I felt pained that I'm a Nigerian in this generation of looters
after reading what
Mandela said about us:
"You know I am not very happy with Nigeria. I have made that
very clear on many occasions. Yes, Nigeria stood by us more
than any nation, but you let yourselves
down, and Africa and the black race very
badly . Your leaders have no respect for their people. They
believe that their personal
interests are the interests of the people.
They take people’s resources and turn it
into personal wealth.
"There is a level of poverty in Nigeria that should be
unacceptable. I cannot understand why Nigerians are not
angry than they are..
“What do young Nigerians think about your
leaders and their country and Africa? Do you
teach them history? Do you have lessons on
how your past leaders stood by us and gave us large amounts
of money? You know I hear
from Angolans and Mozambicans and Zimbabweans how
your people opened their hearts and their homes to them. I
was i prison then, but we know how your leader punished
western companies who supported Apartheid.
“What about the corruption and the crimes? Your elections
are like wars. Now we hear that you cannot be president in
Nigeria unless you
are Muslim or Christian. Some people tell me
your country may break up. Please don’t let it happen.
“Let me tell you what I think you need to do. You should
encourage leaders to emerge who will not confuse public
office with sources of making personal wealth. Corrupt
people do
not make good leaders. Then you have to spend a lot of your
resources for education.
"Educate children of the poor, so that they can get out of
poverty. Poverty does not breed confidence. Only confident
people can bring changes. Poor, uneducated people can also
bring change, but it will be hijacked by th educated and the
wealthy...give young Nigerians good education. Teach them
the
value of hard work and sacrifice, and
discourage them from crimes which are
destroying your image as a good people.”
******* The Great Nelson Mandela (RIP) in an
interview with Nigeria’s Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed’s in 2007
excerpted from an article, first published in Peoples Daily.
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