There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. This is according to prof Chino Achebe, In his memoir; The trouble with Nigeria, 1987.
If Chino Achebe would have been alive to witness the current sorry and pitiable state that Nigeria and Nigerians have found themselves, He should have wept for his efforts going in otiose. According to him, The trouble of Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership but today, The trouble with Nigeria has transcended from the failure of leadership down to the failure of followership.

It is true that Nigeria has been unlucky with hurricane of bad leaders whose mandate is only felt on the pages of newspapers and media space, Leaders who takes the public office as personal established business venture. A well-known fact. What is also true is that, Not only bad leaders that makes A failed state. If A state is said to have failed, It means that the state has failed citizens too.

Leaders does not make themselves leaders. The citizens definitely makes the few to become leaders.
What then is the trouble with Nigeria? When 60 years of independence has only brought to us agony, Retrogression, Corruption, Insecurity, Joblessness, Ethno-religious and social Disunity. We would want to shift the blame to poor leadership in the country. Very true of this assertion. Our leaders for so long now have traded on our collective intelligence, raped our trust, Dance to our sufferings , Feast on our industriousness with no sign of self-pity, Yet We have sat in our comfort zones to watch them as they act the drama.

Prior to 2015 general election, Following the storm of campaign promises presented to us by the All progressive congress And their Trane of change mantra, I had hoped for A better Nigeria where things will be made right. I was in secondary school by then. JSS 3 in particular. The integrity of Muhamadu Buhari was all over in the air and social media platforms. I never doubted the general to be honest. I foresaw A Nigeria where there will be no strike and I will call myself A university graduate by 2022. I also thought of having A job readily waiting for me upon my graduation. I believed unequivocally that Buhari, Steering the affairs of this nation for 8 years will definitely placed us on the right part. This was what we were told. But it is demonstrably clear that I was only naïve and gullible to bet my trust in the change mantra. Buhari has now led the most corrupt government in Nigeria where lives of the citizens are not considered.
In 2019, Nigerians, Again failed the country and themselves by voting in clueless governments. We were satisfied with the lies of our governors and legislators without asking why they failed in their first 4 years. Buhari and APC as usual continue with their blame game of PDP’S 16 years of corruption. This was enough for Nigerians to believe them. Give Buhari and this current government 20 years but nothing tangible will be seen.

Farouq Kperogi, In his August 8 column blamed the increasing dissociation of Nigerian youths from the reality and national issues due to poor leadership and the frustration that accompanied the discussion of Nigeria’s troubles.. It is an agreeable fact that Nigeria has been unfair to some activist who has chosen to keep the hope of good governance alive in this country. The few activist who have tried speaking against the government have had their reward in prison. But that is not enough to be capitulated.

Defeatism at this point in our national live is never A good omen. We are rather heading for extensile peril which mental escape from national issues will never help us. As I always say, Complain without action is no different to normal day talk. We are quiescent to the humongous loans taken by Buhari from China and other foreign banks which in the end goes to the pockets of his cronies. Our unity is in jeopardy, Our lives threatened yet, We prefer folding our arms and watch them cripple our future. We know what to do but we have failed to do by allowing the inaptitude of the various levels of government to persist. Nigeria is the only country we have. There is no extent to which we should stop pressing hard for change.

By Afashima Moses a. University of Jos student, department of English.

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The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership- Afashima Moses