As a child, I have always wondered why people seem to have lost hope in Nigeria and why they never try to do things within their capacity to make the country a better place. There are people who will confidently say they don’t have anything to do with education because they see no point in it. Whereas education is the first step in making Nigeria a country every citizen can vouch for, we want a Nigeria where education is not just a business enterprise but, addressed as a weapon to be used to change the world, promoting peace and tranquility.
The common phrase, “A peaceful country is a stable country”, is an indisputable fact . Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world”. He said education could change not only a country but the whole world because it is a useful channel to reach out to everybody living in a country. Educating the young minds can go a long way in the growth and development of a country, creating awareness and enlightenment. This will further increase the number of young creative minds that go on to improve the educational, economic, financial, etc stance of our dear nation.
The Nigeria we envisage and hope for as children cannot be achieved without any work or determination, it cannot be achieved without skillful thinking, it cannot be achieved by mere words but, a refined thought, which is one of the reasons education will always be an important determinant to building a Nigeria we want.
The change expected in a country does not necessarily have to start with the government. In other words, it has to start with individuals, and this foundation lies in knowing our rights and responsibilities as citizens.
We want a Nigeria where the rights of both old and young are protected without discrimination in education, religion, age, and economic status. A Nigeria where everyone is seen as one regardless of his race, colour, ethnic group, religion or class.
We want a Nigeria where gender discrimination becomes a nonexistent issue. Gender discrimination has remained the root of gender-based violence, which most states have had to battle with up till today. It has posed a lot of threat, especially to the female gender, and this has brought about defense protests for the girl child, especially in parts of the country where girl child education is not supported.
Opening the mind of the Nigerian child to envision the numerous possibilities of processing ignored potentials and forgone resources at our disposal is necessary for a better Nigeria. It doesn’t imply us pushing away foreign business associations. Instead, it builds a sense of a process that should help balance the improvement and use of our own raw materials. This, in other words also means building a Nigeria where foreign problems don’t have to be our problems, a Nigeria where a problem with the foreign business associations doesn’t expose the citizens to hunger and unnecessary suffering and this can only be possible when we utilize our raw materials to make us less dependent on foreign goods.
Choosing a good leader is the call of the citizens in a country and public opinion shouldn’t be overlooked when choosing a good leader. This means that the opinion of the citizens should matter and have a good stance in the election of leaders to lead the country. While it is essential for the country to have a leader with a good vision and mission, which can only be done by the responsible citizenry, there is a system called majority and minority rule. The majority rule is a system in which the decision of more than half the people is accepted by all. If the decision of that many people can be accepted by all then it is more or less the same thing as public opinion where citizens can voice out what they want and what they do not want.
I know for a fact, that if people with refined minds and thoughts come together to choose a leader they will be faithful to, there is no way the leader won’t be one the citizens of the country can be proud of. Being a leader without being skillful is a major problem. Leadership and skill are distant relatives but, in other to lead people you have to be a leader in the space of your own skill. When an average man is leading average men, the country becomes an average country. When people are led by a person who is skillful and uses his skill to improve the lives of his followers, it is also reproduced in the followers to use their gifts and talents to improve the lives of other people. Leadership can be explained as a bottle of water with a cork on it. The cork is there naturally, preventing the water from coming out to satisfy its purpose until a leader who understands that the purpose of water is not in a bottle comes, uncorks it and directs the flow to optimally fulfill its purpose. A good leader with good leadership skills is one of the qualities Nigeria needs to become independent, especially economically, politically and educationally.
We want a Nigeria with a good healthcare system, a Nigeria where the healthcare system is addressed as an infrastructural system for the good of all citizens rather than a business enterprise. A Nigeria that encourages young medical personnel with innovations concerning the health sector, like the invention of new medicines from our local medicinal plants and improvement on local medicines and manufacturing of such drugs. We have thousands of untapped health-enhancing plants and herbs but, we have not taken time to examine them, classify them, improve them, package them as drugs and make them available for our use. When we improve our healthcare in this manner, we strengthen our economy by engaging a lot of human and environmental resources through this industry. The healthcare system must be strengthened so that both old and young will not have a reason to travel abroad for treatment when good healthcare systems are within their reach. Good and stable social amenities in addition to good and balanced support system are needed to help the citizens protect their health and well-being.
We want a Nigeria that is security conscious, this implies a country where citizens are at peace with everything around them, a country free from terrorism and various kinds of attack, but this can only the possible when the country is corruption free and transparent in all their dealings including the rules and regulations regarding such country, then the country will become habitable for the citizens, that is the type of Nigeria we want, yes a Nigeria we can boldly refer to as our habitat. A Nigeria that doesn’t encourage corruption is what we want, then, the dreams of both old and young can come true.
Religion is another factor to be considered in order to have a better Nigeria. We want a Nigeria that is religiously independent and the number of churches or mosques on the streets of Nigeria doesn’t have any effect on the homicidal state of the economy. A Nigeria that is not blinded by religion to the lights that technological advancement brings. A Nigeria that is heavily supported by religion to make meaningful inventions and industrialization to serve as a solution to present and future problems that the world may have.This is the Nigeria we want: a peaceful, secure and developed Nigeria where every man lives a comfortable life with his dreams knowing that his environment is conducive for the actualization of his dreams. Yes, this is the Nigeria of our dream: a Nigeria we can boldly call our home.
This is the Nigeria that we want, this is the Nigeria that we envisage. Long live Nigeria.
Ruth Afuye Oyindamola wrote from Ekiti
