NIGERIA: AVOIDING THE ELONGATION OF WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS

61 years after independence, Nigeria is still wandering in the wilderness. This wilderness represents underdevelopment, corruption, bribery, wide-spread poverty, terrorism amongst many other ills.

Colonization distorts the thinking of the subjects to a large extent. This is because the colonialists take away the identity of the subjects and strive to make the colony similar to what is obtainable in their kingdom. In Nigeria today, we still have footprints of the British in our daily. A very common example is the English language that we speak and the side we drive.

What I cannot say for certain is if many ills plaguing Nigeria today were directly introduced into the system by the British during their era or they helped to introduce these ills through policies into Nigeria's system.

But one thing I am sure is that colonialists can do anything in order to continue having power over their domain. This can include bribing or promoting key local and outspoken figures or using divide and rule in order to create more differences. The divide and rule strategy is still very much used politically in Nigeria today.

The truth is, no matter how long a nation was under colonialism, it will be unrealistic to expect that once they gained independence, they quickly turn their nation into a paradise. The mental impacts of their colonization needs time to wear off. Nigeria will be 62 years old in October this year, that is more than enough time to have gotten over the impact of colonization on the mind and attributes of the nation. So the time is enough to quit blaming colonialism or the colonialists.

40 years is the most realistic and the maximum time it should take to change the orientation of a nation that has been under colonization for years.?But we are almost 22 years into the second 40 years of being independent, yet we are still like a nation that just got independence; a nation trying to find her footing in order to be responsible for her own decisions.

?People who do not understand transformational leadership can never impact much in a nation like ours, let alone taking her to her destination.

Why do you think Nigeria had a lot of political turmoil in the first 40 years after her independence?

It was because those who were present prior to independence and a decade after ?the independence had a colonialist master mentality; their sense of nationhood was very limited. All what they exhibited was in one way or the other learnt from the colonial masters, and the mindset of colonialism doesn't work in nationhood.

The mindset is not totally wiped off from this nation even till today. But I'll leave this for some other time.

I am in this race to halt this nation's long overdue wandering in the wilderness; she needs her path to be set right so that she can truly arrive at her destination, her destination where what is available is all she needs to attain greatness.

If Nigerians decide not to make me President in 2023 yet, I will wait but my biggest concern is that whoever they choose may not make the slightest difference with regards to really transforming this nation. And this will amount to more years of wandering. ?The person has to have understanding, and it has to be personal.

I am not in the race to be addressed as 'His Excellency', (a lot of people are). As a matter of fact, I can be addressed as 'Mr. Emeka' all through my tenure. I don't care about titles.

I care about you Nigerians. I am in this race for a purpose, for an assignment that needs to be accomplished. It breaks my heart to see a nation like ours with boundless potentials running around in cycles due to lack of direction or mis-direction.

Nigerians, how long are you all willing to remain in wilderness? You should have been out there long ago.

Take the right decision now.