Inspiration
comes from the weirdest places sometimes. Most of the time it just sneaks up on
you without you even noticing until you are inspired to go out and achieve
more. And sometimes your inspiration can come from one of the smallest living
thing known to man: ANTS. Yup you read right, ANTS. I bet you never thought you would see the day when someone would say something as crazy as that, right?
I
sat outside my house on Saturday evening enjoying a cob of corn and some native
pear, oka n’ube as my Ibo people would call it. I’m sorry brothers and sisters
in diaspora, I didn't mean to make you salivate, it's just the season back
here in Nigeria. Anyway, back to my story. Some ears of corn made their way to
the ground as I ate, some big and some smaller than the others.
In the days following the Dana crash, God rest the beautiful souls of all those we lost in that crash, I had the opportunity of speaking to a number of young people. Everybody was pretty vocal at that point, everyone had an opinion on what ought to be done, on how we can avert future disasters.
I stumbled on a rather mind numbing statistics, everybody was looking for the fastest way out of Nigeria. Oh My God. If I spoke to 20 people, 13 were looking for the fastest route out of Nigeria, while 5 were waiting patiently for their turn at helm of power so they could get their hands on a share of the national cake, and only 2 were looking for ways to move Nigeria forward. Dear Lord, I weep for the land of my birth.
I had just one question for all those in a hurry to leave Nigeria, "if the citizens of the countries you are running to ran to other countries, would you have anywhere to run to?"
My answer to that was a simple and emphatic ‘NO’. If we don’t stay back to build Her, Nigeria would only continue to wallow in her rot.
Truth is the countries they are all running to are not even perfect, far from it. Thanks to my lovely parents, I have had the opportunity to live in the UK for the last eleven month. You want to know what I found out in my first month here, they have port-holes too, the light go off too, their buses are late too, the train has hitches too. But you know what they have that we don’t have? A system that works!! Yes a system that works. And a people that love their country so much. The moment a fault is noticed, it is called in and the authority in charge gets to work the moment it is reported.
The saying we are the change we seek comes to mind any time I think of Nigeria. For Nigeria to get better we have to be the change we want and work towards it. The fact that our leaders have failed us doesn't mean we have to remain stuck in the rot we find ourselves. I mean you work hard to make money; you don’t sit at home and wait for the government to come give you some. Why then does it have to be different for the change we are seeking for Nigeria, you don’t have to wait for the government to bring about the needed change, why not work towards it.
Making Nigeria a better place doesn't require a lot of work, it’s actually quite simple. If everyone just does his or her part, change would come to Nigeria, we would get the Nigeria we want. Truth is, Nigeria is not the problem, Nigerians are, the leaders are not Her biggest problem, Nigerians are. Or you want to blame Goodluck Jonathan for your taking bribe; you want to blame GEJ for your skipping the line in the bank. Is it GEJ’s fault that you decided to work your NYSC posting or it’s his fault that you decided to try your luck as a yahoo boy? You don’t go about taking bribes and expect Mr. B to reject bribes, come on he’s no fool, he would take it just like you. Besides you wouldn't have any moral justification to ask him to stop taking bribe. You don’t go about giving bribes and expect Nigeria to change. If we all just do our parts Nigeria would be great. If I do my job without taking bribes, is that not part of the change I seek, if I get to the front of the line without cutting the line is that not the change I seek. If I do the right things at the right time, is that not the change I seek, if pastors and imams remind their congregation that violence is not the way out, is that not the change we seek.
The truth is change would not come to Nigeria in a big way, it would not just be dropped on Nigerians, it would not happen overnight. Change would slowly creep up on us when we start practising the change we want to see, it would be a gradual process. At first we wouldn't even notice the change, until one day we wake up, and wow, we live in a different Nigeria. That our leaders are bad doesn't mean we have to descend to their level. Truth is they can’t get away with their corrupt ways without our assistance. Let’s assume I work in an office in charge of land allocation, and procedure demands that the papers have to be examined by three of my subordinates to ensure the land doesn't belong to someone else before I append my signature of approval. If I refuse to skip my subordinates' examination because the land in question belongs to the governor’s son and the police man refuses to be used as a thug to harass me into signing the papers. Is the change we seek for Nigeria not creeping up on her slowly?
