What happens when green is the new red?
Music: say yes to heaven by Lana Del Rey
Dropping me off at the gate of my not so small primary school , my dad handed me two new ten naira notes and I knew exactly what to get with it . I was going to get two 5 naira biscuits , and get two peppered puff-puffs. That was 16 years ago .
It’s 2024, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a 10 naira note. There is nothing worth 10 naira,not even a cube of seasoning cube.
In the early 1950’s , there were groups of youths who fell in love with Nigeria, who believed in who she could be , what she could become “A giant in Africa". They fought for her, laid their blood on the line for all that they hoped she would become.
An heritage, a star. Leaving behind the thought of opportunities they could get beyond her shores, they chose her,they chose home.
On her feet they laid down the offering that is their youth , their blood ,their sweat, their pains. Fighting for her independence from a foreign government.
They won. The foreign master has released its clutch from the neck of their love. There finally was hope.
Hope to dream, hope to be, hope to believe. Or so they thought.
“Nigeria will be great ” they screamed across the street for all to hear. Their joy was so infectious that they made others believe in it too . They were going to build a great nation. One that stands head to head with the world’s most powerful.
And for a while they were successful,a very short while.
And then Nigeria started killing her lovers, spilling their bloods on the streets of the land for others to see. One by one she drags them from the corners of their comfort. And like sheeps blinded by love, they laid their neck as a pledge to their commitment of love .
But not without a belief, that “Nigeria will be great again.” This hope they passed on to their children, which their children passed on to their children.
Like a blood thirsty villain, Nigeria keeps taking the lives of those who loves her, stealing their dreams, stifling their growth.
On the 20th of October 2020, Nigeria murdered hundreds of her youths. Lovers who believed in her ability to save them from herself. She stole their dreams,stole their lives, stole their love. A crime she denies till date.
In 2023, Nigeria became a private property. A personalized property purely based on emilokan. She held hostage the money trusted in her care by her lovers, leaving them to roam the streets under the hot scorching sun, Trampled under the feet of their peers. Watching them waste away slowly on hospital beds while staring at their hard earned money in her banks .
It’s 2024, and 3 sachets of pure water is 100 naira, a bag of rice above a hundred thousand. Garri which used to be a poor man’s food is now becoming too expensive for even the middle class.
Scattered on her street moving at a fast pace are her haters void of hope chanting at a loud voice to each other, “Nigeria can never be great again".
If you are ever wondering how much evil it takes to make a people hate their nation, Nigeria is a great place to start.
But still in the midst of these sorrow chants when you listen more attentively you can hear the quiet murmurs of a few muttering under their breath, “Nigeria will be great again.”
Hey Google, play me- Arcade by Duncan Laurence
🎶Small-town boy in a big arcade
I got addicted to a losing game
Ooh, ooh
All I know, all I know
Loving you is a losing game🎶
African writer.
Pris Aina
