How to resolve our national problems, By Sunday Adelaja

This is the biggest and most important problem that I see in Nigeria as an entity, if we can fix the following problems, our future is promising and bright:

Underdeveloped people are responsible, 60% literacy: We must aggressively develop our human resources. Countries with the most out-of-school children are not serious about development.

Lack of value and do not know how to develop: Just as the government and the general public do not have an understanding of the role of the value system in national development. We must deliberately educate and build values ​​to the people and in all walks of life.

Unregulated and unplanned population growth: A very embarrassing thing for us as a nation is our per capita income. This problem will persist until we do something about the population growth rate. We should learn from China and start implementing family planning now. We can start by limiting women to a maximum of three children and a maximum of six children per family or per father.

Lack of law and order: Unfortunately our country has not learned to live by law and order. Yes, we have a parliament, but we lack a law-abiding culture. This factor can only push us to become a civilized nation. This will require hard work to develop a new mind in our people.

Biometric registration of all Nigerians: Statistics and numbers are not yet part of our culture. We must understand that the biometric information and data of every citizen and foreigner in our country must be the highest priority. As long as we don’t have the data of everyone who lives in our country, then we don’t have a country. We are just copying the country. This is a basic requirement to call ourselves a country.

The elite versus the poor: Our society is built on the principle of feudalism where the haves are worshiped by the have-nots. Therefore, everyone wants to gain political or financial power so that they can be adored by their citizens. This must change if we are to build a truly civilized society. We must make all equal before God and before the law. We should strive to build an egalitarian state, rather than the bourgeois class state we are currently living in.

No to separation, yes to reconstruction: Our diversity is one of God’s greatest blessings. We must not allow some separatist elements to poison our feelings towards one another. We are better together so we must fight all kinds of secessionist movements in our country. Unless you want your children to be refugees like the Syrians, Liberians, Ukrainians or Sierra Leonians who had the bad luck of being forced out of their countries due to separatist wars.

Representative democracy of all major groups in the country: Nigerians love to blame the leadership for all the woes, when there is truth, not as our people see it. Leadership is not only the president and parliament, but all citizens. We are all responsible for the welfare of our country. We all need to show leadership and participate in the leadership of the country. With responsibility where we are the leader there. This mindset needs to be trained in our society, so that we don’t just wait for someone to do something for us, but take responsibility for building the country we want for ourselves.

Religion should be guided and regulated: Religion can be a positive force to build a nation if channelized well but the way religion is given free in our country, it can be the biggest threat to our nation. The government should be bold enough to make rules that all religions in the country must follow. All should be equal before the law including religious organizations.

I have tried to paint a rather fair and positive picture of this great country called Nigeria. I was born there and I am grateful and proud of that fact, so despite living abroad all my life, I still retain my Nigerian citizenship. I agree that many points and statistics I presented in this work can be objected by critics, that is not a problem for me. In fact, I accept all constructive criticism for my work.

However, I would insist that we start talking about the positive things that our country represents. I have visited more than 60 countries in all continents and I can say that I have never seen a group of people like Nigerians. We are the most unique people. Nigerians stand out and stand tall compared to any group of people anywhere. Unfortunately, for the negative campaign and propaganda against the most populous black nation, we have yet to realize our potential. Therefore, I urge us Nigerians to acknowledge all the good things about our country. Charity begins at home, if we will speak well of ourselves, then the rest of the world will follow to celebrate us.

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Chinua Achebe, a famous Nigerian novelist and essayist is quoted as saying “There is a great saying that until the lion has its own history, the history of the hunter will always glorify the hunter.”

It’s time we start telling our stories, otherwise those who hunted and still hunt us will tell us who we are or who we are. These negative reports and propaganda against Nigeria and Nigerians were also started by these hunters, until we ourselves bought the negativity and now we can only say bad things.

Friends, let’s change the narrative, let’s sell the best to the rest of the world. I am not saying that we do not criticize our country. No, no, I am the main critic of our country, but we should not sabotage ourselves in the process. As I said at the beginning of this article, there is always another side of the coin, we must be diligent not only to focus on the negative but with the same passion, we can also tell about the progress of our country.

May Nigeria Succeed And May All Her Enemies Live Richly To Witness It.

Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformational strategist, pastor and innovator. He is based in Kiev, Ukraine.