I was in primary 3 when Mr Akkufo explained why the pronoun “her” is sometimes used for countries, a kind of personification. His simple explanation was that the citizens are children of the country, which is the mother, which is why the pronoun is used. That explanation has stayed with me ever since.
Now, when we think of who a mother is, instinctively, we think of nature, protection, and provision. In a small survey we conducted, we asked respondents who they trusted most with secrets; more than 90% said their mothers. That is to say that mothers are seen as custodians of secrets, someone you can be most vulnerable with because there is no one who can bear to see you at your lowest, except a mother. And this is because a mother will do anything to make sure her children are not subject to the wiles of a wicked world.
To complete the picture: a mother does not only protect; she provides. The idea is that you cannot be left lonely or provisionless, regardless of how much protection you have been given. That is why Nigeria has resources, population, land, and everything we think is needed in exact proportion. Now the onus is on the children to determine the best use of the resources bestowed by the mother.
Since 1999, 27 years ago, Nigeria has had 5 presidents, and 170 individuals have served as state governors, including multiple administrations, re-elections, and court-mandated changes. All these political officials are products of Nigeria; they were entrusted with the task of ensuring that the resources not only reach other children but are also used to create wealth and prosperity for all. The process they have used to seemingly transparently select the people who will represent the children is democracy, which simply allows everyone to have a say in who should be in charge of these resources and our lives. We will come back to this process later.
The leaders we have entrusted with our lives and resources have struggled to deliver sustained, broad-based transformation in the sectors that touch most lives. The corruption tied to our major resource, supposed to bring prosperity to the children of the land, has instead brought sadness, killed ecosystems, and enriched the pockets of those in charge.
Education, which should train the next set of leaders and managers so the cycle continues, has been underfunded in ways that feel intentional, producing low-confidence graduates that leaders can easily berate as “uneducated,” while their own children are sent abroad to the best and most expensive schools, building dynasties that mimic monarchy: democratic positions systematically aligned to keep power within familiar circles.
Agriculture is neglected; the food basket of the nation is a ghost town crawling with bandits, and it is now one of the most insecure places in the country. The troops expected to protect our borders are underpaid, neglected, and sent to the front without the required support. The power sector, perhaps the most vital lifeblood of modern civilisation, is riddled with corruption, inefficiency, and unaccountability, and it is the best mirror of what Nigeria is right now.
And the people who have been given the responsibility to choose these leaders have been conditioned to think only about the now, deceived into eating the unsteady crumbs that fall from the pockets of the same people who keep them trapped.
It is so sad. So sad that the children of Nigeria started to run from their mother because the people entrusted to create a functioning society could be so careless, and the ones meant to hold them accountable do not even know what to do, but still claim superiority by proximity.
It is finished. Unless we change what we reward and what we tolerate.
So when you hear phrases like “We will heal,” “7 Point Agenda,” “Power to the people,” “Transformation Agenda,” “Mandate,” “Renewed Hope,” or “New Nigeria,” ask what it means for the whole, not your tribe, not your religion, not your “turn,” but the whole. Ask what it means for electricity, water, housing, education, agriculture, and security. Because if the benefits do not reach more people than you can name, the chances are the majority is being left out.