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Nigeria...the Nigeria of my Dreams

Nigeria's biggest problem today is not corruption. President Obasanjo on May 29 1999 bemoaned corruption as the bane of our woes. The international community also speaks of it because it affects them and their investments in Nigeria. We have been distracted by that narrative. It's a major issue but not our biggest headache.

Under development is another issue. With huge infrastructure bottlenecks we are rightly placed under poverty. Education is also a terribly horrible issue nagging for our attention as is healthcare and security. But the biggest issue facing Nigeria is lack of VISION.

Nigeria needs to define what it stands for to the Nigerian people and how it will relate to the world. Some nations developed this over years; we must decide quickly or descend continually into a pit from whence it shall become impossible to emerge.

I have a vision that Nigeria will rise up and live up to its potential. I have a vision that Nigeria will become a commonwealth to people of Nigeria providing equal opportunities, justice, human rights and liberty. I have a vision that we will live in a Nigeria where Nigerians look at merit not ethnicity and competence ahead of connection to a principality. A Nigeria where laws are sacrosanct and the will of the people prevail. We must begin to build this Nigeria where the nations of Nigeria are responsible and not dependent on Abuja.

I have this hope and I will see the Nigeria of my dreams. Past hurts and grievances, injustices and evils we can and must forgive with a determination that those injustices do not become laws or precedents going forward. I have a vision that Nigeria becomes one nation.

One nation of peoples who are not afraid of their neighborhood in Kano or their friends in Borno can shake hands confidently in Aba or Abeokuta and eat in Calabar. A Nigeria that welcomes Nigerians everywhere. A Nigeria Africa and Africans can look up to. We will make it. God bless Nigeria.

It will take more than getting PVCs to birth this Nigeria. It will take more than one election cycle as nation building is a process and journey not an event. It will take visionary leadership that unites, that charts this course and willing participation by the peoples and nations of Nigeria to make it work. It is not impossible.  While we are at it, we must also never give up or give in to the distractions for they will be many.

Naysayers, and the men who profit from this exclusive Nigeria of today will disagree, they may throw up strong logic and great arguments to keep things they way they are but we must resist them, their gifts or appointments.  We must look to the day when we can truly say, Nigeria I am proud to call you home. A Nigeria that is inclusive, a Nigeria that protects Nigerians.

Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must start today to work right where we stand to make it work. We can and we will. God bless Nigeria. 
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