2020: Sorrow, Tears, Blood and Death, By Toyin Falola
15 min read
…it is clear there is little to nothing to celebrate about Nigeria in 2020. How can that even be when Independence Day was celebrated amidst protest and a month of bloodshed? 2020 for Nigerians could not have been any worse owing to the inactions, inadequacy and inefficiency of the disastrous government in Aso Rock.
December, 2019: Abuja, Nigeria. I penned down my plan for 2020. I was jubilant in the last week of that month, announcing my plans, building a support base for a new initiative I was putting together to forge an alliance between African private and public universities. Everyone I met was happy both with me and my plans. When I bade farewell on December 23, it was with firm assurances and a fixed date for my return journey to this elegant city. So confident, so excited, we were to link Abuja with Nairobi and to take the same mission to Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. Yet it was not to be. An elaborate plan collapsed. The ground was shifting beneath our feet, a cataclysm produced by an unseen evil spirit ultimately labelled COVID-19 that manifested its unstoppable power in 2020 would put a halt on our once-thought-to-be an unstoppable enthusiasm! The great wind blew away all the