Dateline was Saturday, October 8, 2011: The place was the National Stadium in the heart of Abuja, Nigeria's sprawling capital city. The occasion was the make or mar African Nations Cup qualifier between Nigeria's Super Eagles and the Syli Stars of Guinea. The stakes were high and much was expected from the Nigerian team. They needed a slim win of 1 goal to nothing and they would be through to the Nations Cup starting in Equitorial Guinea/Gabon on January 12, 2012.
As expected, Nigerian fans came out in their numbers to support their home team. The world outside was watching on cable TV as the event was being beamed live to every Nigerian home and those in the Diaspora. At the end of 90 minutes, the result was Nigeria 2, Guinea 2. Verdict: Guinea has qualified ahead of Nigeria to play at the bi-annual soccer fiesta. For records: This is the first time in 25 years that the National Team of Nigeria has failed to qualify for the Nations Cup.
The Nigerian fans who went into the stadium expecting to come out celebrating were so frustrated some of them who could not stomach the defeat had to resort to damaging some of the stadium facilities. As much as such venting of anger is unnecessary, one can understand the frustration in the land not just only in the area of football but also in every sphere of our national life.
After a thoughtful reflection time on the ouster of Nigeria from the Nations Cup, I got out of my angry mood and suddenly I was no longer surprised that Nigeria would not be at the soccer fiesta. Why should we single out football administration and artistry from the many troubles we are having as a country. Is the country not one? Are the players and soccer administrators not part of the corporate entity called Nigeria? The rot we have in the nation is inclusive of the sports realm.
Our national institutions are collapsing right before our eyes and our so-called leaders are busy speaking English and giving press statements. The reality on the street is a far cry from the "reality" in the laptops they carry out in the different state houses and Aso Rock proclaiming a drop in inflation. There are more people out of jobs than those in any gainful employment. Our educational institutions are bereft of any standards. Many Nigerians who can now afford it are sending their kids by road through the Lagos axis to Accra where the standard of education in Ghana surpasses all of ours here. Our children who get out of secondary schools number over a million every year yet our Universities can only support the admission of a little over 150,000. No provision exists for the remaining 850,000 even if they are qualified. While we struggle with that, the rate of failure in the secondary school WAEC examinations is a national embarrassment. To worsen the situation, they are not issuing conflicting results on the internet and in hard papers!
Are we this daft as a nation not to be able to produce a leadership that can fix things in record time? We have been giving President Goodluck Jonathan a benefit of the doubt for the past 2 years. Yes, he won a fresh mandate in April, but he has been in the saddle for nearly 2 years. Where is the impact of his being there? The power situation improves only on the pages of newspapers and our hospitals are national morgues of repute! Recently, I took a personal war with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano where patients are treated worse than animals. No wonder, the rate of deaths in that hospital is alarming. I have lost two kids to the lacklustre attitude of their personnel and consultants. A family friend who was about to be delivered of her first baby was so delayed because there was "no bed" for two straight days and when she went in for a CS, she could not come around neither was the baby alive! Yet she undertook all her ante-natal sessions in that same hospital.
The other madness that has entered the head of the leaders is the issue of the quarrelling over the Sovereign Wealth Fund which was set up to inculcate into the consciousness of the nation the culture of savings. The State Governors who have refused to think up other revenue generating activities within their respective states are clamouring for the scrapping of the fund to enable them continue their looting spree. The immediate past Governors now being queezed by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) were all part of the ones who opposed former President Obasanjo for starting the Excess Crude Oil Fund back in 2003. We now know why they wanted the money. They claimed the wanted to alleviate poverty but the poverty was actually in their pockets. How can a single individual loot over 20 billion Naira? Can you imagine what that amount can do in alleviating poverty and providing gainful employments to our teeming youths?
If the situation continues this way, like many people have alluded to which I do not have the evidence to prove otherwise, we are headed for the precipice and a failed state stares us all in the face.
That is my headache about Nigeria and it is getting me really worried.
