Nigeria: The Sleeping Giant. Poem by Okim Otu

The sleeping giant

Teardrops enough to flood the river nile,
Unemployed graduates queue longer a mile,
My beloved land has remained juvenile.

Tens of tomatoes baskets rots on bad roads,
Farmers still buy gov't 'not for sale' fertilizer
And the fight against graft is steep on pages of newspaper.

The deep pipes are working and dollars is rolling,
Timber is banned but mahoganies keep falling,
Desert encroaching, globe warming, gov't watching.

While sons of senators fly jets to take pictures,
I D P sons dreams in hunger, a bright future
And the widened poverty gap keep pace with speed.

Bandits killed kids and rape women on broad day light,
But soldiers shots peaceful protesters with live arms,
And we called ourselves 'the giant of Africa'