A reflection on Nigeria’s hinterlands

Travelling through the hinterland causes me to introspect.

Travelling and books are incredible.

Books about history, politics and economics are germane.

They help you see the thoughts, processes aand actions which went into what you see today. Trials, errors, mistakes, successes and disasters can all be seen from these books.

How travelling helps is that the true effects of these changes can not be fully felt in books. That’s why no matter how graphic the descriptions of the wonders of Dubai are, I have not seen a Nigerian who goes to Dubai and is not floored.

The scale of development grips you. Everyone I speak to about their first experience in Dubai speaks with so much sadness as they compare UAE with Nigeria.

That’s travelling for you. You may not understand how Dubai came to be, which is why it can never replace books, but travelling can have the kinds of effects on you books can never have.

So as I travelled throughout the hinterland this season, it occurred to me that not too long ago, our ancestors lived this way.

They trekked long distances, without shoes.

They went to fetch water from the stream.

They carried buckets on their heads.

They cooked with firewood.

Their children spent their time playing with dirt sand, sometimes eating them, so diseases and illnesses were rife.

Seeing people in Year 2020 Nigeria doing the same things our ancestors did in the past lead to low spirits.

And those in the hinterlands are not a few. More than 95 million Nigerians live there. Almost 50% of the country is rural. More people in rural Nigeria engage in voting than those in the urban areas.

Yet they have a lower quality of life than 1970 China, and worse, 1850 United States.

And they’re not asking for much. Just opportunities to fulfill their potentials.

Unfortunately, 2020 Nigeria is even worse than 2010 Nigeria.

Yet a child in Upstate New York is not inherently more talented than a kid in Kontangora, Niger State.

But while talent is universal, opportunity is not.

And that raises the question, what do we do today…what should we concentrate on today to ensure that 2030 Nigerians do not live the lives of 1910 Japan?

Because progress is not automatic.

For more incisive analysis and news of issues in Nigeria and around the world, subscribe to Freshly Presssed.