NIGERIA at 50!

I asked my sister what the line up of events for the day would look like, and she gave me a very promising one.
"At first, we'll go to the stadium and watch the march past, then later, to see the 'night of a 1010 laughs' and maybe...."
"A 1010 laughs?" I cut in rather hastily.
Well, when I left a few years back, it was still 'a thousand laughs'.

"Nigerians must survive", she replied.
Looking at her face, I'm sure she meant every bit of what she said.



We watched the pupils and the students march in their 'best' uniforms.
The dancers performed like they had never done before. Happiness and enthusiasm emanated from within them, it was almost like they were wearing their hearts on their sleeves.
Although, the sun was shining down on us like it was trying to prove a point, I still felt a certain joy right inside of me. I'm sure my sister felt it too cos I saw it in her eyes, and in that of most of the people that surrounded us.
I tried to curtail my emotions a lot, especially when I saw some children hanging down from trees, just in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what was going on; and also when I noticed a cluster of some very young hawkers trying to peep through the large crowd from a distance.

It was but a long day!

We summed up the day at the venue of the 'night of a 1010 laughs'.
I looked keenly at every performer on the stage, like I was trying to run some examinations on them just with the help of my eyes. They all seemed to look very fulfilled as they came out in their flamboyant clothes and talks that suggested that of a person that was living the 'perfect life'.
I looked around the audience, everyone seemed to have a certain similarity, they were all well adorned, laughing and cheering too.

I had a lot on my mind, I hope I didn't show it?
One would never stop to wonder why everybody was so happy.
Maybe  a lot of people didn't bother, but I did.
Well maybe it wasn't exactly happiness, maybe it was something else that was even less describable, I thought.

I tried to put together all the memories of the day;
...The hawkers
...The dancers
....The performers
....The audience
I had to resolve to one conclusion-this was nothing but pride!
Pride and passion for what belonged to them.

Wow! I exclaimed as I woke up to the sound of my beeping alarm clock. Thank God it at least let me complete the dream before waking me up. I'm sure it would have been so disappointing if I didn't.

I had to remind myself that I was not in Nigeria.
I promised to be in Nigeria to celebrate the next independence day, where I could really feel its significance and the celebration in the air.
Reading about Nigeria was all we did on the 1st of October of the previous years, and maybe some parties to commemorate the event - yea and we didn't forget to remind ourselves that we were 'Nigerians in diaspora'.
I wanted to stay close to where I could hear the speeches by the people that mattered.
It's our 50th, some parts of those 'speeches' just needed to change. I feel like I might miss these important parts, not because they didn't say it, but because I didn't have the right avenue to hear them. I do not want to believe that they would fail to say these things because they have been left unsaid for far too long and I strongly believe that its highly expedient that somebody took the plunge and made mention of them.

I'm happy to wake up to a beautiful morning on the day of Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary still.
"When there is life, there is definitely hope", they say.

I guess I have to put on my computer and check what is happening over there as usual.

Lest I forget, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY NIGERIANS!
And to the rest of the world, HAPPY OCTOBER 2010!