For How Long Will Africa Be Cursed With It's Leaders?

I was recently going through the findings of a research carried out on Africa by a foreign-based research firm and there was one statistic that really struck me deeply. Can you believe that the average African live under just 'a dollar' per day?

Now, can you fault anyone for labelling our beloved continent 'the poorest in the world'? But where have we gone wrong? Who is to blame? Is it those at the helm of affairs or the masses? All these questions hang loosely in the air begging for answers but with no one ready to provide them. We (the masses) - with the exception of our leaders who perhaps have been blinded by the pursuit of personal gains or 'National Cake' as they like to call it - seems to know where the problems lie but what can we do?

What can you do, when all around you there is a feeling of uncertainty? What can you do when the children that are supposed to be the future leaders are brought up to the knowledge that the only way to get to the top is to cut corners? What can you do when you are going to bed at night with not the slightest insight as to what tomorrow have in store for you? When your vote that is supposed to be your power during election or S-election, if you please, is nothing more than another futile effort. The system, yes the SYSTEM will always win.

Before their S-election, so many laudable plans (vision 2020, 7-point agenda etc) had been bandied around the media - owned or financed by big political moguls who in-turn influenced their writings and as such the joy of journalism is lost and it's etiquettes trampled upon - but the moment they assume office the reverse is the case. Take the political instability in my 'dear' Nigeria as a case-study, where a nation is run like a family business. The 'Giant of Africa' has suddenly grown so big that she developed bow legs, or how else can you describe a nation of over 140 million people having no president for over two months (during the Yar'Adua administration).

But what do we really feel towards our leaders? Is it hatred or jealousy? I believe it is the latter, for who can see the lure of long shiny cars or houses built with so much efficacy and grandeur to make the jaws of onlookers drop and say that he truly detest them deep down? Certainly, not anyone I know. It is not hatred because those are the things we ourselves have always longed for. But if a leader is not able to meet the demands of his followers, why can't he just do the most honorable thing, RESIGN? I guess that is not part of the agenda. For how long will Africa continue to be cursed with it's Leaders?

Despite all of these uncertainties, Africans are widely regarded as the most religious people in the world be it Christianity, Islam or Traditional worshippers. The most famous word in our dictionary is HOPE, or what else can we do other than to pray and hope that someday somehow we will reach the height of our potentials. If living is cruel then death is not so kind. Nobody wants to die but we all wanna go to heaven, and so, we manage to live through the rot and hope for a better tomorrow.

Happy Eid 'El Fitri to all our Muslim folks, especially to my Mum, my lovely siblings and Sanusi Kafayat, I love you all. May Almighty Allah guide and protect you all.