EDITORIAL
BY ‘Tunji Solomon
THE CURRENT Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in person of Nyesom Wike, delivered a memorable Distinguished Personality Lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on June 5, 2025, titled: Nigeria of our Dream. The lecture had a 24 pages length and breadth. It was a reminder of how far we have collectively failed to move forward, like a toddler that refuses to walk, but crawls.
INTERESTINGLY, from the journalistic perspectives on the delivered lecture by the Minister Nyesom Wike, the speech was not inspiring and convincing. He justified his selection as the guest speaker being an indication of recognition of his performances and the government in power. Frankly, the minister came to impress us with series of factors that make the Nigeria’s dreams of nationhood difficult to attain. The lecture was hope postponed.
IT IS not only important to dissect the problems of this nation, rather, it is highly imperative to offer solutions in form of hope. There is need to ask questions within the leadership structure of this nation since the 5th Republic to the 10th Republic; towards identifying a particular and significant national problem that had been solved, being solved or the ones in the pipeline to be delivered before 2025 runs into its historical space.
BEYOND DOUBTS, while the Honourable Minister Nyesom Wike aptly dismantled issues and the catalysts that aid their proliferations in Nigeria, towards expositorily pierce our collective sense of responsibility, he didn’t open the windows to see how resources were and are used to curb, tame or demystify the problems, and what Nigerians should be expecting. There are salient questions in that regards that ought to be asked, and deny the questions the status of being rhetorical questions on arrival. He returned the issues back to us and delivered public relations stunt on behalf of number one citizen.
SUCH CONTEXTS and mood made it difficult or impossible for the audience to examine or evaluate the journey so far in regards to the Nigeria of Our Dream, from leadership front to followers’ guilt and consciousness. While Minister Wike was silent on the prevailing situation, especially the one robed in mass killing between Benue and Plateau States respectively – which is metaphorically next to ethnic cleansing being the order of the day; to how the lines between Nigeria of Our Dream and to Nigeria that is soaked in the mud of journey in a cycle, fades into obscurity. Such speech is a calculated attempt to prevent any outlook that could stain the political ambition of the ruling party. The minister walked gently on slippery ground.
MOREOVER, THE prospect of building Nigeria of our dream has already fainted in the midst of regional suspicions and bickering; coupled with political class power thirstiness. As a reminder, Henry Barlow’s poem: Building the Nation; not only condemns the art of sheer rhetorics in his thematic operation on what went wrong with a nation in search of an hero; there is always a need to raise hope of the masses through pragmatic approach and contexts individual can cling on in situations like our own.
SIGNIFICANTLY, from the lexicon of late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s long essay, titled: If Tomorrow Comes; to the mud splitting account of the late story-teller, Chinua Achebe’s There Was A Country; the contradictions that favour Achebe’s submission are more than the factors that pitch their tents with Nigeria of Our Dream.
IMPERATIVELY, In Us Lies the Fault, a series by: Anthony A. Anierobi, Anuli Ausbeth-Ajagu, and Temitope Orefuja; brings the message clearly home to everyone of us. Rather than see the inability of the past and present government to lead Nigeria and Nigerians to the lofty dream of nationhood, we are tasked and psychologically perforated to believe we are responsible for the present national woes that block the paths to nationhood.
TO BUTTRESS the foregoing, William Shakespeare makes it clear in Julius Caesar through Cassius to Brutus, when he says that: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.” We all know that we are all casualties of Nigeria’s fate, but some have already escaped the woes.
NIGERIANS CANNOT but appreciate the minister for being able to remind us of one of our national strengths: abundantly blessed with speech writers. His speech didn’t shift out hopelessness from its devastated position to hopefulness. Like Nelson Mandela’s biography: it is a Long Walk to Freedom en route Nigeria of our dream. Though we are yet to take the first step.
WHILE The GUEST COLUMNISTS is not pessimist about the Nigeria’s story and the episodes of her daily tragedies of many forms, sizes and shapes; The GUEST COLUMNISTS can only agree with Honourable Minister, Nyesom Wike’s submission that ”Nigeria is bruised, perhaps battered, but never broken..” The statement is a symbolism of hope being kept alive in our mind. The realities within the crystal, betray this prism.
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