There is God o: The Painful Despair of a Country

Words cannot even begin to describe the full extent of the emotions I feel. I have tried and failed for weeks now to describe my feelings about the situation in Nigeria on this blog, and I have decided to just use words, inadequate as they may be, if only to somehow relieve this burden.

Where do I start?

As a Nigerian living abroad, with most of my family in Northern Nigeria, I read news about home with my heart in my mouth. It seems the good news I hear from home, mostly from family and friends, is overshadowed by the bad news I read and hear.

Even with the 'Kaduna-sharia' experience that I had while in Nigeria and family and friends assuring me that all is well, it is not difficult to see that Nigeria has descended into a state of anarchy where insurgents are calling the shots and everyone else is left in despair.

"The girls are still missing"
"Boko Haram has just killed some more people"
"Another bomb blast o, my dear"
"We need other countries to help us, Nigerian government is powerless"

My emotions at such news range from scared to sad to angry to frustrated to hopeless to incredulity.

On the latter emotion, surely I'm not the only one who thinks such news bother on ridiculous. It's been almost a month now and the girls abducted by the extremists have yet to be rescued, in a country with a functioning military and government? Haba! Just days after a bus-station bomb blast in Abuja, a car was blown up in the same state, just a few miles away from the first? Logic would dictate that security be beefed up to prevent a repetition. But, logic is probably as rare as common sense to the ones who are supposed to be in charge.

Hmmmmmm.

I am not going to start saying all that we are doing wrong as a country, you can just google that. I am going to say, though, that 'religiousness', ignorance, corruption, lack of foresight, and incompetent leadership are largely to blame. But, everyone knows what the problems are, it's the solution that is proving so difficult to implement.One of the simplest solutions in my estimation is for everyone to do their jobs! Leaders have power and authority(?) for a reason, they should use it, even seek out more brilliant minds if necessary!

Let's not expect God to step in when we are clearly not doing our part. That is why I was really impressed by the people who have done what the government could not do - mobilise support to rescue the abducted girls. '#BringBackOurGirls' has gone global and rallies are being staged by Nigerians, both home and abroad, who realise their government has failed to do its job of protecting its citizenry.

When I heard France, China,  USA and Britain were stepping in, I was not surprised. I mean, what else would one expect when one is failing at their job?

The despair of a people both home and abroad is loud and clear; in the now infamous words of the first lady, "Chai... there is God o".  I join in prayers, but believe we can do much more with the power, position, and authority we have.