Nigeria in 11: Ways to Drastically Improve Her

Written for: Omo Naija Magazine

It is easy to point fingers from afar. And to blame is human. Nigeria has a plethora of problems plaguing her, yes. Dying malnourished children, ignored homeless orphans, death on the highway, robbery, murder, generator pollution, boundless unemployment, preventable and treatable diseases, filth, murder… Fifty years after “independence”. Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoy three meals a day, relative safety and all the western comforts.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, richest man in Nigeria

There are an alarming number of malnourished children in resource-rich Nigeria.

There is plenty of food to go around.

Lots of Un-cultivated Organic Produce

A Very Robust Retail Industry.

Some of the World's Most Extravagant Weddings.

In a perfect world, none of these would exist and Nigeria would be a place that graduates could return to and find meaningful enriching work, and wealth. They would not have to worry about being robbed at the airport, having to bribe their way home on the highway. They would not have to worry about their children being kidnapped and sold into slavery or for rituals. They would not have to worry about losing their assets to lawlessness. This could happen.

However, for Nigeria’s ailments, this writer will not blame politicians, foreign infiltrators nor robbers. This writer will blame herself. I, Ololade Rukayat Aliyu, take full blame for the problems plaguing Nigeria. As a citizen who did not yet go back and till the land, teach children, feed children, build houses and schools, I am to blame. As a citizen who did not yet build solar panels, dye cloth and organize the people, I am to blame. A beautiful future for Nigeria—better yet for Afrika—is not in the hands of those we blame everyday. It is in your hands and mine. We could all do something unselfish.

1. Solar Power

Nigeria remains without consistent power supply in many areas throughout the country. Citizens are fueling their own western appliances with their own noisy generators. Generators that spew fuel into the air on a semi-permanent basis. Would you sleep next to your car while it is running? I wouldn’t. This is practically what many of our fellow citizens are doing, breathing toxic gasoline all day.

Solar Power is an energy form that has been tried and tested. Green homes throughout the United States are powered solely on sunlight. Nigeria, just a few hundred miles from the equator, certainly beats any part of the U.S. in a sunlight competition. Solar power is the answer to the energy crisis in Nigeria, as well as the energy crises throughout the world. Invest the two cents you have in a solar roof, and watch your pockets fatten and your breathing clear up.

American Home with Solar Panels

2. Farming & Rural Development

Nigerians complain about Lagos as if it were the only livable part of the colony. As if the only option that a Nigerian citizen has is to live on top of other Nigerian citizens and fight for air and breathing space in this same 999.6 km².

Cocoa Farmer Nigeria

Leave Lagos! Yeah I said it. Lagos is not the only town in Nigeria. We must explore and develop—carefully—other parts of the land. We must settle elsewhere, reserving land for parks, wildlife, etc. While one might live like a pauper in Lagos, he might live like a King in Offa. He can build a decent sized, modern home—with solar panels…and grow his own food.

Farmer

Nigeria’s land is vast and in many places undeveloped. There is tons of rich soil for those who are prepared to do some proper farming. Who must beg for food and water if even 1000 square feet of farmland is made available to them, if a well is dug…with proper education on the same. If you’re not the farming type, not the type who cares to know where his food comes from and what is in it, sponsor someone else to live off the land. Change their life.

Farmers

Urban gardening is also an option for those in the cities who still can’t get the matrix plug out of the back of their neck. In our “compounds”, our houses are surrounded by cement. Break up the cement and grow some tomatoes! Some spinach! Use pots to grow ewedu and okra. Plant mango trees!

3. Bamboo Processing and other Renewable Natural Resources

The green craze has caused the remembering of so many renewable resources that have always existed. Everywhere we’re searching for new sources of paper, wood, even food! Did you know that hidden away in the Nigerian Rainforest may be an Afrikan equivalent to the famous goji berries? And that kola nuts are the original ingredient in coca-cola? Did you know that bamboo, currently the most popular renewable wood source, grows wild in Nigeria? Coconuts, now being used to make everything from oil to sugar to wood pulp—are everywhere? Who is investing in these? You should be.

Bamboo in Nigeria

 

4. Textile Revival

Nigeria is home to some of the most beautiful textile traditions in the world. Homegrown cotton, homegrown indigo dyes, homegrown talent. Anything as beautiful as our own Adire is the stuff of museums. The intricate weaving process, the intricate dying and design is unmatched by anything one can silk-screen. Why would anyone want to wear anything less? It took Ralph Lauren and Beyonce for us to come to recognize that our fashions are not just beautiful, but valuable! The stuff they’re wearing isn’t even the real thing. Now, what?

Here is an industry that could bring wealth to Nigeria and to talented individuals with few other job prospects.

