Nigeria at 51: 5+1 thoughts of a Nigerian
2011.10.01 00:12
I am still up from the eve of independence. Thinking to myself: “So my country will be 51 tomorrow. What is the significance about the number ‘51’? Is there worth celebrating?” Well we are not still under our colonial masters, but quickly the question – ‘Are you sure about that?’ came rushing in. Is Nigeria really independent? Of course, no man is an island. Interdependency is a trend that is comes along with globalization. Nonetheless, it seems that although we did get our independence 1960 – 51 years ago, it didn’t mean saying goodbye to colonial masters. Well maybe we did physically, but psychology still yarns for them – hence, the hunger for the western culture i.e. way of life.
2011.10.01 06:43
Waking up to my Football Manager screen, I must have slept off earlier while playing against West Brom (I manage Manchester City). I quickly checked the full time scores to see I did win the match by a lone goal. West Brom did miss a penalty from the hands of Osaze Odewinge – a real life Nigerian player. Thoughts of our national football team flowed. We are now 51 and sport is one thing that has kept us together. Although we have not won the world cup yet, we have produced some of the finest players – Jay Jay Okocha, Emmanuel Omokachi, Kanu Nwankwo, Sunday Oliseh, and so many others.
2011.10.01 10:02
Time to finally get out of bed; a quick shower, and time for breakfast. I first thought of going white rice and greens so as to get a national flag kind of dish, but then I decided to go local and take Papi and Beans Cake or in the Yoruba name – Ogi and Moi Moi. Again I found myself thinking of the diversity that can be found in the Nigeria cuisine. I did spend sometimes abroad in school and on summer holidays and I remember I always miss the Nigerian food after about 5 days. It was sure good to be back for while and access any traditional food when I wanted. Oh! Lucky me.
2011.10.01 13:32
I have been studying for my upcoming GMAT exams for a while now. Memories from when I was studying for my SATs in one side of my brain, as I went through the practice question. The scenario was familiar. I did something like this about four years ago and off I went to get a B.Sc, and now I’m doing it again for a M.Sc. Why couldn’t I just get a good education here? Why did I have to go out of my country again? When will government see that investing significantly in education is a sure route for a secure future? All of these and more on education ran across my mind as I stared at blue and white screen.
2011.10.01 17:45
It was no shock that many TV houses will take to street to cover happenings around the country as people celebrated the Independence Day. Well maybe the celebration was not as big as the previous golden jubilee, but then people still took to the streets dressed in colors of the flag – green and white, face paints and funny hats too could be seen. One interesting was the interviews with random people by the TV reporters. I did watch about 6 people been interviewed and one that made me smile was that there was a sense of ‘hope’ for the better Nigeria that I’ve been hearing from birth. Well there’s life, so hope exists.
2011.10.01 23:14
Independence day on a Saturday may not have been the best, it would have been better on the weekday so I get a day off work to celebrate the national holiday, but it was going to happen on Monday – October 3rd, as the government did declare a national holiday afterwards. So with happy thoughts of a long weekend (which unusually included Monday), I went to bed or was it back to my Football Manager? Well I was proudly Nigerian – whether a failed state or not.
Nubi Kayode, FD blogger from Nigeria