Say this to yourself every day, 'I am the change I seek, I am the change Nigeria needs'. Do your part and leave the rest to your fellow countrymen.
'Be the change you seek'
I found a song that encourages me to make my little contribution to the change Nigeria needs. Timi Dakolo’s Great Nation. I listen to it every morning, it inspires me to keep fighting for the Nigeria I want.
I sat at my little corner of the world thinking, thinking about everything, from music to food, to fashion to family, to friends that were still around, to friends that were now a memory, to Nigeria and to the sun which had blessed me with its presence that morning. I sat at my little corner of the world, thinking about everything, I sat at my little corner of the world, thinking about Nigeria. Most of my thoughts lately have been about Nigeria. I think of the greatness Nigeria can achieve, I think of the changes that are coming to Nigeria, I think of this change that I am going to be a big part of. I think of a new Nigeria, I think of a better Nigeria. Each day my thoughts are filled with hope of 'the Nigerian Dream'. How is this change going to come to Nigeria, how do we achieve this 'Nigerian dream', you ask. My answer is simple, it is a nine letter word, the key to all our problems, EDUCATION. I can see you going 'errmm, what is she on about again'. But yes the key to solving our numerous problems is that simple. You are wondering how a room, tables and chairs, a blackboard and a teacher can solve our problem right? Well i am not referring to that type of education. What I mean by education is information.It holds the key to solving all of our problems. Nigerians especially Nigerian youths are not well-informed and now this is no fault of the government. Nigerian youths have lost so much faith in their country that they do not care what goes on in it. But alas! We suffer most from our ignorance. A typical Nigerian youth hardly watches News on TV,if at all we do we would rather watch CNN..how can we truly grasp what goes on in other countries if we neglect our own? charity begins at home. We won't listen to radio programs..and even when we do, we won't listen to the educative programs on radio...its our parents who call in to contribute to these programs..which is what youths should be doing. Nigerian youths teach in classrooms...Do I hear you say tufiakwa! Exactly! How would the future leaders of Nigeria be well educated? We youths are better educated than the older generation..we can impart more knowledge. We have simply refused to rise to the challenge. Let me rephrase Ayei Kwei Armah's "the beautiful ones are not yet born"...for me "the beautiful ones have been born, they have simply refused to live". How did Nigeria come about? Who composed our anthem? Whose picture is on our five naira note? Who was the 1st military head of Lagos? As simple as these questions are, 99% of Nigerian youths do not know. Now, technology has come. It was supposed to be for our advancement, but I think not. Phones and laptops have become more of tools that aid evil,idleness,unintelligent rumours! On facebook, mostly mindless chats and talk go on. On twitter, if we cannot watch news, atleast we can follow news channels and papers, but nooo we won't. Should I continue? I watch the way videos and indecent links spread across the country these days, how I wish productive discourse amongst young people can spread that way too. Yet, we would bewail our country everytime and everywhere! Yet we are pathetically ignorant. Let's stop talking to the government..what we are speaks so loudly they can't hear what we are saying. The youth should be informed about the true position of things. They should know effects of their actions or lack of it, the effect of their words or lack of it. They should know that they can get the Nigeria they dream of, they just have to work for it. Let's strive to be informed. Let's go back to our history books, let's arm ourselves with the truth. How do you intend to be the 'FUTURE' when you know nothing about your past. Let's be Nigerians! Let's stop looking outside, we have seen enough,let the much we have seen spur positivity in us towards our country. When we do this, our wailings would be better buttered with facts. And if the government won't listen, we would have moved far ahead of them!. Dear Nigerian youths, our ancestors and parents have fought enough. We have been wanting change. Information is where we should start. I sat at my little corner of the world, not just thinking or dreaming of a better Nigeria. I sat in my little corner of the world, plotting my return to my motherland. I sat at my little corner of the world perfecting my little plan of educating my people back in my village. I sat at my little corner of the world, perfecting my plans for a better Nigeria...
