A Naira And A Dream (The Good Life)
There is a J Cole song with the title a Dollar and a Dream and as a Nigerian, I can’t help but wonder how many Naira some people’s dreams are worth.
Over the years, Nigerians have witnessed the fortunes of our dearest nation crumble. The brightest minds have kept their hands out of politics, preferring rather to take up appointive positions whenever such is handed to them.
“Politics is dangerous, they kill people.” That has been the tune of everyone. Apparently, only the less than intelligent ones think the risk is worth it. Every year, we look around us as we see Counsellors, Local Government Chairmen, House of Assembly Honourables and Governors ignore their responsibilities, and every four years, we watch them recycle themselves into elective offices.
The educated class in Nigeria, who cannot be bought with a couple of Naira can also not be bothered with taking time off to register to vote, and even when they manage to do so, they can’t be disturbed about coming out to vote on election day.
Yet, we’ll gather to discuss how politicians bribe poorer uneducated electorate with five yards of clothes, two exercise books and a few thousand Naira.
A new generation of Nigerians would come online to rant about the nonviral politicians, make #NotTooYoungToRun trend, yet abuse every young person who eventually comes out to run for office.
Most painful of all, they’ll only tweet and post about election online, posting screenshots of everything done on TV, yet never showing up to cast their votes.
It is easy to make an example out of Esau for selling his birthright for a morsel of potage, but what about Nigerians who have given away their birthrights for nothing? Literally nothing at all.
Yes, the poor, destitute and illiterate are selling their votes for Naira and Kobo, but you young, strong, bright, talented and educated Nigerian, how much are you selling your future for?
At least, the poor man got five thousand for giving away his future, what about you that you are giving away your dreams and the control of your nation’s destiny to greedy politicians for absolutely nothing?
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator and Creative Writer.
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