I sang the national anthem and recited the pledge with great passion as a child.
I believed the words of these writs, so I stayed away from deviance and developed strong dedication for my studies.
I believed in Nigeria as a child.
I read the histories of our heroes past, bore the fascination in my effeminate mind while absorbing life’s reality in my formative years.
I listened keenly to my teachers, did my home chores dutifully, obeyed my elders, prayed to God fervently.
I looked forward to a Nigeria that will guarantee us the right to socio-economic justice.
To a nation that will bestow us with the pursuit of happiness and leadership.
To a country that will derive its legitimacy from the people.
To a government that will put her people first in the determination of her policy for the common good of all.
I joined the Boys Scout to further entrench my enthusiasm, believing in a better country, where the fundamental objectives and derivative principle of state policy will be justifiable for the restoration of the dignity of man.
I believed! I believed! I believed!
Three decades later, I look back and I see how wrong I was.
I was wrong!
Somewhere along my dreams the wicked got to power and held us swayed and we gasped for breath.
We faced the worse kind of deprivation in the history of mankind.
We transited from one level of pain to another.
Evil took occupancy of our cosmic orbit and held us restive.
We lost our identity.
We lost that essence that made us the people we never became.
We fell!
If there will be change, would it be in our lifetime?
Today we sing the change mantra not sure where we are going and where we truly are as a people.
If we have grown too old to change then we must create the change for our children.
They shouldn’t live this way.
Let the Nigerian child meet a new Nigeria.
About the Writer: Evans Ufeli is a lawyer and the author of acclaimed novel, ‘Without Face’. He is also an Alumni member of the Writers Bureau, Manchester, a highly sought-after conference speaker with a passion for the concept of change. He lives in Victoria Island, Lagos. You can contact him via Facebook: Evans Ufeli, Email: evanylaw@yahoo.com, Twitter: @Evansufeli and Phone: 08037712353. He blogs at www.ethicsafrica4u.wordpress.com.
