The Nigerian Dream

                                                  

If you are an avid oyibo movie watcher like me, then you have heard of what they call, the American Dream. It means the idea that anyone in the United States has the chance to achieve success and prosperity.  I figure the dream runs along different lines for different folks, for some it might be being a successful father, mildly busy but extremely available mother, two children, a dog  (or some other animal)and a great white house with a fence of some sort (this is just the way I assume it will look) or it could be building and running your own fortune 500 company from starting in a garage or your bedroom.

This dream is supported by a system that makes education up to high school level free and compulsory and provides opportunities to be held on to and grow. This dream is achieved by some and seen by others who strive to live their own dream. In America, one can go from being a homeless drug addict to being a Millionaire, how? Simple, there are support structures that encourage this, free rehab homes and support groups.

             

The system respects rule of law, “you do the crime and you do the time”. A public servants dream is to serve and serve they will. They think of ways to make life easy for their constituents. I saw high fences on a freeway and I asked if there was a mansion or prison on the express that was so long, and I was informed the fences were sound barriers to keep the freeway noises away from residents in those neighbourhoods.

Dreams vary, an American may dream of being the next “Al Capone” of the new millennia.

So being a person who lives in her head, I tried to envision what the Nigerian dream is.

Not anyone in Nigeria has the chance to achieve success and prosperity. The system here is rigged against the average Nigerian.

*Note* If you are reading this blogpost, you are not an average Nigerian. The average Nigerian may not own a phone and if they do can definitely not pay for data, before you argue, please go the villages, the riverine areas and the hinterlands, that’s where the average Nigerian lives

They dream of being a rich politician and his wife (or wives) who does various businesses because she can or preferably nothing at all because she can living in an expensive neighbourhood in Abuja, with a mansion in the village, another mansion in Abuja, one in Lagos and a hotel in Port-/Harcourt or Kaduna whose 10 kids are in school abroad. Is it  a civil servant who had finally reach the top, has access to all the good contracts that can be awarded to her company  who has a school or a shop that sells materials or cakes or shoes (something along these lines) whose  has 4 kids are in good Nigerian schools and 2 in school abroad, one house in a swanky Neighbourhood and so many land and property you can't quite understand how a civil servant can afford on their salary.

Or is the basic dream of every Nigerian that there will be petrol and it will stay at a stable affordable price, there will be light and we can afford to pay the charges to keep it on. There will be clean water and good and affordable medical care for our children. There will be good schools, so that if I decide that my kids should go to government schools they won't come out unprepared and unable to compete anywhere. That our child’s BSc will be able to get them a good job or better still equip them on how to hustle. That we don't need to strive extra so that our kids will get sensible educations from international schools or private universities (we aren't sure of) and still compete on the with nepotism for the same jobs with extra rich kids who aren't quiet qualified.  Is it the dream that we can be paid an honest wage for honest and hard work.

That we don't have to steal to afford the basic and the good things in life, that when we do work hard and put in the time and pay the taxes we will get equal and corresponding benefits, that our government will be honest with us, that the media will be honest with us, that our children are safe in school., that people we put in charge of us have our best interest at heart. We want criminals to pay, an incorruptible system that works.

This basic dream should be our dream and we need to start living that dream, first in our lives and then calling out those who are corrupt or negative in their actions.

Evil thrives because good people do nothing. 

We dream that we can get to whatever destination we envision, because at the end of the day, it’s the only country for most of us

                                                

God Bless You.

God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

- With Contributions from  (O.B)