The Nigeria We Want Poem by David Olughu

What if the sun shines in the night?
What if rain falls in the dry season's light?
What if darkness has become the day's bride?
What if water didn't quench our thirst?
Lots of what ifs without answers, yet we focus all our efforts in fighting imaginary cancers.
How prepared are we for the worst?
What can be done if there is an outburst?
What will be our fate when there is no trust?
People in high places make promises bigger than court cases and upon fulfilment, they begin to hide their grey faces.
A dip of your hand into your pocket can get you out of that crime net even if your actions are dark as scarlet.
All you need is a little identification among the youth coupled with some collaboration for national loot. Indeed, we're a tree without root.
We don't need massage parlours and spas, our roads do a fine job in giving us that shake and sometimes it adds an extra pinch of back ache.
Our motherland, now a murder land.
We seek a fatherland, but it seems to be in a farther land.
Power outage is not in shortage, it feels like a mortgage.
Hungry children lay waste; no food to even have a taste, and yet they are expected to remain chaste.
Youth are jobless, people are homeless, families are childless, our sufferings are countless.
The only tea we drink is poverty, we live a life of mediocrity.
Our populated population is polluted by populism.
Fake life is now the hot cake.
Constitution ends up being a bunch of words in a book; easily manipulated like food ingredients by a cook.
Engineers graduate with first class but end up getting jobs as teachers in secondary school classes.
A man on suit and tie controlled by a boy on jean and a T-shirt.
Managers and secretaries flirt, dragging industries names to the dirt.
Qualification is no longer by merit but now by place of birth.
Just as there are many hawks in the air, there are much more hawkers on the streets.
Instead of establishing industries, we have a bunch of hotel suites.
Our geographical entity suffers this great calamity due to lack of men of integrity to stand with alacrity, despite our ethnical diversity and oppose acts of inhumanity to foster our sanity and promote prosperity.
Generations go by without men of impact.
It's recurrence is too sure, it's becoming a fact.
In all these, there's hope for a better Nigeria. Hope for a nation without the bacteria corruption. A nation without uncontrollable inflation. A nation where peace and unity exists. A nation void of untamed beasts. A nation where people are treated with kids gloves rather than iron fists. A nation free of hate speech. A nation where possibilities of graduates getting jobs doesn't fluctuate. A nation filled with men of intellect in every field and sect. A nation where gender iinequality is seen as an ifringement to our right to equality.A nation where the fear of God rules over every man's heart and his love has the greatest angle in our life's pie chart. A nation where we don't need to apply for steady power supply. A nation where the pains of our heroes past shall never be in vain. A nation in the form of a kingdom endowed with freedom. A nation where dump sites don't serve as landmarks. A nation where roadsides are not used as car parks. A nation void of ethnocentrism. A nation driven by communism. A nation where certificates aren't just designed papers with names on them but don't communicate value. A nation that will feature it's culture in the picture of it's future. A nation where dreams don't end up being nightmares. A nation where visions don't end up being mere imaginations.A nation where values are not left in the dark like mystery clues but held high like virtues. A nation where talents are not let to blow out through the vents. A nation that will train her youth according to the basis of the truth. A nation where we don't have to struggle to get a meal on our table. A nation where the sane are not called insane. A nation befitting the next generation. A nation where the night doesn't come with fright. A nation where love rules. A nation where schools are not just business enterprises but impact lives to live above crisis. A nation where good deeds are passed down, to remove the frown on people's faces and in the end, give them the chance to wear a crown. A nation where people are given a listening ear. A nation where people live above fear.

This is the NIGERIA we want.

#TheMouthpiece