EBEN ENASCO REPORTING…….
For many Nigerians’ Children who would have genuinely celebrated the significance of Father’s Day in the country annually, are living in Broken Promises.
Because, for some reasons, could have forgotten that the day is celebrated yearly, but nothing fascinating to celebrate Nigeria fathers for, rather than, looting, Killings, kidnapping, deprivation to basic amenities, discord in governance and poor socioeconomic frameworks.
The only intended reminder in the North, West, East and South, is empty promises and cold war against their heirs.
Checks have discovered that, Since 1960 in Nigeria, most supposed fathers and leaders who would have been celebrated, have stolen the future of the generation unborn.
Apparently, Father’s Day acknowledges and celebrates the contribution of fathers to their own families and society at large.
On this day, children get a chance to appreciate their fathers and father figures and the people who have played a vital role in their lives.
It can be emotionally, mentally or even financially through the lineage of times.
Ironically, as Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark Father’s Day, man has been enjoined to be true fathers by leading in honesty and integrity, in whatever position they find themselves at home, in society or the country at large.
First proposed in 1909, this day stands as an opportunity to show your dad how much he means to you and the role he has played in shaping your life.
Father’s Day was founded in the US by Sonora Smart Dodd.
Sonora’s father was a Civil War veteran, William Jackson Smart, a single parent from Arkansas who selflessly raised six children.
Sonora had heard about how Anna Jarvis had created Mother’s Day in honor of her mother.
So, she told the pastor of her church that there should be something similar to celebrate fathers.
She wanted to honor and acknowledge the role of fathers and all father-like figures on the date of her father’s birthday, which was June 5.
The church did not agree to the petition but eventually, Sonora convinced people to participate.
Therefore, the date was pushed, and the celebration was eventually deferred to the third Sunday of June.
The question is, has Nigeria fathers and leaders shaped the life of its citizens to believe them like those who trusted Sonora?
What significant role has the leadership played in developing the generation of youths since independence?
Let’s examine some many questions asked and are still on the lip of prospective Citizens.
Usually for married couples, there are many things to talk about at the onset, including growing businesses, career, and families.
Couples talk about their children until they are grown and gone, and the reality of being left alone sets in.
We must learn to preserve the enthusiasm of marriage at each phase of living.
In marriage, couples either grow together or drift apart as there is no middle ground, but there will always be the unique opportunity to grow healthy marriages.
Nigeria’s fathers or leaders have drifted from the binding factors since the 1960 independence.
Where we share about the non-existent relationship with the fathers, how ‘great’ fatherhood is possible for a man that grew up fatherless and the plight of broken families.
A good father loves his children, but he doesn’t let them get away with everything.
He might disapprove of his children’s misdeeds, using tough love to prove a point, but he does so through the power of his words.
A good father realizes that his children are human, and that making mistakes is part of growing.
Nigerians’ fathers are now kidnapping their children in schools for ransom, supplying arms to Boko Haram to kill their children.
Nigerians’ father divert funds voted for quality Education of their children who are supposed to be the next generation, thereby, living their future in bleak and dashed hopes.
They resort to lying to their children who are supposed to be their heirs apparent.
These fathers have become perpetual pen robbers, who by all means robbed the children of their common patrimony and stock them in farm tank, thereby, depriving them of Good health care services, accessible Roads, Clean water, Electricity and infrastructure.
They are fathers who had always been nepotistic and greedy even to themselves.
They recapture love when the song has ended and that seems a broken Promise.
A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way.
The lack of commitment to nation- building by our founding fathers was further manifested in the way and manner they handled the nation’s finance.
The First Republic under the leadership of Sir Abubakar Tafawa, the Prime Minister, and Nnamdi Azikwe, the President, was marked by widespread corruption.
Government officials looted public funds with impunity.
Federal Representative and Ministers flaunted their wealth with reckless abandon.
The Finance Minister Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh was frequently mentioned in corruption allegations.
Harold Smith, a former colonial officer said that Okotie-Eboh was: a fat, jovial character.
Those who disliked the Minister referred to him as “festering Sam”.
Okotie-Eboh’s name is synonymous with corruption in Lagos.
Okoti-Eboh was a gross squalid crook who dragged Nigeria down to his own level.
He had dragged Nigeria into the sewer, but because of his corruption Nigeria has no sewers.
The money to pay for them is still in Swiss banks (Smith, H. cited in Siollun, M. 2009).
These Ministers and government officials who looted the nation’s treasury were never tried or punished by the leadership of the day.
They were not punished because as rightly stated by Michael M. Ogbeidi, the thinking of the First Republic Nigerian leadership class was based on politics for material gain; making money and living well according to him.
Perhaps, that was why Nnamdi Azikiwe made the following statement earlier on: that henceforth, I shall utilize my earned income to secure my enjoyment of a high standard of living and also to give a helping hand to the needy (James, B. (1981) cited in Achebe, C. 1983).
Obafemi Awolowo also stated: I was going to make myself formidable intellectually, morally invulnerable, to make all the money that is possible for a man with my brains and brawn to make in Nigeria (James, B. (1981) cited in Achebe, C. 1983).
The legendary English writer, poet and dramatist of all time, Williams Shakespeare, in his classical comedy, Twelfth Night,” said through Malvolio, “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
The emergence of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari retd, on March 28, 2015, as the president-elect not only changed the political equation of the country, it also offered a throwback view at the nation’s leadership history along the pathway of competence, preparedness and vision.
A sojourn down political memory lane shows that, almost none of these leaders who had governed the Nigerian nation was really prepared for such challenges confronting the country.
By implications, this retinue of vision less founding fathers have left nothing for the generation of youths and can’t now be Celebrated.