Assurance Izevbizua
|
The recent earthquake in Haiti has revealed the
underlying fractures, corruption, and moral bankruptcy that for so long
has plagued the Haitian society. My heart goes to the people but one
cannot but wonder why a country that once showed so much promise, a people that once defeated
Napoleon's army, has been so decimated economically and politically. Many parts of Haiti look like Maroko, in Lagos. So
many unpaved roads remind me of so many parts of Benin City. Sooner
or later, in Nigeria, there is going to be an
"earthquake," a disaster, a challenge that exposes our moral,
economic, and political rottenness. Say it like it is. Speak.
We have squandered our riches, we have wasted our
natural endowment.
There has been a failure of leadership, that is a given;
but more than anything else there has been a failure on the part of the citizens to demand what is due
them. Without an equitable distribution of resources and accountability for
use of national wealth, Nigeria is bound for a luck like Haiti's or even
worse. When that earth moving challenge comes, we will not be
ready.
Nigeria is blessed with oil, but we are also burdened
with selfishness, greed. superstition, mistrust of one
another and lack of planning, just like Haiti.
We need to plan for our roads, plan our buildings and
most importantly plan for our children. It is not enough to have
them. It is imperative we plan for their education up to college
level. Children do not ask to be born. Once they are here, it
is an obligation to love and care for them the very best we can.
When the challenge comes, when the disaster comes,
whether natural, political or economic, the whole world will learn about
our inadequacies, weaknesses, and moral corruption
Yes, they will learn how we pay lip service to ethical
rectitude while in truth we are all for ourselves to the detriment of the
common good. They will learn about how the most important
commercial artery to the Edo State, the Lagos-Benin road, has been
neglected so badly.
They will learn about Shehu Shagari, Yakubu Gowon, Musa
Yar'Adua - all promises unfulfilled.
They will learn about our misplaced priorities, about
Hummers amidst poverty. They will learn we have the latest TV sets
but that the power supply is infrequent at best. They will learn
about the innumerable checkpoints on the highways and that the security
officers most times are more threat than highway robbers. They will learn about the pain of mothers whose
daughters have gone to Italy or Holland to prostitute.
Then we will be ashamed, ashamed of how we have
squandered our riches and opportunities. I hope Haiti wakes us up to our iniquities.
|
|
USA
