My name is Samuel Fashola, I was born on the 31st of May 1991 in the heartbeat of Lagos, Nigeria.
I stay in this country from birth till now — no where else to call home.
At my tender age, I could vividly remember how I was able to spend ten Naira with maximum gratification. I decided to make reference to my age, so all and sundry will be rest assured that my Nigeria story is super fresh. Inarguably, things were far better to what we are experiencing at the moment.
When I was in Primary 1, I never spent more than ten Naira for sumptuous meal and I will have everything you could think of on my food. Every morning, I will go straight to Iya Jefferey and buy rice four Naira, spaghetti two Naira, beans two Naira, pomo one Naira and meat one Naira. I could envisage the shock on your faces if this is the same Nigeria we have today.
This was the Nigeria I met, and my dad will complain bitterly how things have gotten expensive. He and his folks do encourage themselves that Nigeria will be better. With the few years I have spent as a Nigerian, I questioned that popular mantra ‘E go better.’
I have seen my friends, colleagues, acquaintances and street peeps ‘japa-ing’(leaving the shores of this country). Leaving is not even the issue, but the way they celebrated their departure; flooding social media spaces with pictures and assuring everyone of never returning.
It was disturbing when I saw Bayo (a close friend of mine) leaving for Ghana. He left with a great joy to a neigbouring country that used to see Nigeria as heaven. We all can’t forget ‘Ghana must go’ so soon.
Bayo called me this morning from Ghana after three months, he said “Charlie this place is heaven on earth.” He highlighted our challenges that he never experienced in Ghana: poor power supply, bad road network, insecurity, ethnic discrimination, secession, political instability, unpalatable government policies. And to crown it, he uses Twitter without VPN.
Nigeria celebrates 61 years of existence today and we all are still hoping that this county will be great again. Do you think the ‘Giant of Africa will wake up?
There is a popular saying that ‘the last thing to leave a man is hope’. Nigerians that are yet to Japa can only hope that ‘E go better.’
OPINION SENT IN BY Samuel Fashola
EMAIL: poscabafash@gmail.com