Time travel is one of the things we all wish we could do in order to either go back in time to alter something for the good of everyone or delve into the future to know what awaits us. Being a Nigerian, if I had the opportunity to go back in time to alter something, I personally have a whole list of things I'd like to change in the past because I feel it'll birth a better future, not just for me but for every single citizen of this nation, so without further ado, let's delve into them.
Like I said, I've got a whole lot of things I could possibly alter, but most importantly, it'll be for the good of the nation. I'm a Nigerian, and I love my cousin dearly, and that's why anything I'll be changing will leave a positive impact on the present and the future, and some of such things I could probably alter in the past are altering the colonial legacy; this is like the bedrock of our problem as a nation.
The colonial legacy and amalgamation left a negative impact on Nigeria's development as a nation, and that's because it's more like a forced marriage that benefits our colonial master than we, the citizens of the nation. This colonization is what led to the imposing of artificial borders that led to war between multiple communities and exploitation of our natural resources and traditional artifacts; these and several others are one of the downsides of colonization to our beloved country, and why I would have altered it if I had the power to time travel to the past to change something.
Another unrest birthed through the colonization is the civil war that happened in the country between the years 1967 and 1970. Since the colonization was a forced marriage, almost everyone wants different things, and that's why the Igbo people wanted to break off from the marriage but were prevented from leaving.
Most possibly because our colonial master had one or two things they benefited from the marriage and because of them didn't bother to affirm peace between all parties during the Biafra civil war, that led to the loss of many lives, and the unrest that happened that very day is still playing out in our lives. You can imagine the incident over 50 years ago was still used as a tool by the politician to bring about misunderstandings between we, the citizens, during the last presidential election.
But today I want to focus on one particular aspect of what I'll alter, even though the above two would have had a great impact on the nation today. But if I have the power to change something in the past or my beloved country, Nigeria, then I'll be finding a way to obstruct and prevent the discovery of oil in our nation. Nigeria, ever since petroleum products were discovered in our country's soil, has given birth to a generation of corruption, environmental degradation, and blindness to diversification in our nation's economy. Everyone in power is just so overwhelmed by the petroleum resources that they are just willing to loot everything possible without thinking of its repercussions on the economy or environment of our dear country.
It's dishearting seeing all these plays out; the oil discovery seems like the focal point in the foundation of Nigerian corruption, and that's why you find almost every single president who leads the country wants to be in charge of the minister of petroleum themselves, so as to have complete access to the resource generated therein.
The discovery of oil, I believe, is one of the reasons why we were so backward. I mean, prior to it being discovered, Nigeria as a nation invested and utilized numerous of its resources to amaze wealth and engage in global trading such as agriculture, as at that we export cash crops like cocoa, palm oil, groundnuts, and the like; also, mining of coal is another aspect that used to generate us income. Joy forgets fishing and manufacturing companies like cement, textiles, and the like, but most are presently forgotten or privatized because we now solely depend on oil, and yet we're not even doing it well, nor are we thriving in it like other top-world oil-producing nations.
I believe going into the past to change the discovery of oil will have made us as a nation delve into different things. We're a nation blessed with many natural resources, such as coal, iron ore, limestone, ton, gold, wind energy, hydroelectric power, solar energy, tourism, and several others, to name but a few.
Despite all of these resources, it's disheartened to know most of our citizens are struggling to swim in poverty, which isn't supposed to be so. I believe changing the discovery of oil will have made us utilize all of our natural resources, helping us diversify our economy and have multiple streams of income.
All photos are taken and edited on canva.