Adire - Textile Art

5. Spiritual Renewal

Let us change ourselves individually and collectively. Let us begin to act like the Christians and the Muslims and the Spiritualists that we are. Showing absolute love to our neighbors and ourselves. Let us each become people who are honorable and honest, full of integrity; sharing what we have with those less fortunate. Let us make it our personal responsibility to help our neighbors out of poverty.

6. Language

A people are united by a common language. A native common language. Without invoking those who have oppressed us, let us speak a common language to one another. Instead of prohibiting “vernacular” in the schools, perhaps we should teach Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo to all children in high forms. This is guaranteed to increase unity across nations and strong cultural identity, which leads to improved contributions to one’s culture.

7. Denouncing the western Diet

Our people once could boast that western diseases didn’t reach us, though we had our plight of malaria. But now, that McDonald’s and KFC are settled on West Afrika’s shores, and we have we are dying of cancer, diabetes and other fatal diseases at alarming rates. Maggi, the primary “spice” used in much of Nigerian cooking is effective because it contains MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), a flavor enhancer also linked with several symptoms. Knorr cubes, often believed to be the healthy alternative, contain MSG as well. White rice—eaten in Nigeria only in the last 50 years—and white bread are bleached with chemicals that kill rats. Yet Nigerians eat these things everyday. Foods that are guaranteed to be connected to long-term fatal diseases. The packaged iyan bought in Afrikan food stores abroad is packed in hydrogenated oils, our foods are cooked with questionable GMO vegetable oils. Whereas there are restaurants like Buka that actually pound their pounded yam. How did anyone manage to convince us to give up our yams for white termite-egg-looking rice? Can we get back to eating our own food, real food, please?

Nigerian Yam Porridge

8. Subsidize Small Schools

While it may take a major investment to build a large school, it takes very little to start a small school. The educated who can’t find jobs can certainly teach children. Even those with jobs can. If not in their living room, they can teach in the park, on the beach. The weather’s almost always nice. Religious institutions could offer their space to teaching groups. Although, churches could certainly open their generous Christian doors. Perhaps then, 100% of our children can learn to read. This would certainly require organization and standardization, but it can be done.

9. Build relationships with Africans Abroad

Our strength is always in unity. Our demise is always in the thoughts that divide us, the “she’s prettier than me” and the “he’s richer than me”, or “I’m better than them”. If we can—just for moments long enough to build strong ties—communicate across the ocean, we might come to trust each other again. If we go home regularly to check on our investments—those that provide enough room for the homeland partner to profit—perhaps we could make profit too.

In some independent schools in Brooklyn years ago, children wrote to their pen pals in Senegal and Kenya. If the mail carrier refuses to do his job, perhaps travelers can do it for him…

10. Encourage the crafts and arts and traditional music industry

The arts and carvings coming out of West Afrika are some of the most breathtaking in the world. Because of westernization, we have pushed everyone into doctors scrubs and lawyer wigs, looking down at and ostracizing artists, the very lifeblood of our original culture. Better than the Tuface’s and the D’Banj’s, there are the artists living Fela’s legacy. Fela, a man who every music corporation wants a piece of now, was beaten, jailed and tortured by his own. There are the Lawals of pen-and-ink paintings, the Bangboye’s, Twin Seven Seven, the Fakeyes. We don’t encourage or patronize them. Only old white ladies who work for museums like the Met do. Perhaps we should be the collectors of Afrikan Traditional Art. Perhaps we should be the wealthy ones.

Nigerian Art - David Osagie

11. Take full control of the Oil Industry

It would be nice if the Nigerian government woke up one day and said, “Hey, this is our land! Why in the world are we sharing it with these people? They have their own land. We have the brains and the resources to process our liquid gold ourselves.” In the meantime, it is up to us to become the government, to become the leaders of NNPC and to become the decision-makers in the oil industry. Maybe a little Christian, Muslim or Traditional Juju would help us do so.

Nigerian Crude Oil

By addressing these issues hands-on, we can eliminate the possibility for poverty and minimize the violence on the ground today. These steps will give wealth to the marginalized population, feed the hungry, educate the populace and transform the economy. You are the solution to Nigeria’s problems. Take a little bit of that wedding fund and put food in some mouths. When you get your tithes back on your tax return, put it towards a few books for children in Nigeria.

I pledge, to the soil from whence I was born, to do my part to remove my fellow citizens from suffering and violence. I will put my talents to use for good and not evil. I will address the needs of my country’s citizenry with the resources and means at my disposal. I will become a better citizen, friend and relative. I will do right by others and put the needs of others before my wants. I will be my brother’s keeper, and I will save my country. You should too.