Catherine Tamara Oyewole
I have witnessed celebrations of Nigerian’s independence year after year, and the National/ International (For those in Diaspora) event is always a sight to behold on all broadcasting platforms. I still remember all the glamour of match passes, displays of the Nigerian flag, and the public holiday associated with October 1st, it was worth waiting for as a child. I remember waiting for what I termed; “The Freedom Speech” read out by our past Presidents. To me, it was always a green, white green party, as that formed our dress code for the day to a large extent.
I can also remember my inner screams of “I am free” as a teenager, after seeing foreign movies that showed content of what slavery entails. Being a slave either by choice or force is not what we will ordinarily term as “icing on the cake” instead, a “manmade hell” and Prison without walls.
How can an independent Nation have people who are yet to embrace freedom, but are still bent on enslaving themselves to ideas of those who they have unknowingly placed as masters over them?
Freedom is a Choice!
The prison doors might be open wide, but it takes only those who understand what it means to be free, to see it as an opportunity to be independent, having a right to choices and life. Freedom is having a right to creativity and innovation and using them for your sustenance, instead of depending on another for survival.
Freedom is having the ability to make right choices for yourself and everyone attached to you, without necessarily relying on the choices of others.
‘I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will’ –Charlotte Brontë
The Land is Green!
Every time, I hear the song by Ty Bello; “The land is green”, it reminds me of opportunities lying everywhere. We are free to annex and harvest these opportunities. Nigeria is in her current state because of you and I. Her arms are open wide, waiting for us to solve all her problems. There is unemployment because most of us are yet to cultivate our ideas, bringing a harvest that create job opportunities. Most of our youths have failed to see that their talents are needed in governance and not in adding more to series of complaint without solutions.
The land is Green, we are free men and women. Let us come together to build a stronger world, a better Nigeria that will bring about our total independence.