Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

t is a great honor for me to stand in front of you all today. After the tragic events of September 11, flying to Indiana for Nigeria’s Independence Day celebration did not sound like a bright idea to me. Though unknown to Francis and all those who invited me here, this would be my first public speech and I wasn’t going to miss it for anything, not even for fear of flying. Before I left home, I promised Edna, my fiancée, that I would not collapse at the podium, just like Marcus Garvey, when he made his first speech in New York. So far, it appears I can keep that promise.

It is delightful to see Nigerians come together to mark the 41st Independence Day anniversary. I am glad to be a part of it. When I was given the invitation to come, I was also given the liberty to choose the topic to address. But, with numerous issues confronting Nigeria, it was impossible to pick just one topic. So, I didn’t. Also, I was not sure you guys are here to listen to the dynamics of the forces acting in Nigeria or the intricate nature of the competing indexes in our nation's polity. By the look on your faces, and the flamboyance of your dressing, I knew most of you are here to party.

While Maria was introducing me, I was busy scanning the audience in search of blondes. I only stopped when she started describing me in terms I was not used to. I looked around to see if there was another Rudolf sitting beside me. Thank you, Maria, for that generous introduction.

Speaking about blondes, I have collected one thousand and one blonde jokes. But, I stopped collecting the day I asked a veteran collector how many blonde jokes there are and he responded, “None, they’re all true.” I find stories about blondes, very fascinating. They remind me of Nigeria, our Nigeria.

The other day in Louisiana, a young blonde, who wanted genuine alligator shoes, combed stores after stores in search of a reasonably priced one. Frustrated at the price the store managers quoted, she barked at one store manager, “I think I will go into the swamp and catch my own alligator so that I can get a pair of shoes.” At the end of the day, while driving home, the store manager saw the blonde inside a swamp with a shotgun in hand. He pulled over just as an alligator was crawling towards the blonde. The blonde took a perfect aim, killed the alligator and, single-handedly, pulled it out to the banks. Lying by the bank were six other dead alligators. The store manager was amazed. As he watched in great wonderment, the blonde flipped the alligator on its back and shouted in grave frustration, “Damn, this one is not wearing any shoes either.”

Nigeria is like a blonde – beautiful, full of potentials, but lacking in the ability to utilize those potentials. Nigeria, like the blonde in this joke, cannot afford the ready-made alligator shoes. In her people, Nigeria has the potentials but she does not know how to harness them. You all here are Nigeria's alligators. As economic or political refugees, you have been taken out of the swamp and left by the banks to rot away. The store manager, however, picked you up and has turned you into alligator shoes.

I do not think it is appropriate to come here and start enumerating Nigeria’s problems to you. We all know the problems and we all know the solutions. What we do not know is how to do something about anything. We are like a blonde who has a phone but could not dial 911. Reason: she could not find eleven (11) on the dial pad.

As I travel round this country and as I talk to Nigerians, I still wonder why many Nigerians are yet to appreciate the necessity of a Sovereign National Conference, where the future of that country would be discussed. I hear people say that Sovereign National Conference could not possibly be a remedy to all of Nigeria's problems. Such people remind me of a blonde who visited her doctor and complained that all her body was aching. "All your body?" the doctor asked. "Yes!" answered the blonde. "Touch your head and tell me if it aches", the doctor directed. The blonde touched her head and screamed, "Ouch!" "Touch your feet,” the doctor requested. The blonde complied and screamed even louder. The doctor asked the blonde to touch her stomach and once again she did with the same result. Then, the doctor looked her in the eyes and asked, "Are you a natural blonde or a fake one?" The blonde answered with pride, "Of course, a natural blonde." "Well", the doctor said, you have broken fingers."

Nigeria's fingers are broken. That is why Nigeria feels pain all over her body. The fingers of Nigeria are her structures. They are fragmented. They are full of lines of fault and cracks. They have to be fixed for Nigeria to stop feeling pain all over her body.

One of the fiercest campaigns being wedged by President Olusegun Obasanjo is for the cancellation of Nigeria's debt. Despite all the good reasons Obasanjo has given as he travels round the world, the campaign has not achieved its aim. Obasanjo tells the creditors that some of the loans were taken by illegitimate administrations… the next day, he tells them that the money was not used for the people of Nigeria… During another trip, Obasanjo says to them that the interests already paid on the loan is more than the loan itself… Another day, he will appeal for debt forgiveness on humanitarian grounds and for the fact that Nigeria has changed, that there is a new Nigeria with a more responsible government… Meanwhile, the people he is appealing to are aware of the flamboyant lifestyle of all the officials and their trips to London and US for Owambe parties… they know how many billions of Naira that is being spent to build a Soccer stadium in Abuja.

