Why You Shouldn't Pack and Leave Nigeria

$20 billion naira made to disappear.
Immigration test disaster: Government, after milking about N1,000,000,000 from the unemployed, still couldn't properly conduct an interview test.
Then there's the unending random killing up north.

And for once I can confidently say, the incompetence of our government officials is impossible to exaggerate.

Unfortunately, we are all like that. 
Every country gets the leaders it makes. We are the ones in the government parastatals. We are the ones forcing unemployed Nigerians to pay N1,000 for a job that has been filled. And we are the ones killing ourselves.

And now the thoughtful ones among us are scared of what kind of future awaits their children in Nigeria. And those who can afford it, are already moving out of the country. To somewhere their children will enjoy a better education, a better living condition and an edge over other Nigerians back home. And for people like these, I have nothing to say. Every child deserves more than what Nigeria offers. 

But to youths like me, I have a lot to say on why you shouldn't pack and move to another country.

image: canoramews.com 

1. Be a hero
Heroes are made at times like this, not when everything is well and there are no DIDs. All the guys we quote and refer to as the most influential people in world history were products of tough times: Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin, Dante, Voltaire, Joan of Arc, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti...

A real man stands up to the challenge. He starts by being the change he wants to see. Then he doesn't stand by watching, he makes real effort to uproot the evil he's able to.

Finally, you can't be a true hero from abroad.

2. It's easier here
And that's the truth. 

You have little competition here. All your advantages are here: local knowledge, network and constitutional advantage. If you can make the initial leap of breaking from the herd mentality, not competing with millions for the same thing but switch on your creativity and flame on, you'll have an easy ride. And that's why I'm resigning my job. Of all the people I have done Excel work for, none has ever told me he has an alternative in Nigeria. I'm (almost) the only one. Easy ride. Little money, though. But easy ride still. And I'm too active to not figure out how to bill higher someday.

3. Patriotism
No country will ever celebrate its citizen that died fighting for another country. No matter how high you rise in a UK, US or French army, we will never consider you patriotic. And that's what it's like when you leave your country to go build another country's economy. 

Though there's a new way people fix this nowadays. They come here thrice a year to give motivational talks or as a resource person for seminars. It's good.

I prefer the old-school patriotism. The one I read about in books. The one that involves getting in the dirt with others and pushing the country forward.

4. For your Children
My maternal grandpa is the first local government chairman of my home town. My father's family tree has got some warriors in it, even our "Oriki" is built around the Dahomey war. And those are the only things I like about my ancestry.

Stay here to give your children something to be proud of. A family legend.

5. You will always want to come back.
Especially when you're old. So I would rather stay all my life here. The greatest in my list of the world's greatest all lived and died in their home countries. 

The home advantage doesn't apply to football alone.It applies to life itself.



As for me, all my dreams are tied to Nigeria. I can't leave.