A Letter to My Countrymen
by
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We must be awake for long hours in the night, in thought about our country and how to make it better. If we cannot lose sleep for this great country, then who will? We are intelligent, good natured and passionate people. We have it in us to succeed in our politics, and to support programmes that work for our children, youth, and elderly; the jobless, as well as the abused men and women. Nigerians, the question is what programmes do we have for these people? In our educational system, we can stop exam malpractice, cheating, bribing of lecturers for better grades, and selling admissions. We can train our teachers to have international standards, and we can pay them well so that they do not need to compromise their integrity to give our children better grades. We can help reorient them to have pride in their work and continuously improve for the sake of the children they are teaching. We can build adequate facilities to take care of our children in any form or state. Ghana is now educating our children for us. What went wrong here, Nigerians? Are they richer than us? Are they better or more intelligent? Why did we give up on our integrity and standard? Why did we not fight a wrong orientation? It is our mindset that is the problem, and we all know how to change it. Please let us say, “We can.” A Letter to My Countrymen 5 In our churches, we cannot understand why the most religious nation comes to be among the most corrupt. What are our spiritual leaders doing wrong? Why are Sunday and Monday different in our lives? What will our God say to us after hearing our proclamation, adoration, supplication, and worship on Sundays—and yet seeing us on Mondays as cheats, liars, abusers, kidnappers, murderers, thieves, and looters of national treasures? The issue here is that yes, these crimes exist all over the world, but other countries have a system that reject it, whereas to us it is a way of life—we call it the Nigerian factor. What a shameful way to accept the negative, the wrong life, and the bad side. Nigerians, I know we can. Yes, we can! In our police force, we can change the orientation of our police officers, to give them reasons to defend us and have pride in their jobs. We should ask the right question on the way forward in the police system. If we cannot find answers, we ask for help from those that have a credible police force. Let us take a decision now by saying we can. In our politics, we can encoura
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About the Book
A Letter to My Countrymen is a book that discusses the Nigerian situation and the institutional flaws that cripple the whole society by accepting negativity. These Nigerian factors become an acceptable way to look at issues that are fundamentally wrong and unethical, by giving it a local acceptability that is too embarrassing to a normal, honest person. These issues are traced to its basic foundations: poverty. The book also looks at the good part and still maintains that change is the only thing that is permanent in mankind. Nigerians all over the world can change.
About the Author
Dr Celestina Nwankwoala is an educational psychology major from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. She has worked in the administration of the institution for many years. Her major interest has always been the socio-cultural issues in Nigeria. She uses every opportunity to advocate for the creation of awareness of domestic violence in the country and the adverse effect it has on children witnesses through her NGO (Nirvana Foundations). Her major concern on the Nigerian factor, a concept she perceives as highly negative for her country, drove her to publish this book, A Letter to My Countrymen. She lives in Port Harcourt with her children. She is the current administrative secretary of the Institute of Petroleum Studies University of Port Harcourt.