As Obasanjo wonders why he is being ignored, I recall the story of a blonde who went to Wal-Mart to buy a TV. She spent hours walking round the appliance section of the store. When she found the product she wanted, she walked over to the store manager and said to him, "I want that TV", pointing at the product. The store manager looked at the product and looked at the blonde, then, he responded, "We don't sell that to blondes." Disappointed, the blonde went home and dyed her hair pink. She came back to the store and tells the store manager, "I want that TV." Once again, the store manager told her, "We don't sell that to blondes." On the third day, the blonde dyed her hair black and came back to make the same request. When the store manager once again turned her down, she snapped, "I have dyed my hair three times, how do you still know I am a blonde?" The store manager responded, "Because, that product is not a TV, it is a microwave."

No matter our pretenses, the creditors still see through us and like the blonde, we don’t seem to realize that.

The primary problem facing Africans is still that of who we are and how we should think. We have continued to exhibit an inability to come up with independent thoughts. Our policies have no strategy and our strategy has no soul. We just loiter around in the world. Even as historical events like those of Sept 11 present to us underling issues dragging the rest of the world, we hardly understand what we see. Just like this blonde, who had a boss who goes home very early. One day, two of her colleagues suggested that they too go home as soon as the boss leaves. The blonde agreed. Immediately, the boss left, the blonde and two of her colleagues closed the office and went home. Upon getting home, the blonde opened the door and found the boss in bed with her husband. Quietly, she closed the door and went back to the office. She stayed in the office till the closing time. The next day, her colleagues suggested that they go home again as soon as their boss leaves. To that, the blond protested, "No, no, not again, yesterday, I was almost caught."

If events of today have shown that the British made a mistake in 1914, we should confront it and correct it, rather than be afraid of being caught by those who made the mistake.

I stand here before you because on April 28th, 1999, I decided to whine about Nigeria on the Internet. The first article I wrote that was published was called “Nigeria, A Deferred Dream”. I whined so much that a disgusted reader wrote me and challenged me to suggest practical things we could do to make a difference. In response to my reader, I wrote the article, “Towards Realizing the Nigerian Dream” I now think it was the most important thing I have ever written because, for months, it kept cropping up all over the Internet with names of several new “authors” attached to it.

Having thought about all the contemporary issues in Nigeria, and how I believe that the ideals of Nigeria have not been tried and found wanting, but rather, have been found difficult and left untried, I find it appropriate to present to this gathering extracts from the essay. “Nigeria,” the Economist of London once noted, “is a country where the best is impossible and the worst never happens.” Our only task today is for each one of us to prove that assertion wrong. We can do it by either making the best, possible, or making the worst, happen. The choice is ours. Sitting on the fence is now obsolete.

Nigeria's problems are big enough for everyone to see from a ten-mile radius. Nigeria is broke, crazy and hungry, but it is not homeless. Nigeria as a country only stumbled. Okay, maybe too many a time. But she is yet to fall flat on her back. …. You and I can prevent a complete fall by coming up with simple and creative approach to Nigeria's problems. The central idea behind any solution should be seen on the popular slogan, which says, "If people lead, eventually leaders will follow."

We are the people, you and I. We have to accept it, reaffirm it and uphold it. If we don't lead, the leaders will not follow. As citizens of Nigeria, we owe it to her to contribute our own quota to her progress. We have to ask ourselves, what can we do to make Nigeria great, every contribution, no matter how little, counts.

We have to start from the way we think. Why is it that virtually all Nigerians abroad think they can do a better job than those at home? Is it all in the perspective? … Why do people at home see things differently? Is it exposure? Or is it an environment that does not encourage rational human thinking? If you and I abroad genuinely feel that, due to our semi-detached position, we have a better picture of things, then, how do we utilize that advantage, if really it is an advantage?

Only the coward fears his country. And only the weak thinks his or her country is beyond cure. Paraphrasing Bill Clinton, there is nothing wrong in Nigeria that cannot be cured with what is right in Nigeria. You and I can make prescription, establish principles, chart progress, dump antiquity, calm the present and forecast the future. Do this for your country and you shall have done your duty. Keep an eye on that ailing nation and be a part time politician because the price we pay for leaving politics in the hands of professional politicians is enormous.

We cannot afford to remain part of the silent majority. That will be an insult to our intelligence and a misuse of our enlightenment. Those of us who in their heart count themselves amongst the good and yet are silent, are guilty of abusing Nigeria as much as the so-called bad Nigerians. For the silence of the good, endorses the sins of the bad. It is an organized hypocrisy to give up on your country as hopeless while living in other people's country where perfection is still a dream and human struggle is still a work in progress.

