The Nigeria i dreamt of many years back.

The Nigeria I see today is different from the Nigeria i saw in my dream. The one whose under its presumptuous roof I always pray never to depart. At a point i left the shadows of such a dream to make it manifest outwardly through my imagination. While i was growing up, i envisioned the Nigeria that i want to see and live in. It’s nothing compared to the Nigeria i see and live in today. In my own Nigeria, educational system has a coloration that even an aged woman in the village would want to take active participation in; students were presented with high-tech facilities, stocked-up digital and physical library that makes learning enthusiastic for them; recreational activities that molds character were in varieties; the research and development department in every institution of higher learning tie students curriculum with real-life problems. There was nothing like Labour Union or Academic Staff Union of Universities because there was no need for them.

It didn’t stop there, there were jobs for every class of graduates, from student of first class to pass grade ones. Even those with no form of educational qualification had job. The minimum wage wasn’t NGN18,000 but NGN125,000. Employers put employees through an extensive training before placing a full job responsibility on them. Working hour for all sector, government or private runs from 8:00am to 4:00pm with nobody coming out to work on Saturday let alone Sunday. It was a perfect Nigeria!

The political system i saw in my dream wasn’t as messed up as the one I see in the present Nigeria. In fact, there were only two party system. The character, commitment and vision of a candidate is what matters and not the political party he/she is belongs to. The voice of the people is the wisdom of the leaders and i never knew words like “election rigging” and/or “assassination” let alone “tribal sentiments”. Electricity power supply was at its best, no power failure and the amount of tariff was far less than what Nigerians pay today.

It was amazingly marvelous and i always pray to get back to such a Nigeria. A Nigeria where windows of opportunity was much bigger than the doors of success. That Nigeria of my dream can still be achieved today. Yes the state of things today looks irrepairable but it only takes one determined heart to form a nation of hope and pride of glory. It only takes one-third of your youthful strength, my youthful strength to achieve that. Careless about government’s contribution to this fight of progress, if you do your bit and i do my bit, and we all do our bits, Nigeria will change and that Nigeria of my dream, of your dream, will be realized.

I stand for a new Nigeria, what do you stand for my friends?