MY FEAR FOR NIGERIA by Matthew Akhere

I used to believe and be optimistic that Nigeria's redemption lies in her current younger generation. I used to believe that the future of Nigeria will be much better than the current situation. But with what is happening now, all my optimism has disappeared in the thin air following recent events. With the way Nigeria is going, if we do not do something urgently, the younger generation will be more dangerous and destructive to Nigeria than the current generation who are full, pressed down and running over with corruption.

The current political leaders are using Nigeria's future leaders to aid and sustain their corruption activities. We are all aware of the story of how a certain governor in Jigawa state governor together with his son looted the state. The rented protest crowd that the thieving politicians are using to disturb the peace of the land and pollute the atmosphere are the younger generation.

We may not realize this, but the truth is that with the way current leaders are stealing and embezzling public funds, the way corruption stories are being put in the face of our youth, the younger generation  are being initiated and recruited into corruption.

There is an old saying that when a mother cow chews cord, the baby cow watches very keenly. There is a religious saying that faith cometh by hearing. Our younger people are not only hearing of how our older generation are stealing, they are also seeing. The younger generation are learning at the speed of light and aided by digital from the thieving older generation. The initiation is so brutal and sophisticated that we are building a more dangerous corrupt future leadership.

Our younger generation are learning how to steal, how to deny it, how to weep sentiments, and how to sustain it using rented crowd, bribing the judiciary, seeking asylum, religious and tribal methods, etc. And they are also learning how to use the digital. This makes the situation even more dangerous!

With the way things are now, whereby thieving politicians and public office holders are not brought to book and punished for their atrocities, where those who steal in high places are celebrated, where corrupt people are the ones making our laws, I am quite certain that if a survey is conducted today among Nigerian youths, many young Nigerians would want to be in a situation where they can steal. Even some of these youths who condemn corruption sometimes do so not because they hate it but because they are yet to have the opportunity to be corrupt.

The most worrisome aspect of the corruption situation in Nigeria is that every aspect of human endeavour that Nigeria's younger generation find itself stinks with corruption and money worshiping. From the home, to the place of worship, to learning institutions, to the streets and playing grounds, to the workplace, to our court room, corruption lives and breathes. This is the sad but honest situation.

The continuous fall in the value of Naira, the current economic recession, the loss of moral values in homes, the relegation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in our churches, the spread of baby factories and ritual dungeons, the increasing kidnapping activities, the increase in armed robbery cases, the rise in election rigging and killings, the Boko Haram insurgency, the militant activities in the Niger-Delta, etc, are result of corruption. In all of these, the younger generation are learning and getting involved.

The way the country is going, except we go back and do the needful, we are headed for disaster and a bad omen for our future.

We need to create a new Nigeria, build on integrity, honesty and hard work. We need to stop this current initiation and recruitment of the younger Nigerians into corruption by the political thieves. This can only happen if we support the Government of Muhammadu Buhari in his fight against corruption.

I have asked myself this question severally:  If Buhari fails (God forbid), who else among the current Nigerian leadership, can wage the honest war against corruption and build a better Nigeria? And I see none!

Therefore, i am calling on all well meaning Nigerians to join hands with the current in its fight against corruption and stop these political thieves from further manipulation and initiation of our younger generation into corruption. And the time is now. For the love of the country and our future generation.

God bless Nigeria.