Home remains the best place to stay. It is where we find fulfillment and satisfaction. One’s home is always the safe haven in times of distress. In a scenario when one’s home is in crisis, chaos, troubles, insecurity and discomfort, what is to be done? Flee the troubled home? Or stand to fight for the restoration? These are questions confronting every Nigerian. It is no news that our country is in deep mess mainly due to failure of leadership and overt corrupt practices. It is not new that our education, economic, political, as well as health systems are in pathological shape. But Nigeria remains our home. We have to strive to make it viable again.
Many Nigerian youths have the preconceived notion that Nigeria is a bad country and that nothing can actually be done to remedy the situation. To this effect, there is little or no love for our country amongst the youths. Many have come to believe that there is no place for hard-work and excellence in Nigeria. While we face these stark realities, we would nevertheless, give up on Nigeria. We can make that positive change by starting from ourselves. Each day, we face the question, “are you the only ones to bring about the change?” This is because of the general impression that bringing change in Nigerian is impossible. But it’s possible! It starts with you; just develop the mental attitude to make a change from your environment. The mental attitude changes first and foremost your viewpoint about the world, then about the importance of conducting yourself ethically. That’s called conviction.
I had a personal experience, though it was a little bit difficult. I was happy I did the right thing and that I was able to bring about a little change. During the 2017 Christmas period, when prices of goods and services were already high in Nigeria, I had the opportunity to aid my aunt in her business. I got to know the prices of every commodity in her provision shop. I also got the chance to help her buy goods from wholesalers in order to retail. We got to the market and bought a particular commodity the exact price we had bought it earlier. On getting back home, we observed that all retailers who marketed the same product around us hiked their price. That’s the common practice in Nigeria due to the strange alibi of using the festive season to escalate the prices of goods. My aunt was tempted to join the other retailers to hike the price too. But I convinced her not to do that and gave her reasons why the price should still remain the same. “Aunty, we would still make some gains, people would be happy with you, and your products would sell faster. Remember that the wholesalers didn’t escalate the price when you bought from them”. This brought a little conflict between us but at the end, she succumbed to my request. Eventually, she made more sales than others and that made others to cut down their price.
Let’s not give up on Nigeria, it’s our home, our fatherland. Let’s nurture it. Let’s make it the best. For this to be achieved, we have to make sacrifices, imbibe the virtues of accountability, integrity, commitment and orderliness. This is one great asset that CSAAEINC is giving to us- the mental capacity to aim at being the best. CSAAEINC helps to train us to prepare for the battle. Change doesn’t come easy but it is human beings that bring about a turnaround in their environment. All we need to do is to recognize that we are all stake holders in Nigeria. As stakeholders, we stand to gain if things get better. Contrarily, we also stand to lose if things keep deteriorating as seems to be the case at this point in our lives. We feel the excruciating pains. We feel loss. We feel frustrated. But we can’t hand over the culture of hopelessness and despair to the next generation- our children and grandchildren. That’s why we have to convince ourselves that change is imperative. This is the greatest challenge that face the Nigerian youth. Let’s work for change. Let’s build our nation. Let’s be courageous. Ignore what the next person says about you once you are doing the right thing. Let’s begin now. Nigeria is our home.
