‘When we cry for Nigeria, we cry for what was at one time, what should have been and what can still be. We don’t cry for the rot these these politicians have put us in the past seven years. They would be wasted tears. We only cry for the mistakes we made and the destruction of the nationhood we envisaged’
YESTERDAY was a very emotional day for me.
I had a confluence of emotions running through me all day and it still hasn’t stopped till now.
My daughter graduated from University of Warwick with a First Class Degree.
As I watched her walk up the podium when her name was called to receive her certificate, a lump came to my throat and I thought of Nigeria.
And my eyes went misty.
‘This is for Nigeria too’ I said to myself. ‘This is for the Nigeria I have been hoping we would have been by now but still hope we will be one day’
Because Nosa, my daughter, has Nigerian blood. She’s Nigerian-British, as she loves to call herself. She doesn’t really accept the ‘British-Nigerian’ appellation, preferring the reverse. She’s spent more than half of her life in the United Kingdom and has always been proud of the country of her birth. Even when she reads and hears about negative things about the country, we would talk about it and she would say ‘I still have hope for Nigeria. I just believe that one day it will be better’. She understands that the problem with Nigeria is more of a systemic leadership incubus which has to be fixed first and then trickle it down to all other sectors for effective results.
After her graduation ceremony, at a family dinner to celebrate in a very cool restaurant with fantastic Indian cuisine, we talked about Nigeria again. I told her how her degree resonates with the Nigerian Pride. How she has done something for Nigeria with that achievement. Not just for her family but for the nation back home. And I thanked her over and over again.
And then I saw the clip of Tobi Amusan crying as she received her gold medal on a winners stand, with the Nigerian national anthem being played in the background.
And a new wave of emotions flooded me.
Tears rolled down my eyes watching that clip.
When we cry for Nigeria, we cry for what was at one time, what should have been and what can still be. We don’t cry for the rot these these politicians have put us in the past seven years. They would be wasted tears. We only cry for the mistakes we made and the destruction of the nationhood we envisaged.
Because we know that our country is special. We know where we should be in the comity of nations. We know how different, how intelligent, enterprising and creative Nigerians are and what those qualities have done for us home and abroad.
There is a new wave of brain drain in Nigeria. Almost everyone with the resources and will is leaving. The UK is taking much of our best brains right now. The banking industry and the fintech sector in Nigeria are facing horrendous staff attrition. Banking staff are relocating to the UK mostly with their families. They apply for Masters Degree programmes and leave with their families. The UK allows you to move with your nuclear family if you are accepted for a Masters Degree and the banking staff in Nigeria are taking advantage of this. I don’t blame them.
Everyone is tired. This government has finished the country.
A friend told me yesterday that the University of Hull has more Nigerians studying there than probably most universities in the UK. The numbers have risen in the past three years. I haven’t confirmed the accuracy of this but I understand his analogy.
‘If you go to Hull University, it’s as if you are in Lagos with the number of Nigerian students there. Hull wasn’t in the pecking order of Universities in the UK before now for Nigerians but now, almost everyone is running to Hull to study because it’s maybe more affordable. But it’s the benefits of moving with your family, husband, wife and children, which Nigerians are taking advantage of. A whole generation of Nigerians are leaving the country. Some will never go back. Some might return in two decades, if there is anything to return to. Some will curse anyone who ask them to return. Nigeria has traumatized us all’
And that is the truth.
We all are in a Stockholm relationship with Nigeria. We love what we hate about her and allow the worst lead us.
And we have witnessed the worst ever leading us now in the country.
A selfish and clueless brood of dangerous vipers poisoning our collective destinies.
And Tomi Amusan wept.
For Love of country.
In Pain for the country.
Nigeria gives with one hand and can completely destroy your dreams with the other. The scales are not balanced.
Tribal politics. Greed. Corruption. Insecurity. Fear. Anger. Economic sabotage.
It would have been a terribly bad story for the country if not for the soft power our creative sectors and the diaspora achievements have been pushing for us all.
Nollywood. Afrobeats. Literary giants. Diasporans excelling in various endaevours.
And the resilience of the Nigerian youths in Nigeria today. The wise and downtrodden electorate who want to make a genuine change.
Can we rebuild this country? Can we restart the button? Can we get behind those who can competently take us out of the pit first and foremost ?
I am irredeemably a Nigerian optimist. I have written a few times that my destiny is to live and die in Africa perhaps. I want to help build the next generation who will rebuild what the generation before mine and even my generation have destroyed.
It can be done.
We have just one last chance in 2023.
We still have the Tobi Amusans and the likes of my daughter who believe in the possibilities of a new Nigeria, home and abroad.
We have to build that future for the generations to come. We have seen the worst.
It’s time to birth the precursor to the best, if at all.
https://web.facebook.com/charles.novia.10
