(i)
Nigeria, what way?
Is it to the West?
Where the pangs of hunger breathe,
The quest for knowledge quenched,
Forceful departure the order,
"Oh but it's peaceful"
Yet not without its desires
Yet not without its hopes
Yet not without its dreams
What is Peace when there's no hope of one?
The way here is rough.
I think the East has a better way?
Where bad roads, the norm
Rumours of separation, not new
Bitterness eruption that breeds the desire to be apart.
The sheeps do not long for it shepherd no more
"Oh but its friendly"
And brutal
And tiring
And depressed
What is friend when enemies are all around?
Surely the North is the way.
The boiling point of the nation.
Cries of young and old is a norm
Firearms sits in the hands of the inexperienced.
Havoc wrecking is desirable.
Oh in trembling do I live.
How watchful I become over the night.
The morrow there might be no more watching,
The one to watch is being washed,
The young is wrong
Oh I cry!
Blood on the road in light and in dark.
Nigeria I say what way?
Yes there's another alternative,
Oh the government.
Probably there might be a narrow way
But I tell you it's a wide blockage
Humans full of inhumans
Their pocket is their goal
Their throat is their desire
The pigeons are not for them to cater for but to kill.
The sheeps are not for them to look after but to eat them.
The young are not for them to nuture but to rupture
The poor are not for them to give to but to take from
The power is not for them to share but to take hold of
Notwithstanding what it will take.
All ways is like a conundrum
Leading no where but in circles
It's best we break it and create our way.
Nigeria I ask is there any more way?
Education! Yes education!
But I say even education itself profers no way.
Education says go get a way for yourself.
© Bakare Peace Oluwatosin
English Department
300 Level
(ii)
NIGERIA, WHICH WAY?
Remember us in your kingdom
Had been the cry of the masses
Seeking hopeless "unpliable" platforms
From those whose unconscious minds forget existence
Remember us in your kingdom
The faithful penniless followers yell
Thinking of the long travel of wisdom
That has made them see hell
Remember us in your kingdom
Repentant sinners cry out to unrepentant saviours
Seeking to enjoy ease and freedom
Rather than imprisonment - characterized savour
Remember us in your kingdom
Had been the burdened groan of the faithful governed
Whose government has long forgotten memorandum
Refusing to live up to their many pledges made
Our pleas have fallen on deaf ears
And now we are tired of pleading to deaf ears
Our eyes have seen and our minds are battered
The narrative has changed
We've seen the bloodshed and the insecurities
We feel the pain of betrayal and selfish ambitions
And one question we still seek answer to
Nigeria, which way?
©Oluwasola Tolulope Elizabeth
English Department
300 Level
(iii)
Nigeria, what way?
Huhhhh! My mother land!
A land filled with unbridled milk and honey,
With nutrients whose 'Orísuñ' are like cascades of undiminishing waters.
A land where kids' oblivion of insecurity is now like a saddening historical past.
Oh! It reminds me of my grandmother's late night tales; one about the child.
"The child who wandered off his mother's sight for his burning desires.
A child who was segregated for his mother's uniqueness;
She was blindfolded by her blindness;
He was his mother's sight.
On the 'tenth' of a dozen moons,
With a streak of the first light of a new dawn,
He got up angrily, in a search of 'Ìgalà' for himself.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a gentle breezy whistling,
It muttered 'Ìparun'.
But he ignored it, and continued.
Like the sway of the wind,
He wandered off his mother's radar,
Leaving marks at different junctures by withering 'Efirin' trees at each of them.
And he did! He got fulfilled, his desires,
And celebrated long before he realized his situation.
He had forgotten to prepare for the rainy days,
The sky, dusked, and the shadows, as long and hard as that of a teenage Ìrókò tree"
But then came the same voice, again, the breezy voice whistled into his ears,
It muttered 'Orísuñ'.
With lightning striking plantain trees,
Striping them of their top sheets.
He strived hard, but met crossroads at the last junction.
There were three horrifically looking pathways before him,
In which two lead to unadventurous jungles.
He then fell on his knees and burst into crocodile tears,
In a sober state, he yearned for his mother,
Ìyá mi! he called three times.
And the voice of his ignorant times responded in a more recognizable audibility;
That voice was his mother's.
The voice said 'Omo tó solé nù , ó so àpò ìyà kó',
Startled, he stood up and began to plead for the advice he once ignored.
Mother, What way?! He yelled.
And she , in her native, replied and said
'Ònà ò sí lórùn òpe, Ibi tábá gbà gun òkè la ma gbà sòkalè'.
Drenched, he dropped his kill and the rain stopped
And the voice raised a connotative awareness:
'Àtelé Owó kìí tani je'
He checked his palm, and a glowing line pointed him to the right route; home.
He ran to his mother's arms like one pursued by a ghoul,
She made him a 'snail stew' and said:
'Only a snail has no hasting competitor,
'cause slow and steady wins the race'."
Hmmm! My motherland!
A haggard living hell, where advices stomp on our arrogant turfs.
A place where, deaf ears are the only listeners left.
Even rulers can't make a straight line anymore.
Just how much! have our feet wandered?
Just what! is the retreat route?
Only she has the answers:
Nigeria, what way?
© Olunlade Samuel Olumuyiwa
English Department
200 Level
(iv)
NIGERIA, WHAT WAY?
If I play a riddle
who will give the meaning
out of the rich something poor
from the strong many weak
If you must answer
spell like a man
amidst good, hundred evil
honesty cry, selfishness laugh
If you are not speaking
you must be writing
looking for the found
they ask, in what way?
If you can not respond
I will show you the way
No! she should tell us the way
Nigeria, what way?
©Ogunleke Michael Oluwarotimi
English Department
200 Level
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