29 years already
I wrote a blog
exactly a year ago and ended it with the paragraph below without telling that
other story. I do not this blog would be the space for it either, it would
probably go into my story, if I get the inspiration, motivation and will to
take it beyond the chapters I have already written.
On the 30th
of December 1990, I left Nigeria, on Nigeria Airways flight WT808 running almost
3 hours behind schedule. I had £15 in my pocket and a future ahead of me. That
is another story.
I wonder why I commemorate
the 30th of December, it has been 29 years since I left Nigeria, it
is strange that if work commitments had not necessitated my travel to South
Africa in 2015, I would never have set foot in Africa since I left.
Gone but not done
Like I would normally
protest on Twitter, my having left Nigeria that long ago has not meant a
disengagement from the country of my forebears. I cherish and guard my Nigerian
heritage jealously as much I try to be informed and well acquainted with issues
and events therein.
The contention with
parents, relations, and friends is whether I can be persuaded to return for a visit.
I have not convinced myself of the sense of security, safety, or comfort that this
would afford me. Until I can get that sorted in my head, I can categorically
say, it is not on my agenda.
The retiree then
We can only hope that
the man who has negotiated for himself the best retirement package of his generation
and peers soon moves on to a sort of retirement home. Our witness of his first
regime in the 1980s is what ushered in the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the
annulment of the 1993 elections and then Sani Abacha.
Whatever his plans
were then appeared to be a systematic regimentation of Nigeria towards a North
Korean style of socialist control of not just the systems but the minds of the
people. Whilst we were not barred from leaving the country, the message was we
shouldn’t. It is without a doubt that Muhammadu Buhari has some animus towards
Nigerians based abroad, maybe because much as we can criticise him, we are
beyond his junta-inspired grasp. [See the blog below.]
The retiree now
Meanwhile with his
1980s mindset, he rules the roost, retired of ideas, policy or direction much
as we can recount that after he exited national politics he was involved in no
activity until he rekindled his entitlement to leadership that he fought for
thrice before winning. The people beguiled with the spectre of integrity that
doesn’t appear to radiate beyond the man.
Now, he lives in
the best residence gets the best medical attention in London that flounces off
to at a whim, flies in a presidential jet arriving in countries where all
courtesies to a head of state are a diplomatic necessity whilst the country
teeters on the edge of incomprehensibility, the youth unable to adequately plan
a future in their country of birth, they are leaving if they can.
Nigerians, I hail you
Yet, I must commend
those who have found ways to thrive in that environment, but there is another wave of the Exodus like those of my generation who left about 3 decades ago and
they are not planning on returning.
In my view, you can
make a success of your life anywhere in the world if you have the drive, the
ambition, the skills, and the sheer determination, by God, we have spunk. Many leave Nigeria and get to
live their best lives. I just hope we have enough people left to really take
the country forward, even those of us who have left, pray constantly for a
better Nigeria.
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