A RACE AGAINST TIME.

Lucky roughened his face as the harsh cold kissed him hard at the forehead. It has been a rough night. He dragged his feet but managed to walk across the boulevard that led to his place. It had never occurred to him that his last hangover would hand him over to the school of hard knocks.

Lucky has just awakened from a slumber beside a gutter. Life is unfair, Lucky concluded. He spat. He twitched his nose and gave a long sneeze. Bouts of fresh undefiled air caressed his nostrils. He had been abandoned by his friends after a long drinking spree.

As he staggered home, he could barely remember why and how he got there. He had been gulping few bottles and was slightly tipsy when his friend, Charles, threw a challenge at him, “You cannot finish 12 bottles of beer.

“Of course I can! Lucky shouted. “I know you can’t” replied Charles “What do you mean? Don’t you know that though all beer may be equal in volume, all men are not? Barman, bring me eight more.” Lucky ordered. “What! Shouted Charles… “My five thousand naira for a bet, Charles added as the other friends watched.

It was the sixth bottle that broke the Camel’s back.

THE NIGERIA I SEE.

Whenever I hear the lyrics of the Nigerian national anthem, my blood boils, it boils with patriotism and love for the only nation we can proudly call our own. When I reflect again, the weight and the burden borne by these heroes past give me a resolve to fight for the protection of the entity called Nigeria; to uphold the unity in our diversity and to harness the abundance of human and material resources which Mother Nature has bestowed upon us.

Nigeria is one of the best countries to live in. We are not plagued by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions but our own internal eruptions often threaten to drag us to our knees.  Many Nigerians, especially the youth say that Nigeria does not support dreams and that it is one of those countries where dreams die a natural death. Really, I don’t share in this view; not because Nigeria has met all my dreams but because I dare to think that I must be the solution in every problem I encounter. This indeed is the mindset for the materialization of this Nigeria that I see.

The great writer, Chinua Achebe in his book the trouble with Nigeria said that the problem of Nigeria is failure of leadership. Though this is true, it is far from being the only thing. Followership has equally failed as it has become hard for Nigerians to trust their leaders even if the leaders happen to be well-intentioned. Hence it is imperative that we embrace a strong attitudinal change to bring our nation on course again.