The Nigeria of our dreams.

Dear Nigerians,

We have come to this day, the day you celebrate me. I admit my vulnerabilities hold me back from doing much, but you my child, have you done the little that I ask of you? I have fallen short of your expectations and often I stand amidst my counter parts with my head bloody, but yet for your sake unbowed.

Fifty four years ago when power became yours, the things that made you different were what made you strong. It hurts me so that now you’re being torn apart, broken by the diversity that was once your anchor. Once upon a time I heard children sing in my streets, I heard songs of hope. Now I see fear, I see pockets that are broke, hearts that have been broken, and dreams that are dying. I have come to wake you up, to remind you it is not too late.

The change you desire is not in the power at the top, the change begins in the will at the bottom. The will to do what is right. You want electricity, do you pay your bills; you cry out for clean surroundings, but litter the places you go. You demand water in your homes, but destroy the pipelines that lead there. I see your hearts burdened by the cost of education, where are the schools your churches build? Don’t the places you fill on days of worship remind you to be your brother’s keeper daily? Why then do I see hearts driven by lack living off crime on the streets? Haven’t you heard the story told, of the man who gathered treasures on earth for the moth and the cold? What good is a man who gains the world while his brother has nothing of his own? You are not poor because of  lack, most of you are kept poor by your vices. You drink away your earnings and lust away your savings. You want so much my child, so much that you work against.

The time has come to stop playing victim and really grow up. The Nigeria of our dreams is not filled with perfect citizens, flawless leaders or faultless systems. The Nigeria of our dreams has people who are long on actions and short on words.I know your leaders are faulty and hardly do what they should. But you are also a Nigerian; do you do what you ought to? You might claim I do not understand, but I am mother earth, I have known you from conception to the day of your birth. I see you not for what you are but for what you can be, I see in you only greatness because you are a part of me. We all can attain the Nigeria of our dreams.

                                                          Courtesy; Nigeria.