It was yesterday that I heard one of our country’s ministers say that Nigerians earning the ₦70,000 minimum wage are now better off than some of their counterparts who travelled abroad three to five years ago. He said that many of those who travelled, despite having a university degree and even earning another degree abroad, ended up doing menial jobs such as working in care homes.
When I listened to him, I couldn’t help but wonder how some of our leaders reason in the first place. If the country were in good shape and there were a conducive environment for businesses to thrive, it wouldn’t be a problem for people to travel abroad and still return home. It is just what it is.
There was one thing he said that I could relate to, which is the fact that many of our citizens are doing the kind of jobs they probably wouldn’t do if they were still in Nigeria. Nevertheless, there is dignity in labour, and we need to respect whatever brings food to someone’s table. Of what use is displaying wealth without having any real value or purpose behind it? You have money, but you have no meaningful job or productive value to show for it.
The problem we have in this part of the world is that you will find people keeping wealth that could transform an entire city into a modern one and still empower many others. The kind of leaders we have are those who do not believe in the equitable distribution of wealth. They think only about enriching themselves.
Those in the diaspora have, within just five years, sent over five billion dollars to Nigeria. Imagine what that has done for their home country and their families. Many of them believe that the only way they can make a difference is by ensuring that their own families are well taken care of.
I also heard a senator say some time ago that he could never allow his children to attend a government school because he had “paid the price.” I wondered what price he was referring to when he has benefited from government resources to finance the education and welfare of his family.
When are we going to get it right as a nation? When are we going to become the country we desire to be? It is true that the developed nations did not get where they are by accident, and their civilisation began much earlier than ours. But what about countries that gained independence around the same time as Nigeria and continue to make progress every day?
We know that there is always a price to pay for the development of a nation, and everyone must be willing to play a part. If we can all work together to make this nation great, it should begin with each individual, not necessarily with the leaders alone. If everyone takes responsibility for the smallest unit of the nation—the family—we can build from there, extend those values to our workplaces, and reject corruption and anything else that could bring pain to the country in the future.
I believe this nation will be great one day.
