READY MADE NIGERIA!

“The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action”…John Dewey (1859 – 1952) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Geologist and educational reformer.

Generally Speaking!

Most Nigerians would feign yawning out of predictable sarcasm and apparent scoff if I said the following words, “We are the leaders of tomorrow” even I am tired of the seemingly now mediocre statement, this is because we have not only heard it all our lives, but also because we know that for as long as we can remember, Nigeria has been a sleeping giant in every sector simply because her foundation was built with tribal and religious sentiments by a handful of unknown people whose life’s work is to stay in control of power, and they are doing a bad job by the way because Nigeria is obviously not making enough progress, if at all.

“Each person does see the world in a different way. There is not a single, unifying, objective truth. We are all limited by our perspective”…Siri Hustvedt (1955 – 1982) American essayist and novelist.

Nigeria’s perspective!

Nigeria has a population of about 200 million people that consume about anything ranging from high-end gadgets to luxury apparels, and pretty much anything the western world has to offer. The only thing Nigeria has failed to consume is effective leadership that of course is usually bourne of genuine love for one’s country, which possesses offshoots such as conscious technological advancement and provision of basic social amenities for the citizens, which then causes ripple effects like evolution of talents and transcendence of the imperative middle-class.

Instead, our youths are misguided towards the path of vanity, mediocrity and self-annihilation.

True, there is self-inflicted poverty in the land, but its not really about the absence of money, but is more of poverty of the mind. There are too many illiterates in the land, and as nature abhors vacuum, they have chosen to be religious, sports and material fanatics. 
There are excessively inflated government contracts, and they still either aren’t well done if done at all, and they are unchecked, yet we claim to fight corruption, which we won’t need to fight if we do what we are actually supposed to do. We have misplaced our priorities by placing importance on vain things from the western world, whereas we only need to believe in ourselves and work on a fresh plan, like China.

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep: I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion”…Alexander the Great (July 356BC – June 323BC) King of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty.

Nigeria’s Leadership

An average Nigerian is extremely religious not because he/she wants to genuinely relate to God, but the conviction is usually bourne of insecurity and fear of plunging into the familiar, raging poverty. 
In as much as religious quest saves us from loneliness, gives us hope and purpose which are integral for the human spirit, the religious bodies have somehow taken the position of government by providing some of the basic amenities the government has either failed to give or that the government contractors have failed to provide due to corruption and lack of their monitoring. Such amenities include schools, pipe bourne water, sanctuary for the homeless and needy. Some religious bodies are even known to have paved bad roads abandoned by government.

This has not just brought the effectiveness of government to question; it has also caused citizens to shift their loyalty, and faith to wherever there is hope, recalibrating their mentality in the process.

“Ideas don’t come out fully formed, they only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started.”…Mark Zuckerberg (1984 - ) American internet entrepreneur and Facebook co-founder

What do we do?

In as much as Nigeria is generally perceived as not pulling her weight, I don’t think it is necessarily this generation’s fault, neither the previous one, because the blame game and passing of the buck only brings out the ugliness within us, and we just end up wasting time on banality. We need to do what the white people do. We need to firstly choose to be good guys, and that entails genuinely loving ourselves in a practical way so that we can have the capacity to love others. Then we need to look out for the good in others and every situation, that way we can identify problems and proffer sustainable solutions.

Nigerians were unconsciously thought from their childhood to be oppressive and unnecessarily competitive. We go to school for two main reasons:

1. Because everyone goes to school.

2. To get great grades no matter what it takes.

This way, it is difficult to measure genuine brilliance and marry academic acumen with emotional intelligence.

This is why that brilliant chap you knew back in school as the academic superstar is not living up to his potential in real life, while regular people are actually working hard in harnessing their talents and are succeeding. The white folks have figured this out a long time ago and they are practical about it. They guide you through your strengths and likes, ranging from sports to music to acting to engineering, you know, practical stuff that solve real problems, generate money and runs the economy.

Nigeria just seem to like things to be ready made, which is why we migrate to enjoy the basic amenities we lack back home and a better minimum wage, but we fail to realize those foreign countries were once worse than ours, and we can make our country like theirs or even better if we work hard at it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been more proud of Nigeria, a nation that despite been suppressed is climbing out of the ashes of our burnt refuge. Kudos to the Nigerian trailblazers that have become our inspiration and beacon of hope, reminding us that we can do more, you inspire us and we hope to meet you at the top.

Dedicated to Nigeria’s first female Bobsleigh team comprising Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga, and Kenya’s snow Leopard Sabrina Simanda, good luck to you and thanks for making Africa proud.

Ideas don’t come fully formed, we have to choose a goal and concentrate our energy and passion through the path that leads right to it.

God bless Nigeria, Africa, and the world!

Thank you, and be awesome because you truly are.

Akin Abimbola.

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Sources: BBC, Brainy Quote, Google, Good reads, Wikipedia

This article is an original piece, which was reasonably researched contains considerable opinion and is composed in a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are fictional. Consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.