The Nigerian Dream -By Nonso Anyasi

“I have a dream!”

These were the magic words that secured a prestigious place in the annals of history for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The importance of dreams are best emphasized by the words of Pastor Taiwo Odukoya who remarked that dreams are so powerful that a leader is defined and known by his dream. Dreams are indeed the seeds of a leader’s legacy such that they drive his achievements. A classical manifestation of the conceptualization of dreams can be gleaned from the dream of lies and deceit bequeathed to Nigerians by the present Federal Government, the returns of which are self-evident in almost every of the Government’s achievements thus far.

It is trite that one of the factors underlying the success of any society operating under the social contract theory is the existence of a common dream shared by all its citizenry. For instance, the concept of the American dream as a land where life should be richer and fuller for everyone; for opportunity for each according to ability or achievement which was coined by the American writer James Truslow Adam is highly reflective in both the operation of the American Government as well as the way of life of the American populace. This American dream is aptly captured in the American Oath of Allegiance and inculcated in all American children from an early age. This dream is what drives the American leaders, her soldiers, and the governed. The end product of the American dream boils down to one word: LIBERTY.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for our dear country Nigeria. The submission that Nigeria has been ill-opportune to have a succession of leaders with diametrically opposed dreams is an incontrovertible fact which requires no modicum of proof. The aspirations of the Nigerian leadership is asymmetrical to the aspirations of the Nigerian citizens they govern. Whilst the leadership of this country is engaged in a singular but schismatic dream of retaining governmental and economic power at all costs, the governed are more concerned with holding on to the expensive reins of life at all costs. Our leaders therefore seem to lack such nationally-inclined seeds which the citizens can tap into to achieve a common dream. We have had such a checkered history such that where a particular leader manages to engage in some layers of conscious national dream, this ideal is immediately discarded and forgotten by his successor, and ultimately culminating in national stagnation such as the country is currently experiencing. Fifty-Eight years after gaining total control of our affairs, we still find it difficult to ascertain the ideals which strings the confederation together. We are thus bound by the insalubrious dividends of the mistakes and mis-dreams of our leaders past and present. The younger generation cannot but be justified in wanting to opt out of the shared directionless movement in which the country is presently steering, to partake in a more certain dream such as the lofty American Dream.

If the words of Eleanor Roosevelt that “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” are to come to pass, it therefore behooves on the younger generation of this country to timeously inherit the duties of dreaming for the country by engaging in layers of collective national dreams to birth a new ideal and direction for our dear country.

It is high time we fashioned out a Nigerian Dream loftier than that of the American ideal of Liberty. These may be the ramblings of an unapologetic idealist, but this writer maintains the unshackled conviction that Nigeria will be great in the very nearest future.

The question is: will you be a partaker of this great dream when it kicks off, or will you be behind bars, ruing your decision to betray the national dream?