By Kayode Emola
When a ship is sinking, it would be expected that everyone on board is evacuated to safety immediately. One should not wait for the captain’s assurance of safety before you start making moves on how to get on to the lifeboats if there are any available or beckon on nearby ships for help. Instincts will begin to set in that the situation is now a case of an emergency and action must be taken, or else everyone on board may perish. However, Nigeria’s situation is worst than a sinking ship as the ship sunk a long while ago and instead of its people jumping out as fast as they can, they are busy trying to salvage a sunk ship,
For over 100 years, we have been lied to that we are a country, yet, there is no Nigerian language apart from the corrupted English vernacular we speak. As far as anyone can tell, there is no Nigerian food and there is no Nigerian culture other than the western culture that we import. On the other hand, there is a Yoruba, Igbo, Efik, Hausa, Gbagyi, and many other languages within Nigeria. There is also Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, and many other cultural foods within the territory of Nigeria.
Just recently, the central bank governor of Nigeria decided to change the currency design of the country to mitigate the enormous amount of cash trapped in the system. Following from that, the CBN has within this week capped the amount anyone can withdraw at a POS to ₦20,000 (around $25). In the same vein, someone cannot withdraw more than ₦100,000 (around $125) in the branch in a month. In a world that is supposed to be a global village, the Nigerian government seems to be enjoying pushing more people into abject poverty.
In a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 133 million Nigerians now live in abject poverty. Rather than the government focusing on policies that will elevate the status of these people, they are intending to push more people into poverty. We may recall that Nigeria surpassed India in May 2018 with the most people living in abject poverty recording over 80 million that year. The latest statistics show that more than 50 million people have been driven into poverty within a period of 5 years.
Rather than for our people to look at the bigger picture of how we got here and how we can escape this plague of poverty afflicting our people, they are more interested in changing the guard rather than changing the system. World Bank report this week shows that Nigeria will spend 160% of its revenue on debt servicing alone except broad-based reforms are implemented to unfreeze the fiscal space. We now know that the Nigerian government is fighting hard to prevent a financial crisis, however, their approach is now driving more people into poverty than they themselves realise.
In this year alone, the Nigerian government spent 119% of its retained earnings on debt servicing between January and April. A big sign that the country is now on the fiscal cliff and with its current trajectory, Nigeria is on the highway to Armageddon, yet my people are too blind to see it. If the country’s debt-to-revenue ratio which has now exceeded 100% for the first time in history is not a worrying development for the Yoruba elders, then they do not have the interest of their people at heart.
With all this financial stress on the Nigerian economy coupled with the heightened insecurity, it is very evident that the only option left for indigenous nationalities in Nigeria is to jump out of the failed Nigeria experiment before it’s too late. Our people must take a stand for the establishment of their own independent sovereign nations outside Nigeria. This is the only available option that will help us better manage our resources and better the lot of our people trapped in abject poverty. We need to clamour for the total dissolution of Nigeria as it is no longer a viable entity and anything short of dissolution is just an effort in futility.
The advocacy for the Yoruba sovereign nation is now coming to its climax and our people should be ready to embrace their new nation. We should be ready to speak in an unequivocal tone to the world that all we want is our own independent nation outside of Nigeria. We should not be intimidated by the noise of fear and the forces of doom standing in our way. This is the time for us to be bold for our nation and be ready to take our destiny into our own hands.
For those still contemplating the establishment of an independent Yoruba Nation, all I will say is to think about those who are being kidnapped on a daily basis. What if it is your family member, will you sit down, fold your hands and continue to sing the praises of the same government that failed to protect your loved ones? I am very certain the answer is No, and if that is the case, I believe the time is now for us to determine our future once and for all. Let us take our destiny into our hands and ensure the safety of our loved ones either physically or economically is assured in the land that God has given to us.
The Yoruba Big Rally is fast approaching and it is our opportunity to show the entire world that the Yoruba people are speaking with one voice to leave Nigeria. Let our voices be louder than those of our oppressors who are determined to leave us in penury and starvation. We must come out all over the world when we are being called upon this year in our various locations to stand in solidarity for our dear land and our folks back home. We must not be intimated by the guns and tanks of the government and their collaborators who intend to subjugate us. History is about to be made that the Yoruba people stood with one accord to push back their enemies who tried to take over their lands by force. We must stand up, speak out, and together make the world hear us.
