WHAT IS WRONG, AFRICA?

  I HAVE BEEN SURPRISINGLY FOLLOWING THE REACTIONS OF SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, CONCERNING THE WORLD LEADERS´ MARCH IN PARIS TO CONDEMN THE RECENT TERRORISTS ATTACK IN WHICH 17 PEOPLE DIED, MOST OF THE COMMENTS LAMBASTED AND QUESTIONED THE HYPOCRISY BEHIND THESE WESTERN LEADERS, WHO DO NOT REGARD SIMILAR ATTACKS ELSEWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN NIGERIA AND SOME OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF IMPORTANCE, IT WOULD BE RECALLED THAT RIGHT ABOUT THE TIME THAT THE PARIS ATTACK WAS GOING ON, A TERRORIST GROUP IN NIGERIA KNOWN AS THE BOKO HARAM WAS SAID TO HAVE KILLED 2,000 NIGERIANS (UNOFFICIAL FIGURE) WHICH THE GOVERNMENT LATER PUT AT ABOUT 150.

  MY OWN REACTION TO THAT IS THIS; WHY DOES THE BLACK MAN ALWAYS LOOK FOR LOVE AND COMPREHENSION FROM OUTSIDE WHEN HE DOES NOT EVEN LOVE NOR UNDERSTAND HIMSELF AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES?

  HOW DID OUR OWN LEADERS TAKE AND REACT TO THE NEWS OF THESE MASS KILLINGS IN BORNO STATE? HOW HAVE THEY BEEN REACTING TO THE DIFFERENT ATTACKS CARRIED OUT BY THE BOKO HARAM GROUP?

  THE TRUTH IS THIS, NOBODY WILL EVER FOLLOW A MAN WHO DOES NOT TAKE A STEP, THE FRENCH PRESIDENT AND THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT IMMEDIATELY ACTIVATED EVERY MECHANISM AND MACHINERY AT THEIR DISPOSAL TO ARREST THE SITUATION AND IMMEDIATELY REPUDIATE THE KILLINGS OF ITS CITIZENS IN THE HANDS OF THESE TERRORISTS, BUT ON THE CONTRARY, OUR GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA HAS ALWAYS MADE IT APPEAR AS IF NOTHING IS AMISS AND THAT LIFE GOES ON…. I SAW OUR ARMY DEFENCE CHIEF COME ON THE AIR TO IMMEDIATELY REFUTE THE ALLEGATION THAT 2,000 PERSONS HAD DIED IN THE BOKO HARAM ATTACK, IT WAS AS IF HE WAS EVEN PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE FIGURE WAS ONLY AROUND A 150 PEOPLE. IF OUR GOVERNMENT DOES NOT VALUE THE LIVES OF ITS CITIZENS, WHO THEN DO YOU EXPECT TO VALUE IT FOR US?

  ABOUT 20% TO 27% OF OUR ANNUAL BUDGET OF 2014 IN NIGERIA WAS ALLOCATED TO SECURITY, THAT IS ABOUT N1 trillion, YET WE READ EVERYDAY IN THE MEDIA HOW BOKO HARAM MEN STORMED A MILLITARY BARRACK AND ALL THE OFFICERS IN THE BARRACK FLED LEAVING BEHIND THEIR ARMS AND AMMUNITIONS TO THE TERRORISTS.

  YES, SOLIDARITY IS IMPORTANT, BUT SOMETIMES THOSE WHO HAVE A PROBLEM NEED TO START FIGHTING HARD SO THAT EVENTUALLY PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE CAN SEE THAT YOU HAVE DONE YOUR BEST AND NEEDS HELP TO COMPLEMENT YOUR EFFORTS. 

  

  WHEN THE WORLD GATHERED ON THE ISSUE OF THE ABDUCTED NIGERIAN GIRLS, SOME TIME AGO, COLLAPSING ALL THE SOCIAL NETWORK AND THE INTERNET WITH A COMMON CAMPAIGN TO BRING BACK OUR GIRLS, WHAT CAME OUT OF IT? THE LAST WE HEARD FROM OUR SERVICE CHIEFS WAS THAT THEY KNOW WHERE THE GIRLS ARE BEING HELD HOSTAGE AND THAT THEY WILL SOON FREE THEM, THAT WAS MORE THAN SIX MONTHS AGO.

  THE TRUTH IS THIS, THE WORLD AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE FED UP OF US, AFRICA IS REFUSING TO GROW IN SPITE OF ALL ITS NATURAL AND HUMAN RESOURCES. OUR WOES ARE NO LONGER SHOCKING NEWS, WE HAVE MADE CATASROPHE APPEAR A NORMAL OCCURRENCE, AND TODAY, UNFORTUNATELY THE DEATH OF A MILLION APPEARS EQUALLY AS IRRELEVANT AS THAT OF ANY STREET DOG WITHOUT AN OWNER. 

  UNTIL WE REALIZE IN AFRICA THAT WE ARE WHO WE´VE GOT AND BEGIN TO ADDRESS OUR CHALLENGES WITH HONESTY, LOVE AND THE TRUE SPIRIT OF BROTHERHOOD, WE WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN THE WORLD´S LAUGHING STOCK.