TODAY IS OCTOBER 1

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www.facebook.com/WRRPoetry **[Today Is Oct. 1]**

I am 53 years now
Here are my achievements:

I have enormous land but no shelter
vast of water but wash my eyes with saliva
I produce rice, but don’t eat it
I have millions of cows but no milk
So I spend billions to import rice and milk
I have four refineries but I import fuel
All my oils are made in Saudi-Arabia
My electronics are imported from China
My wears are made in Italy
My chocolates and toothpastes are made turkey

I am 53
Nigerians, celebrate me

I supply light to Ghana but I sleep in darkness.
No power but I choose to flare gas
I send troops to another man’s land but have none in my home

Nigerians celebrate me I am 53.
I drive the best cars but have no roads
Others fly the skies with private jets
Now my communities are erased by erosion
Yearly dreading the flood
My fishes are dead because of oil companies’ waste
Yet I could do nothing

Celebrate me I am 53.
My pregnant women and old men stood under the sun on election
day
But before they could ink the thumb
On broadcast were the results
I dare not speak I have no vote, no voice
My pen cried in prisons shrouded by darkness
I am ruled by of dark horse leaders who looted the unborn
generation

Celebrate me I am 53
I am a university graduate but I am illiterate
Others are striving to enter but I can accommodate few
My school have no teachers and my classroom no roof
I take lectures through windows
ASUU has gone on strike
Professors are now playing golf
Illness has sent many to hospitals without doctors

I am 53
Am I not wobbly?
I am hopeless and helpless, my future is dying.
Does my complexion cloud the colour of my character?
Does my location limit the length of my liberty?
Is my failure worth celebrating?
Wave your flag and celebrate Nigeria’s Independence Day

Written by: Fred Oreva
Edited by: Kukogho Iruesiri Samson