Don't make the mistake of expecting those who need your advice most to embrace it when you give it. It never happens in human nature. Not even Jesus found it that easy. The only way to withstand the inevitable obstacles and frustrations on the way of would-be contributors is to understand the reality of human behavior. A lot of us, sometimes, allow idealism to blind us from seeing the reality on the ground. If your idea is not opposed vehemently, believe me, it is most likely not a good idea. Expect to be disregarded, but don't disregard. Expect to be frustrated, but don't be frustrated. No kind of change comes easy, even from good to bad. Nigerians, for instance, did not wake up one day and become corrupt. It took a lot of time and a lot of battles.

Those who cannot come up with new and untried ideas should find the faults in the old and the tried. Why, for instance did Operation Feed the Nation fail? Why did Green Revolution crumble? In finding answers to these old questions, we find solutions to the new challenges of today. Like they say, sometimes, all it takes is asking questions. The only way to understand Nigeria is to try to change her. Be a reporter. Be a lawyer. Be a diplomat. Be a cleaner. Be a nurse. Be a baby-sitter. Be something for Nigeria. Your experience will not be what happened to you, but what you did with what happened to you. I can assure you that terrible things will happen to you as you try. But in it, you will see the hope in the despair, the beauty in the ugly and the promise in the rotten.

A true friend of Nigeria is someone who knows all about Nigeria, the good and bad, but still likes her. Try and understand Nigeria, it is hard - harder than trying to reform her. Those currently reforming Nigeria do not understand her. Those who understand her are not trying to reform her. Until you and I bridge this gap, Nigeria will keep deteriorating. You don't have to wait until you solve all your personal problems before you approach Nigeria's problems. The tragedy of Nigeria is the tragedy of us all, and so is her success. Just for a moment, imagine the transformation your life will undergo if Nigeria returns to her economic status of the 70s? All the demanding letters from home will stop coming to you. And some of us might even go back again to our home, sweet home.

Sometimes, reform requires a little destruction, a little sacrifice, a little revolution, or a little madness. As long as we keep our eyes on the prize and do our best, every effort will count. Those who betray Nigeria are those who deny that they belong - those who have refused to think about her, - those who have banished their conscience just to punish Nigeria. Nigeria is getting to that point where everyone is at war with everyone else. Stop a war between two Nigerians and you would have helped. "Every social war", Murray Kempton noted, "is a battle between the very few on both sides who care and who fire their shots across a crowd of spectators." Develop care in your heart for Nigeria. Fire your own shots. Don't be a spectator.

Even the ocean, our elders say, will be a little less without a drop of rain. Knowing how much we need to know, before we know how little we know, brings relevance to every contribution. Write a letter to an editor. Write our ambassador in the country you live. They can discard your letter but it leaves a hole in their conscience. Sing the national anthem before every baby shower, before every meeting of your town union, before you guys start playing your Sunday football on deserted school fields across the western world. It is not merely a symbolic gesture, those words, are eternal. They are not just empty words, they resonate in your heart and you and I can put life into them if we try. Irrespective of their skin color, teach our children born abroad our national anthem, the Pledge and our languages. With time, you will notice the change in attitude and reality.

Being indifferent, just sitting there looking, not getting involved is another way of being part of the problem. Just do something positive. Buy the Nigerian flag, and let it fly on the rooftop of your house. Let it hang in your car. Let it be your key holder. Just do something.

When, as expected, Obasanjo starts to behave like Shagari, write those big heads in Washington DC. Send Obasanjo an email. If you are so upset, go to your embassy and burn your flag. Just do something. The chicken that is running and screaming says it is not doing so to attain freedom from its pursuer but for the world to hear its voice. Let the world hear your voice.

There are literally 1001 things every one of us can do, irrespective of our station in life. Listen and you will hear Nigeria asking,” Who shall I send? Who will go for me?" For instance, if you are Gloria Okon, you can come out. Or, if you are her friend or acquaintance, you can contact the press. If you are the man who gave Dele Giwa the letter bomb, you can come out and confess. If you know him, you can call the press. Any knowledge to help bring closure to wounds of the past and facilitate the healing process is in high demand at this juncture. We need people who can be like the Swiss bank security guard who refused to destroy records of Jewish customers prior to World War II. We need those who would play the part of his supporters in the U.S.A when he found himself in trouble in Switzerland. We need our own Big Throat in Abuja so that when the President, whoever he is, becomes a Nixon incarnate, we can find the facts to impeach him.

