I am very passionate about the very delicate project of rebuilding the very blessed nation of Nigeria. God so blessed us that sometimes I think it is to our detriment. We can easily see that due to our very wonderful environmental conditions, natural resources in abundance and a whole lot of other positive attributes; we oftentimes forget to stretch our present limits and ensure a whole new wavelength of creativity.
I also think God has blessed us with very thick skin that is receptive to extreme conditions as well as a lot of shame and nonsense. That will explain why looking back to a lot of milestones in Nigeria; it is crystal clear that our thick skins make us accept just anything. Our elections are always filled with horror stories of rigging, molestations and killings. Nigerians have even resigned to fate and the general belief is that nothing good can come out of any electioneering process in our dear country.
The endemic nature of corruption is very frightening and is the root cause of the un-workability of the state. Every sector of the state is affected and people have lost faith in the sanity of leadership in this country. The quality of leadership we roll out is a reflection of the quality of citizens we produce. The educational system in the country is obviously destroyed and a real miracle is needed to get it back on track. I was moved to tears when I had something doing in a secondary school where most of the students were unable to write their names correctly and to think that this used to be a top secondary school in the ancient city of Ibadan.
The Universities are living in their past glories. Curriculum is a major problem right from primary to tertiary levels. It is so sad that some lecturers even boast of using the same note from 1970’s for their students in 2007. I am very afraid for the kind of Nigerians we are raising and there seems to be very little hope. NEPA used to be called Never Expect Power Always – it was almost a sigh of relieve when the name was changed to PHCN but alas we soon got the real meaning of the name —- Problem Has Changed Names 🙂 — how sad?
The only solution to this problem lies in our generation. The general consensus is that the older generation verily failed us and it is very unfair that this same set of people enjoyed all the good things the country had to offer — free and qualitative education, easy access to luxuries, hassle-free visas, good hospitals, e.t.c. We cannot afford to allow their failure to continue haunting us and allow our own children to suffer. I believe it is a good time to stand up for what is right and be change agents. I decided a long time ago that I won’t be a part of the complaint wagon but ensure some proactivity and ingenuity. I decided to work on my own mind and walk with like-minds in changing the face of the Nigerian state.
The first step is to look inwards and determine if each of us are doing enough to change ourselves and Nigeria for the better. The journey is first a personal one before culminating in a collective action. If I pledge to become a good citizen of Nigeria, keeping traffic laws, sanitation, fight corruption, e.t.c and also decide to develop myself by reading good books, being the best in my career and generally loving my fellow countryman; it will be exciting how much we can all improve as a country.
As we start a new year – I implore all of us to stop blaming Nigeria but endeavour to start a journey into personal improvement and nation building.