STEEMIT ENGAGEMENT CHALLENGE || Three Things I love about my country and Three Changes I would love to make by @chikezie4l
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Hello everyone and welcome to my post on this engagement contest. Honestly, from the first time I got to see it I knew I'd love to participate cause it really let's my communicate my feelings about my country, the things I like and what I love to change.
In this post, I'll be dropping important facts about my country and also answering the questions of which the contest is about.
ABOUT MY COUNTRY, NIGERIA
NIGERIA is a country which has a large land mass located in the Western part of Africa. She is gifted with a lot of natural resources, landmarks and parks. It consists of 36 states brought into existence by various statesman and it's current capital is Abuja.
Nigeria is a multilingual, multicultural country which has 3 major ethnic groups which are Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. Nigeria is divided into 6 geopolitical zones and they consists of South South, South East, South West, North East, North West and North Central and has a population of over 218 million people. it houses about 250 different ethnic groups speaking their unique languages.
I am Igbo by tribe and my home town is located in the south eastern region of Nigeria.
My country practices the Democratic system of government but it's sad to say that it's not really a government for the people. The current president is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and honestly speaking, he's not doing well for the country.
Nigeria gained its independence on the 1st of October 1960 after being colonized and ruled indirectly by Britain.
There's a lot to say about my country but I'll just stop here.
3 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY COUNTRY
- OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TRADITION
As I said earlier, Nigeria houses over 250 ethnic groups and with that, a diverse cultural heritage. We have our unique way of life even before the colonials came, little by little they entice our village heads and rulers with gifts never seen before and that's when the colonization process started.
In as much as they tried changing our way of life, we held on to our rich and indigenous practices which made us who we are, Nigerians.
For a country with so many ethnic groups, it is impossible to not carry out the practices of our culture. One of our cultural practice is the celebration of festivals. Festivals are a way of bringing people and culture together. Some of these festivities includes the Ofala festival, the new yam festival celebrated by the Igbos, the Arugungu fishing festival celebrated by the northerners and the Eyo Festival held in Lagos.
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In these festival, there are usually Masquerades seen in them. Masquerades are believed to be spirits in corporeal form dressed in cultural attire and are usually accompanied by the youths. They signify many different things and they come in different shapes and sizes.
- NATURAL RESOURCES
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Nigeria is blessed with various natural resources which consists of natural gas, crude oil, iron ore, coal, aquatic life, limestone, zinc, niobium, lead, renewable water resources, arable land and wildlife, etc. Nigeria has these resources in abundance, even enough to compete with 1st world countries but it's sad that these resources are being underutilized. If our focus shifts from Crude oil, I believe that this country would be great again.
When the colonials came, they took advantage of our ignorance by giving us cheap gifts in exchange for our natural resources.
- FOOD
Nigeria has a variety of meals prepared from different ethics groups. These meals includes foods, soups, stews, snacks meat and fish. Each meal is unique to where it comes from for instance, the Igbos signature meal lies in its soups you have the Ofe Oha, Onugbu, Egwusi and Nsala and a meal prepared from cassava is the Abacha.
Some Igbo soups are seen below
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The Yoruba people have Efo riro, Ewa Agoyin etc.
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The Hausa people have Tuwo shinkafa usually accompanied with miyan kuka soup. Koko and Kosai ( mostly taken as a breakfast meal) then they have Awara.
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One would surely love this country just for the nice meals prepared.
3 THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE
- INSECURITY
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The level of security in Nigeria is appalling. It seems as though we do not have security at all because the rate at which people get killed, bandits terrorising rural communities and kidnapping occurs with no one held accountable is really something to be worried about.
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I stay in Kaduna and of recent there was an attack in an area not to far from mine, the sound of gun shots at night would keep you on your toes without sleep.
There was also an incident that occurred in the Abuja-Kaduna train route which claimed the lives a number of persons including a young and promising female doctor in the name of Dr. Chinelo Nwando due to the terror attack.
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Lives and properties have meaning and must be protected. I added this first because it's of utmost importance which I'd like to change.
- THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT
We often hear people say that the children / youths are the leaders of tomorrow but here in Nigeria, the government is filled with people who are almost as old as the life expectancy rate of Nigeria and the sad thing is that the politics of Nigeria is greatly influenced by godfatherism and nepotism. In as much as experience and wisdom is required, they're just there to commit crimes and cover it up with the power which they acquired by seating in that position. The people aren't taken into consideration at all.
Imagine what happened in October 20th 2020, the #Endsars protest which ended in brutality, bloodshed and lost of lives. It was a peaceful protest, the civilians were unarmed but they were shot at my the military, people who are supposed to be protecting them. What did the President say about this, nothing, he claimed ignorant and expressed shock about the development as usual.
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When the government is changed we can bring in newer faces, strengths and wisdom in order to lead Nigeria to a better future and I am hopeful that one day, we would achieve that and before the giant of Africa we once were.
- IMPROVING HEALTH CARE
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This is another area that requires change as we have so many people who living below a dollar a day not being able to afford proper health care. There should be reserves put in place for people like this, people who requires emergency attention due to an accident for instance where there's a terror attack and injuries sustained, how are they to be catered for when they can't even afford medicine for headache or common cold.
Cases where there's a new disease outbreaks like Ebola, Lassa fever and the Covid-19 which required international intervention to provide medicines as cure or as vaccinations. Remember there are people living below a dollar a day, how do you think they'll have access to these drugs, even if they're free, they wouldn't get them.
I once volunteered to become a member of the red cross society which offer first aid treatments to the injured and I've seen a lot that would make you shed tears. I really hope that the health care aspect of Nigeria improve and that is what I want to strive to change with my little ability.
CONCLUSION
I can only do so little but together we can make Nigeria great again if these changes were to be put in place. I love my country regardless and I really appreciate the community, Steemit Pakistan for bringing this up and letting me write about my country. I thank you
I'd like to invite the likes of @Whitestallion, @ronindboss, @ngoenyi, @chiabertrand, and @weasel to take part in this contest in order for me to view Nigeria from another persons perspective.
Yours always,
@chikezie4l