Nigeria Prays

I saw the picture above, taken in 1973, which shows Nigeria's former military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), shaking hands with the Prime Minister-designate of Canada, Justin Trudeau, who was two years old then, and rued Nigeria's missed opportunities at greatness.

Today, Gowon is the so-called 'convener' of Nigeria Prays, a group he formed in 1996, with the blessing of General Sani Abacha who was Nigeria's military dictator then. According to him, he formed the group to "intercede for Nigeria" and has also said that Nigeria is being sustained by prayers, even suggesting that the Boko Haram menace could be ended with prayers.

When Gowon was head of state, he infamously said that Nigeria's problem was not money but how to spend it. This was in the early years of Nigeria's 'oil boom'. Today, oil prices are less than half of what it was 2 years ago, and most of Nigeria's oil wealth have been stolen, and are still being stolen, by Gowon's peers. While Trudeau will become Canada's Prime Minister shortly, Nigeria is still being run by Gowon's antiquated contemporaries. It is therefore no surprise that Nigeria is languishing at the bottom of every developmental index.

Nigerians can pray all they want; prayers do not work - they never have and they never will. Countries are run by men and women who have an idea of what it takes to build a great nation, and they work towards it; Nigerians want to pray their country into greatness. The bible says in Isaiah 40:31 that "they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." My version is shorter - those that wait upon the lord shall wait forever. And that is a fact. And that is why Nigeria will never be great.