Its the Year 2020! (Concluding Part)

Part 1- http://idrisayobello.blogspot.com/2009/05/its-year-2020-part-1.html

All the fallow lands have been converted to food plantations, and our graduates now consider farming as a viable option when they graduate from college. Commercialized farming and other large scale businesses by the private sector is now the in-thing. Without knowing ‘anyone’ at the ministry, people can now get lands to farm or create industries. Gone are the days when ministers assigned all the choice lands to their mistresses.

My bosom friend who had been living in America came visiting the other day, and he was surprised that I had no fence around my house, and even the door to my main living room was just strong enough to keep the flies out. He told me I did not dare do this in New York where he lived, and I told him we had the Servant-Leader to thank for this.

Insecurity had become a thing of the past, and just yesterday, my wife’s senior brother’s friend’s cousin forgot her car keys in the door-lock at the busy Idumota market. On getting back to her parking spot, she met a young constable there who had kept a look after the car for her, and surprisingly refused the N10, 000 she offered him as a gift. And just the other day, I saw some bank vehicles transporting money, and not a police escort was in sight to be seen.

Need I mention that our graduates are now sought after all over the world? Several Nigerian universities now have satellite campuses in London, Washington and Paris, and we now outsource most of our menial day to day tasks to other countries. University professors are paid on time, and retirees get their gratuities even almost before retiring. All my son talks of these days is how he can get into the University of Ife to study Medicine, when just 10 years ago, all we thought of was how to get out of Nigeria.

Just the other day, we passed in front of the US Embassy in Nigeria, and there was a huge crowd. No, not of Nigerians seeking visas to go to the US, but of Americans who were refusing to go back home after their visas had expired. How things have changed.

Need I talk about the rule of law, we recently scrapped the Anti-Corruption agency, as we had run out of corrupt people to prosecute, and just in the recently concluded major elections across the country, less than an hour after the last polling center had closed, we already knew who the winners were. Gone were the days when electoral commissioners would go into hiding to preserve their conscience, and our electoral reforms have now become a commodity of export to other countries.

Ring! Ring! Ring! There goes my alarm clock! I have overslept again! I suddenly discover there is no light in our area, and I have not yet ironed the cloth I was to wear to the job interview this morning. There is no petrol in the generator, as my brother was unable to get any even after eight hours at the fuel station yesterday.

On my transistor radio, I hear the election in Elkiti has been ‘electorally reformed’ as usual, some senators are being sought by EFCC for stealing public funds, and on the bus to the Island for my interview, I lose my iPhone to the ‘One Chance’ folks. So much for Vision 2020 and the 7-Point Agenda!

Can I go back to sleep please?