“NIGERIAN SPRING”

Mohammed Bouazizi was a fruit and vegetable seller in Tunisia and after suffering a series of extortion and seizure of his wares from local authorities and the police, he did something extreme. On December 17th, 2010, he took to the front of the government house and set himself on fire. He died later in January 2011 and this culminated in the Tunisian revolution and the president was ousted after 23years. That single step taken by Bouazizi resulted in the wider Arab Spring in Yemen, Egypt, Libya.
Nigeria has not had anything close to good leadership in time past and this can be seen in how undeveloped we are compared to the immense opportunities that exist in Nigeria for prosperity. Poor leadership, insecurity, extreme policies, and other awkward conditions have been thrown at Nigerians. Most Nigerians still don’t have access to the basic infrastructure the government ought to provide. We have been pushed to the walls and we have even scaled the walls and this has not culminated in a series of protests across Nigeria.
The yearning of an average Nigerian is not big. Once he has tokunbo Camry or corolla, three bedrooms flat, and a generator, he is okay, he’s less perturbed about the Nigerian state. This general docility has been a defining character among Nigerians. There is also a need for critical thinking on how we have lost it as a nation and how we became so comfortable with this type of life. Ever since we became comfortable, it has only been getting worse. Nigerians have been so dehumanized that they see their rights as a privilege the ruling class out of their mercy must grant them.
Things cannot just remain like this, the older generation didn’t do much to change the course of events, we can do our best to wrest powers from these ones that have held us by our jugular, severing us as they so, please. If you can’t fight, educate people about the essence of the government. Good education is a moral good and it must be encouraged but what we have now is not it, infrastructures are normal things that must be present in a state, employment and better conditions for the private sector to thrive must be encouraged. These are trying times but we shall overcome.