Develop Your Country Not For Them But For You Too

By Ogiri John Ogiri

The outbreak of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic in the world and eventually in our country, Nigeria, has exposed the folly of deliberately neglecting the development of the country by our political leaders over the years. It has taught us one unforgettable lesson and that is, even if you do not sleep at home because you can afford a bed in the most luxurious hotel elsewhere, you should at least furnish your house, not just because your family needs it but also because you will need the same furnished accommodation one day when the accommodation outside cannot take you anymore.
As a political office holder, there comes a time when it becomes obviously glaring that the country and the people you have deliberately kept in abject poverty cannot protect you when a major crisis like this one breaks out. At such a time as this when you can no longer fly into another country because all borders are closed to outsiders and you are compelled by the circumstance to stay in your country, only your achievements or failures can protect you. The hospitals you built or the ones you refused to build and equip;the roads you built or the ones you failed to develop; the electricity problem you solved or the ones you refused to solve;the vulnerable people you secured or the ones you failed to protect, defend and save from insurgency and other acts of terrorism; the schools you built or the ones you refused to build and equip;the pipe-borne water you provided or the one you failed to provide for the people; the mass housing you made available or the ones you failed to build for others; the transport infrastructure you built or the ones you failed to build and equip for others to use; these are the things that can eventually protect you. However,when you fail to do all these in your country, you will have nothing to fall back on when Europe, America, China, India, Dubai,Saudi Arabia, Russia,etc shut their doors on your children and you as they have currently done to protect their own citizens. Then you will be forced to stay in your country you failed to develop and make do with those infrastructure you built or failed to build. Sometimes, you build or develop your country, not only because the people need it but also because that is what you will need when you may not be allowed to freely flee your country to another more developed country of your choice and taste in the event of a major emergency breaking out. Therefore,be a more foresighted politician when next you get there.

©Ogiri John Ogiri.

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