The Pains of a General!
“I do appreciate that you all feel sad and embarrassed as most of us feel as Nigerians with the situation we find ourselves in. Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state; economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country.
“And these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of our country. Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere.” Olusegun Obasanjo, Sept 2020
About 82.9 million Nigerians are poor, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported in May. The NBS said in July that the inflation rate in Nigeria rose to 12.56% in June, the highest in 26 months. Unemployment has reached one of the highest recorded numbers in the nation.
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After 20 months, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has published a report on Nigeria’s unemployment rate. According to the statistics, unemployment rose to 27.1 percent in the second quarter of the year, a four percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2018, when the data was last published.
Not sure if Obasanjo's statement would get more than a yawn within Aso Rock, for known and unknown reasons.
What singular thing can we point to that can improve social cohesion, which majority of Nigerians agree with?
Even when we say elections should not be violent, both the ruling class and their counterparts in opposition, how many of them agree with that?
We haven't been lucky when it comes to producing honest and patriotic citizens, without improving on that metric, whatever resilience spirit we claim to have is inconsequential, because it will always be for selfish reasons.
Let's stop this sophistry, it adds zero value to national development, we should work more in reducing the number of funny creatures we produce; it's a good place to start.