As a typical Igbo person, I shall begin this piece by stating a proverb. My people say, what an elder sits down to see, a child who climbs an Iroko tree would not see. At the same time, another proverb goes; a traveler who has seen the world is more knowledgeable than the elder who remains in his village.
Like most of my age mates in the country, I have not traveled the world (Where is the money for that?). But what my ancestors did not foresee was the decentralization of information that would happen in my time. Growing up, I was exposed to a world outside of my own; not just cultures around me but from miles around the world. Like some of my age mates, I watched cartoon network, Disney, a bit of Nickelodeon. I was exposed to a life different from mine; a life of what was and what could be.
I am often marveled by what the lottery of birth can do. What is the difference between that five-year-old beggar running in-between cars on the highway and a five-year-old child in a classroom in the western world? Luck. How horrible is it that children in our part of the world can die from such a flimsy disease as malaria and at the other end of the globe, you have children whose basic wants are catered for in abundance. As a middle-class child myself, I am caught in a funny position; on one end, I get to see my mates in the western world having achieved basic needs on Maslow’s hierarchy and now seeking self-fulfillment. On the other end, I see people around me languishing, barely able to cater for their basic needs. The die of birth had been cast and not many people were lucky.
And yet we have fought. Like most people in the world who have found themselves in a tight spot, we have fought. While that is commendable, we still need to fight more. I understand the sentiment to leave, to Japa and by all means, if you can, do so. I shan’t discourage you. I shall however plea that we make an effort at least for the country to be slightly better than it is. Not even for our children but for us. Not everyone can escape and we shouldn’t let old men whose time on earth is numbered steal our youth.
I envision a life where we can have disposable income. I believe this is one of the best things in life; to have money (it doesn’t even have to be much) and youth to go with it. We should be able to chase our dreams and not just any ambitions we are sure are going to be our next ticket out of poverty.
For this to happen, we have to be sensible with our decisions and this is where Peter Obi comes in. I am not promising that suddenly the entire country would have a reset if he becomes president. But, there will be a change in the right direction however minuscule that would be. We might not go to space just yet but we might be able to plan trips on a ₦150,000 salary. We might not buy the latest models of cars but we might be able to afford a modest apartment outside of our parents’ house.
It is time to get busy. Now is not the time for apathy. As youths, we gravely outnumber other demographics in the country. Get your PVC and even if Peter Obi does not win, we can at least tell our fallen compatriots that we tried our best. We did not just hand victory on a silver platter to the people who mocked the deaths of our fellow compatriots. We would say we tried to give Nigeria a chance.
