys. The games start today. Go SUPER EAGLES, shame on you. These and many more are the reasons why it is tiring to defend this great nation.

Ihinosen Ani-Otoibhi

P.S. The theme for Our Stories this Month revolves around #BringBackOurGirls, it's "If Our Girls Could Speak" so check it out and please don’t forget the girls in your Prayers.