Nigeria occupies several kilometers in the West Africa land and has the greatest number of about l70 million people amongst the black nations of the world. Nigeria was colonised by the Britons and a member of the common wealth nations as well as that of the United Nations. Nigeria was in the seventy’s described as the Giant of Africa but today Nigeria is just a mere country that cannot defend her nation and a laughing stock among the comity of states because of so many reasons. But despite all these huge problems, I see Nigeria as one nation that shall rise again if all and sundry work hand in hand to effect the ‘CHANGE’ needed in our daily activities and the will of the political leaders to lead by example and forgo corruption and greed in the governance of the country.
When on October 1 1960, the British handed to us the Nigeria flag signifying self independence we were all full of hope and very optimistic that things were going to be better but the reverse is the case now.
The greed started by our foremost leaders when in 1966 during a meeting in Aburi, Ghana while eventually resulted in the Nigeria civil war. This was a war between the Federal government of Nigeria and the then Eastern Region headed by then Col.  Odumegwu Ojukwu and the Head of State of Nigeria then was General Yakubu Gowon. The war lasted for about three years and the rebel side (Igbos) were captured by the Federal troops in 1970. The war ended with a lot of causalities and death, social and economic disasters.
After the war corruption and inflation started in Nigeria by the day. The military men continued to stage one coup or the other to become the head of state. Less attention was put into building a lasting economic infrastructure.
The last straw that destroyed the nation was the discovery of oil wells in the south-south Nigeria. Nigeria which had depended on the natural resources derailed, because of the revenue from oil is very easy and very fast to access, so all attentions were jeared towards crude oil which was on high demand and very costly. God blessed Nigeria with the crude oil to but very few Nigerians are the ones enjoying it.
The groundnut pyramid in the North, cocoa in the west, coal and palm oil in the east  and cocoa, timber, rice in the mid west were neglected to rot away. If crude oil was not discovered Nigeria would have been among the civilized countries in the world. The revenue from oil is so much that if our leaders were devoid of corruption and greed it would be a different story. The Elites and few leaders shared the oil wells among themselves while the Federal Government collects some percentages as revenue. Even the collected revenue were looted by these same tiny percentage of the ruling class.
Nigeria is the only country among the oil producing nations of the world where the citizens cannot afford one square meal a day what a shame! Our security system is almost the worst in the world and wouldn’t have been this bad if the wealth is distributed evenly among all by ensuring that infrastructures are built. The high level of youths employment would not have been there. More people would have been educated and electricity would have been stable by now. The gap between the ruling class and the masses is too. The flamboyant lifestyle of the ruling class is also very worrisome. You hear of the Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, kidnapping and robberies in the South, which are signs of or failed state. No sane and well educated being will go on suicide mission or kidnapping. Without the security of life and properties no international community will be interested in investing in Nigeria. We failed to use the opportunity of the discovery of crude oil to help the nation. The price of petroleum products among oil producing nations is also the highest in Nigeria. WHY? Sometime there are no petrol or kerosene to buy at all. Kerosene sells for about N140 per litre.
There are a lot of frustrations in our daily life because a lot of things are not working. The military Government could not do it and thank God for the United Nations that continues to encourage the government on the path of democracy other wise, Nigeria would still have been under military government today.
In 1999 when nascent democracy took off, our leaders continued with the looting of the government treasury to build their family empires and palatial gardens at the detriment of the masses. Because of ignorance the masses continued to praise them.
If all will have a rethink and work against corruption Nigeria will bounce back again. The 1999 constitution as amended does not pose a clear fight against corruption and the corrupt. It needs amendment, so that the immunity clause and the plea bargain should be expunged entirety from the constitution. This has been encouraging corruption. It is on record that some former Governors that were found guilty of stealing their states money to the tune of billions of naira are today enjoying their ill-gotten money without any serious sanctions. If the Government can mete out adequate punishment to those people who have stolen government funds and make them to forfeit their illegal wealth and properties to the government, Nigeria will rise again. This act will also serve as deterrence to would be politicians and public officers who might nurse this intention. Our orientation of praising the rich without regard to how they made the money must be discontinued.
It is only good governance that will  guarantee better future and improvement in the security.