The Scales of The Golden Fish, Lost at The Sea

Thirty seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty days ago, a strange country was born. She is located in the heart of Africa, and seven continents met, then agreed that this Nation was an unusual one. She was populous, strong and near perfection.

Yahweh Himself had put His signature on this Nation because two great rivers met to form a letter Y in her. In addition to that, the black gold was discovered in this same Nation, alongside about one hundred and seventy other minerals resources unmined, and millions of ravishing faces on her surface. You see, dollar the strongest and most influential currency in the world respected theirs as one dollar equaled their one naira!

You know, the rest of the world and her citizens started to admire and anticipate great expectations, all due to the fact that her citizens in diaspora excelled academically more than the indigenes.

But son, you see, this Nation was too immature to lead herself, and only ended up electing leaders whose bellies her whole wealth couldn't contain. They started to indiscriminately mine the black gold and make money for themselves. Since the black gold was gotten in the Nation, the citizens thought it was going to be very cheap for them to use, as it happens in other black gold producing nations. How wrong they were! And when the value of the black gold began to wane, the nation went belly-up. Inflation that was very hard on the citizens set in, and cost of living was on the high. In fact, I now hear she is one of the poorest Nation in the world. The wealth? She lost it!

Don't be surprised, son. Sometime ago, some group of girls were abducted by a sect called Boko Haram. A terrorist group that discreetly found their way into this Nation, and caused her so much anguish by killing her citizens. At first, they were opposed to western education, and that was their theme. But as time went on, they began to eliminate innocent lives. These girls were at their mercy for a long time and after some time, money was provided to buy ammunition to save the girls, money which only got embezzled. Thanks to whatever, the girls have been returned after being impregnated against their will. I am sure they were used, and made to pass through emotional traumas. Could they ever be the same again? She has lost it!

Corruption never ceased and it began to eat deep into nation's sector. And yes! It got to the health sector. The citizens of the nation got deprived of adequate health care, and lots of lives went with it. I remember Obafemi Oluwatimileyin Paul, a graduate of FUTA, who lost his life because he couldn't raise thirty million naira for a bone marrow transplant. Even though he got sick serving his fatherland, he was deserted without aid. A first class graduate and a promising star was lost by the Nation infested with negligence!

The educational sector was not left out, too. A place that used to be a training ground for the likes of Wole Soyinka, one of the few African Nobel Prize winners got crippled. This sector started to lack finance and qualified personnel to efficiently help the learners learn. So, for most unreasonable reasons, long strikes struck. Now, most graduates of this Nation can only be boasted about from the borders and back, because they are not qualified to be shown to the worle. And I am sure this was one thing the current president of the Nation saw and called the youths “lazy.” When I heard that, son, I began to wonder if he was justified saying that. If they had been educated under the same conducive atmosphere as the old ones who broke records and still didn't t do well, I would have reasoned with him. That academic prowess? She is losing it!

Yesterday, she hoped for a better tomorrow. But today, she wished she were in the better yesterday.

Oh! The name of the nation? It is NIGERIA, my son. Little gold fish, will you ever find your scales? Maybe...not.