There is a country

Where Graduates flood the labour market yearly,
With the hope of getting employed one day.
While the elites' undergraduate children are paid monthly,
They are on the payroll even before their convocation day.

There is a country

Where only the elites and their children work in NNPC,
But only to end up in the office of the ICPC,
Or caught in the net of the eagle-eyed EFFC,
Because of the palms they do grease.

There is a country.

Where little children roam the street as "Almajiris",
Food, education and shelter none they have,
What does the future holds for the "Almajiris"?
With a plate of jollof rice today, next is at Boko Haram cave.

There is a country

Where thugs fight and kill one another,
All because of political actors,
And not because to put that country in order,
In absence are the children of those political actors.

There is a country

Where youths want to ride benz,
Stealing women undies and eating faeces like it's a garden cress,
Hunting for new diabolical means en masse,
Making themselves to be to the society a mess.

There is a country

Where traders accurately measures in your presence,
On reaching home, you asked the essence of your presence,
Wondering how the measure was manipulated,
Not knowing their measures have been cut or boiled.

There is a country

Where businessmen are happy making others unhappy,
Inflating prices after a long term hoarding.
In the suffering of others, they are happy,
But when it expired or destroyed they are lamenting.

There is a country

Where security personnels are fearful brave patriots,
Brave in their mind to go and confront insecurity,
But lack weapons and morale to die as patriots,
And fearful about their children's educational security.

There is a country

Where government and workers are always not at par,
Strike has become a normal thing yearly.
Workers living like those behind bars,
Patients and students are at the receiving end mostly.

There is a country

Where students want to pass without reading their books,
"Person wey know his way, na him know book".
Campuses are dens for drug addicts and cult members,
And abodes for slay mamas smouldering like embers.

There is a country

Where lecturers lay with their daughters' age mates,
While their daughters are locked behind their gates.
They cajole female students that "life is give and take",
Not thinking about the struggles behind educating that life at stake.

There is a country

Where her tourist sites are mosques and churches.
Citizens attend daily and hourly service at her mosques and churches,
But their acts aren't in tandem with any religion,
Kidnapping, murder and terrorism in different region.

There is a country

Where clerics no longer preach about good virtues,
They have become Marabouts for corrupt officials lacking virtues,
And a safe haven for armed robbers, cultist and kidnappers.
They are accomplices of ritual killers and kidnappers.

There is a country

Where husbands are busy drinking and their wives busy partying,
Leaving their children under the care of housemaids .
Husbands treating their wives like chattels or maids,
Because of the exorbitant bride price or they met while partying.


There is a country

Where parents failed to train their children,
And families failed to chide their wards.
The untrained children are now threat to all electoral wards,
The old and young are now leaving in fear of those untrained children.

There is a country

Where artisans "promise and fail" like they are Satan's mentor,
To get your cloth ready on time, you must lie to your tailor,
Going to a mechanic's workshop, there is fear of fueling your vehicle.
Attempts to outsmart them is like running round in a circle.

There is a country

Where greedy men hooked-up sugar-mummies, claiming destitution.
And female money-grubbers have resorted to prostitution,
After several abortions, they accused their "village people" of infertility.
While some end up dramatising on the street in nudity.

There is a country

Where "small small children" are heavily smoking,
Gambling, drinking and harassment are now the day's order,
And when penniless, they resort to stealing.
Are these the future leaders to put the country in order?

There is a country

Where government officials are lords,
They bottleneck the already bottlenecked bureaucracy,
If you don't "drop something" you can't get a nod.
But they'll be the first to criticise the government of democracy.

There is a country

Where every citizens is playing the blame game,
Without thinking about how to change the game.
We must redefine our identity before it escalates to another level.
Let us grow the country so as to move on to the next level.