“Beloved
countrymen and women, on this day, fifty-two years ago, our founding fathers
brought joy and hope to the hearts of our people when they won independence for
our great country. Nigeria made a clean break with more than six decades of
colonial rule, and emerged as a truly independent nation. That turning point
was a new beginning for our nation.
Those who
witnessed the lowering of the Union Jack and the emergence of the Green White
Green flag continue to relish the memory, because that ceremony was not just
about the destiny of a nation, but the future of a people.
That future is
here; we are the inheritors of a great legacy that goes even much farther into
the past.
A
new friend, after a brief chat said “my regards to your wife and kids” as
a parting shot. Before I could explain
to him in my modest words, another guy just cut in “it’ll make more sense if you send
those regards to cockroaches and rats in his room because he neither has a wife
nor a kid.” Yekpa! All I left
the scene with was a lame grin. I went back to my cockroaches and rats; after a
thought for a while I see no reason why my decision should change so suddenly
especially because someone who doesn’t care about what I think of marriage made
a joke out of my bachelorhood.
One
day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country
with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. 
