THE DREAM.

Arise, O compatriots,
Nigeria's call obey
To serve our Fatherland
With love and strength and faith.
The labour of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain,
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom, peace and
unity.

O God of creation,
Direct our noble cause;
Guide our Leaders right:
Help our Youth the truth to know,
In love and honesty to grow,
And living just and true,
Great lofty heights attain,
To build a nation where peace and justice
reign.

I pledge to Nigeria my country,
To be faithful, loyal and honest,
To serve Nigeria with all my strength,
To defend her unity,
And uphold her honor and glory,
So help me God.

Reading this reminds me of many things, including current issues in the Nigerian nation. Then I wonder, if our leaders today have ever taken time to examine the anthem and pledge they sang for everyday for many years through their primary and secondary school days.

I remember my elder brother saying 'as at 1993, he could still commute from oshodi to sango with N15', (its now a minimum of N100 maximum N300). I remember my dad saying then 'a litre of petrol was just N26. I'd asked myself time and time again how did it come to this? I wonder how we as a nation fall into such a state of degradation? As at independence, world power rated us as having more growth prospects than the likes of Malaysia, Jamaica, South Africa. Now those countries are far ahead of us.

So much that our leaders could do, yet the average Nigerian is living below 1 dollar per day. Child trafficking is still being done, the Nigerian child is still involved in under aged labour. The ones in school are inadequately equipped for the future, ignorant of what lies ahead. The average man can barley make ends meet. All because those steering the ship of this great but handicapped nation have decided to be selfish stead of selfless.

No more would we accept a bad check from our leaders, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds'. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the vaults of opportunity of this nation.

I want to remind our leaders of the fierce urgency of NOW! This no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or taking the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real promises of democracy. There are those within the corridors of power asking our devotees of civil rights, 'when will you be satisfied?' we can never be satisfied as long as the average citizen is a victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We cannot be satisfied until our corrupt leaders in public offices are brought to book. No, no we will not be satisfied until we can travel on our highway without fear of being robbed or killed. We shall not be satisfied until the extra-judicial killings in our society is eradicated.

I have a dream that one day, the current group of selfish leaders in our country would be no more... I have a dream that one day, our children would cease to be used for under age labour and trafficking. I have a dream that one day, power outage would cease to be normal in this country. I have a dream that one day, our elections would be free and fair and we would elect men and women of integrity, honesty, and good values into our public offices. I have a dream that these men and women are going to selflessly serve this nation and steer us to the land of promise.

I have a dream that one day, our economy would be strong enough to rival those of the international community. I have a dream that one day, our educational system would cease to be unstable and would become a positively referenced system to the international community. I have a dream that one day, our families would no longer live on the island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

I write this today even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, that one day this nation would rise and live out the true meaning of its creed. I have a dream that one day, the best of us would rule the rest of us.

God bless Nigeria.