Support the press and the judiciary. Without an independent press and judiciary, we are going nowhere. Write a letter of commendation to an Editor of your choice. It is a little token but it helps to strengthen their resolve. Deny yourself pizza for a month and sponsor an essay competition in Nigeria. Let the Nigerian youths write an essay on the ills of Nigeria and possible solutions. Let the writer of the best essay take home $100(10,000.00 Naira). It would transform your life as well as the lives of the participants. It would keep the discussion going. It would help to share the knowledge. But most importantly, you would have contributed your quota, which is all that your country is asking for.

Nigeria has over 250 different languages. None of them has a word for patriotism. Invent a word for patriotism in your language. "Don't just sit there and stare.” like a billboard says in Accra, "Get involved." Try out something. If you fail, try again. Be the epitome of your ideal Mr. and Mrs. Nigeria in your own home. Give back, even if you never received. Buy used books and send to your High School or College in Nigeria. Who knows, somebody might just read them. Invest little time, little money and little materials. Adapt an agenda. Study it. Be an expert in it. Be an advocate for Women's rights. Fight against Child labor. Champion the fight against corruption. Be one of the people for clean air. Join the people for the ethical treatment of witches. Just anything. It matters. It adds up.

Read about how other countries solved their developmental problems. Discuss it with Nigerians. Don't be ashamed of Nigeria. Despite our woeful performance, in our hearts, we do not wish to have come from any other country. Rosa Parks changed history when she refused to stand up. You and I can refuse to be indifferent. It is a strong tool. If the hand gun control groups in the U.S can stand up against the NRA and the second amendment rights, what pillar is so big in Nigeria that you and I cannot stand up against?

Come out of your Ikere Ekiti town meeting. Start a wider discussion group. Get the Owo people in. Let the Akwanga people extend their hands to the Lafia people. Let the Nnobi people extend their hands to the Nnewi people. On and on, until we become one big family. If we cannot come out of our little cocoons in these Western nations, how do we expect those at home to even attempt it? Be doctors without boarders. Reporters without boarders. Cleaners without boarders. Philanthropists without boarders. Strive not for your hometown's chieftaincy title, but for a membership in the order of the Niger. Try a random act of kindness. It is fulfilling.

Be Nigeria's ambassador. Write the newspapers when they tell lies about Nigeria. Or when unscrupulous Nigerians tell lies about our country. Write and correct them. If you don't, nobody will. Disassociate yourself from lies and liars, like the Nigerian in Texas who said his culture permitted him to have sex with his under-aged stepchild. Remember, our so-called Ambassadors in the Western World are mostly jokes. Assume the position of Ambassadorship. Do all you can without Aso Rocks' accreditation. Posterity will remember you.

Write the people at home. Reply all those letters you have been receiving. Tell them the whole truth. If you are simply cleaning the toilets of America, let them know. Remember what Bill Benneth said, "There are no menial jobs, only menial attitude." More so, the truth, the holy book says, shall set you free. They may not believe you, but your duty is to say the truth. Some will have to die for others to be free. If you can, be the sacrificial lamb. Be the Messiah. It could be you. It could be me. That is, if you can get over the obstacles that Fela described in one of his songs as, "... Papa dey for house... we no wan die... I don build house... I don get wife..." Whatever you do, think Nigeria. Copy the English poet; acknowledge that Nigeria, despite her ills, is your country still.

If you have no time to sit and think, let books think for you. Read J.K. Randles books, "The Godfather Never Sleeps" and "Who Is Fooling Who?" They will make you laugh as well as make you think. They will bring to your doorstep, the events that started unfolding as soon as Obasanjo's hand left the Bible on the 29th of May. If you are too busy for such reading adventure, simply be true to yourself. Beat your chest and tell yourself and somebody beside you that you are a Nigerian. You can leave out the part about being proud of it, for now.

Do you remember what happened the last time Nigeria appeared before God? For those who are not familiar with the story, this is how it goes: Mr. Nigeria, Mr. Britain and Mr. America were given a chance to appear before God to find out how their future would look like. Mr. America faced God with uncharacteristic humility and asked God when things would be all right in his country. God said if things were not all right in the American's lifetime, they would definitely be all right in his children's lifetime. Mr. America sobbed as he left. Mr. Briton went and asked God the same question. God told him things would be all right in his children's lifetime or at most his children's children lifetime. Mr. Britain cried as he walked away. When Mr. Nigeria appeared before God, with his long hat, overflowing Agbada, and two hands in his pockets, he asked God, "And what about me?" God told him, if he did not change his ways, things would not be all right even in God's own lifetime.

Now you know why Nigeria needs your prayer. Pray for Nigeria. Sani Abacha did not only prove that any riffraff could become the President of Nigeria, he also proved that prayers work. When I first heard of Abacha's death, I was full of disbelief. But when CNN confirmed it, what came out of my mouth was, "Somebody must have prayed". Be that somebody.

Thank you all for coming and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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