Over the years and even till now, it has been evident that the government has shown laxness concerning the affairs of the public and in performing their duties to the country. The cries and voices of the weak, faceless, the voiceless and the minority have been disregarded and many issues have been neglected for far too long. While these people are being left in the dust, with no one to stand for them, the high and mighty have constantly been favored over them. We run a backward system of misplaced priorities whereby the country steals from those who have nothing, only to give to those who have abundantly
Although there
has been a little development here and there,
there is so much
more that the government can do. The people have
demanded action for so long
and still continue their
plea. The injustice has no regard
for age as it affects
the young and we see how
it plays out in everyday
situations such as health, education, food, infrastructure and many more.
‘In My Country’ is a 2017Nigerian
movie that brings real-life to the screens. This heart- gripping drama
takes us on a roller-coaster of emotions as it explores a number of problems we
face on a daily basis in this country, the most prominent being the inefficiency, the bias and the injustice of the government. The crew of this movie made a very
respectable effort in drawing out many of the vices that the faceless constantly and silently suffer through.
They have been able to shed more light on the crumbling
system that is Nigerian
and portray what has become
our reality.
Here, a noble man with the best
intentions, but questionable methods has taken it upon himself to be the representative of the ‘voiceless’, and to always
fight for the justice of the
minority. A young low class girl is at the hospital and in need of critical
surgery and the Minister of Health is being challenged to make good use of his
resources with an ultimatum hanging over his head- the girl must not be left to die or he will lose his life.
It is
absolutely heart-wrenching to see people,
children, in this movie fight it out on their own for the chance to be heard and treated
as a part of the country. They have been saddled
with responsibility of taking action
seeing as none of their leaders have stepped up. It is a
constant battle between the neglected and the privileged, a battle of life and
death, a battle to beat down injustice and we watch to see who emerges
the victor. In order to help
this girl, the man known as ‘General’
kidnaps and holds the Minister
of Health hostage.
The Minister is left with a phone to make the calls necessary in order to save the girl’s life, which he does after much
reluctance, but not as best as he can. The twist in the story occurs when it is
revealed to the Minister that the dying girl is in fact his own granddaughter after which he begins to go extreme
lengths to try save her, but when the
girl stopped breathing, his efforts
proved futile.
This is a representative of our very own
country where matters are disregarded until people of importance are involved and nepotism takes place. Crimes
such as rape are not attended to until someone important
is involved. Nigeria is one of Africa’s leading economies but it is suffering
from economic crisis leading to inflation which has a negative effect on the
economy or individuals. According to World Poverty Clock 91.8 million Nigerians are extremely poor.
More than half of Nigeria’s population live on less than a dollar (N362.50). According to the World Bank, a
person can be said to believing in extreme poverty if they live below the
poverty line of $1.90which translates
to N69.35per day. In June 2018, the World Poverty
Clock named Nigeria
the poverty capital
of the world with statistics showing 87million
people live in poverty. 40percent of
primary school teachers in Nigeria are not qualified. In a public school in
Lagos, it is one teacher to 80 students in a class.
The current death rate for Nigeria is 11.771deaths per 1000people. The quality of Nigerian healthcare institutions is generally
considered rather poor. There is shortage medical staff in Nigerian public
hospitals. The rate at which doctors and nurses migrate to foreign countries is alarming and this is as a result of poor condition of service,
poor remuneration and excessive workload.
It is one doctor to over 100patients a
day in Nigerian public hospitals. Within the last three years, about 800doctors resigned from Lagos State
hospitals. With the conditions doctors
are subjected to, there is no guarantee that patients are giving
maximum attention; therefore, leaving patients with no choice
but to seek medical treatment from foreign countries, as a result of
loss of confidence in the general health services.
Nigeria
would be a better place,
if the government puts all hands on deck. These
are the things that this motion
draws to our attention. The movie is a must see.
Okonji Oluwaseun Babcock University
Mass Communication Department
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