Hellish Living In Nigeria?

I want to share an opinion today on my observation about an article I read today in The Nation newspaper columnist section by Gbenga Omotoso. It was titled 'A Hell of a Country'. http://thenationonlineng.net/new/gbenga-omotoso/hell-of-a-country/The article enumerated lot of present day challenges being faced by Nigerians. He surmised that all these problems make living in Nigeria look like living in hell. Is it the flood problem, kidnappings, armed robberies, lack of standard hospitals that make our leaders run abroad for treatments, corruption everywhere, and the father of all, Boko Haram insurgencies?

He opined that Nigerians are living as if in hell. The article made me laugh myself out because of the contribution the great columnist said he received as feedback from one of his respondents describing Nigerians as living like in hell in a most hilarious and jocular manner. I like to quote the response below:

“Three former leaders – from UK, US and Nigeria – went to hell. The first asked the devil to allow him make a call to London to inquire about the country’s welfare. He spent five minutes on the telephone. Satan billed him $5million. The ex-US leader also made a call and spent eight minutes. The bill: $8million.“Then, the ex-Nigerian leader called Abuja. He spent two hours. ‘How much be my bill?’ he asked Satan. ‘$1,’ he replied. Surprised, the former leader said: ‘But I stayed longer than them.’ Satan smiled, saying: ‘Calling hell from hell is not expensive; it’s a local call.’”

Are we really living in hell in Nigeria? If we take note of the levels of corruption, wanton killings, suicide bombings, unemployment, agitations among different ethnic nationalities, and various other myriads of challenges facing us as a nation, coupled with the poverty level in the country while the political class swim in unfathomable richness, one tends to agree that majority of Nigerians are living in hell.

However, I believe we have cause to be positive minded and hopeful. Moreover, I believe that the current travails are not peculiar to us alone and many countries that we envy today had journeyed along such path one time or the other in their past history. In addition, I think we are better off in democracy than the dark days of military incursions into our life.

Democratic practice will continue to flourish as we gradually relinquish the military mentality unleashed on the nation as a result of the long military rule. I think we are getting better as a nation. I am not living in hell. I live in Nigeria.  Today's  living may be alien to paradise type and close to hellish living, yet it is a clarion call on all of us to make a positive change on our nation. If we decide to chase off hellish living, we can do it.

This is my opinion. Readers comments and contributions are welcome.