Altering Nigeria's Past: A Time Traveler's Wish
Time travel is one of the things we all wish we could do in order to either go back in time to alter something for the good of everyone or delve into the future to know what awaits us. Being a Nigerian, if I had the opportunity to go back in time to alter something, I personally have a whole list of things I'd like to change in the past because I feel it'll birth a better future, not just for me but for every single citizen of this nation, so without further ado, let's delve into them.
Like I said, I've got a whole lot of things I could possibly alter, but most importantly, it'll be for the good of the nation. I'm a Nigerian, and I love my cousin dearly, and that's why anything I'll be changing will leave a positive impact on the present and the future, and some of such things I could probably alter in the past are altering the colonial legacy; this is like the bedrock of our problem as a nation.
The colonial legacy and amalgamation left a negative impact on Nigeria's development as a nation, and that's because it's more like a forced marriage that benefits our colonial master than we, the citizens of the nation. This colonization is what led to the imposing of artificial borders that led to war between multiple communities and exploitation of our natural resources and traditional artifacts; these and several others are one of the downsides of colonization to our beloved country, and why I would have altered it if I had the power to time travel to the past to change something.
Another unrest birthed through the colonization is the civil war that happened in the country between the years 1967 and 1970. Since the colonization was a forced marriage, almost everyone wants different things, and that's why the Igbo people wanted to break off from the marriage but were prevented from leaving.
Most possibly because our colonial master had one or two things they benefited from the marriage and because of them didn't bother to affirm peace between all parties during the Biafra civil war, that led to the loss of many lives, and the unrest that happened that very day is still playing out in our lives. You can imagine the incident over 50 years ago was still used as a tool by the politician to bring about misunderstandings between we, the citizens, during the last presidential election.
But today I want to focus on one particular aspect of what I'll alter, even though the above two would have had a great impact on the nation today. But if I have the power to change something in the past or my beloved country, Nigeria, then I'll be finding a way to obstruct and prevent the discovery of oil in our nation. Nigeria, ever since petroleum products were discovered in our country's soil, has given birth to a generation of corruption, environmental degradation, and blindness to diversification in our nation's economy. Everyone in power is just so overwhelmed by the petroleum resources that they are just willing to loot everything possible without thinking of its repercussions on the economy or environment of our dear country.
It's dishearting seeing all these plays out; the oil discovery seems like the focal point in the foundation of Nigerian corruption, and that's why you find almost every single president who leads the country wants to be in charge of the minister of petroleum themselves, so as to have complete access to the resource generated therein.
The discovery of oil, I believe, is one of the reasons why we were so backward. I mean, prior to it being discovered, Nigeria as a nation invested and utilized numerous of its resources to amaze wealth and engage in global trading such as agriculture, as at that we export cash crops like cocoa, palm oil, groundnuts, and the like; also, mining of coal is another aspect that used to generate us income. Joy forgets fishing and manufacturing companies like cement, textiles, and the like, but most are presently forgotten or privatized because we now solely depend on oil, and yet we're not even doing it well, nor are we thriving in it like other top-world oil-producing nations.
I believe going into the past to change the discovery of oil will have made us as a nation delve into different things. We're a nation blessed with many natural resources, such as coal, iron ore, limestone, ton, gold, wind energy, hydroelectric power, solar energy, tourism, and several others, to name but a few.
Despite all of these resources, it's disheartened to know most of our citizens are struggling to swim in poverty, which isn't supposed to be so. I believe changing the discovery of oil will have made us utilize all of our natural resources, helping us diversify our economy and have multiple streams of income.
All photos are taken and edited on canva.
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This is actually an amazing and was written by in inspiration. I would have thought about colonial history talk more of the discovery of petroleum. I think you have a good point here. But I also think that a proper and well management of the petroleum and coal mining in the country will make it better. Like you said we have a lot of natural resources, but out of greediness our too Leaders are care about them selves alot.
Yea it indeed work both ways, since our leaders are held back by the greed of what they'll earn from oil, that's why I just suggested never discovering it, because prior to it discovery, we were ultilising different resources and they we're managed well to a substantial level.
But then I agree that a good leader will help push the country economy forward with any resources.
Yea you understood perfectly the point I was trying to make there. Your idea was never a bad one
I'm happy, how you tell in your writing about the events that happened in your country, basically everyone doesn't want to be like that, obviously we all want to change it to be better for everyone, your way of writing is very good I like reading your writing, thank you many friends for sharing experiences for us, I hope you have a nice day 🙏😊
Thanks so much for your compliment and kind words.
We hope things get better, because when it does, we all know our lives will be more pleasant.
It is such a sad thing that we can't go back in time and undo certain things. Honestly, Nigeria is supposed to be a great nation but our greed and differences gave way for others to use us and exploit us to the brim. The annoying part is we are still ignorant of this thing and the little resources we have are still been carried away.
Civil war is something I always wish I can undo, the effect of that event is something that we are still suffering from to date.
We all have a lot we wish to undo and civil war is one of it , the loopholes it creates are still there today.
My dear that is the truth about Nigeria.
Oil is what is killing is today. The oil has also made some states that can make money with other mineral resource they have fold their ✋ hands and only wait for oil.
Thanks for sharing
We can only hope things get better or a good leader comes to power.
The colonial era sure remains something that we can never recover from... It's that bad honestly.
This singular thing coupled with the amalgamation brought the current sufferings we still experience till date.
You know the oil discovering would have helped boosted us a lot but rather it made us lazy because of over independent, I don't even know why
The oil would have helped us break bonds with the right leadership, but with the bunch of greedy politicians we've, that's like an impossible dream.
Too sad
My country also was always exploited by its nature, interesting that I didn't know about this oil discovery in Nigeria was a game changer!
Yea it was the cause of most of the corruption we've today, leading to mismanagement and the likes.
Power in wrong hands is always has negative effects, as you say Nigeria is victims of it. I really do not know if thing will change if someone go back and change the past, their may be high chance that the some other issue will arise for sure.