JUNE 12 - CHANGE THE CHANGE

By -

 



I’ve had conversations with many Nigerians in diaspora, and through these conversations, I realized that a large percentage of them really have the desire to be back in Nigeria, Including the ones who have already attained citizenship status in these various countries.


They want to be back to a country where they are recognized and not discriminated against; A society where there’s community life, accessible local food, and a much easier life. They just want to be HOME, because there’s no place like it. 


But they all have a request and a wish before they return. They’re not asking for much. From my conversation with them, I identified similar comments peculiar to them all, and that includes : 

1. Security 

2. Light

3. Good education 

4. Sustainable and accessible healthcare 

5. Motorable roads and more railway transport, Amongst others.

The first two options in this list are the most commonly mentioned. 


My dear Nigerians, is this too much to ask for?


Nigerian in London protesting for Change at Trafalgar Square

Photocredit: Akintunde Babatunde

- A Nigeria where Nigerians can travel by road without fear of being attacked.

- A Nigeria where parents don’t worry about their kids getting kidnapped in school or on their way.

- A Nigeria where you don’t have to wait till your neighbor puts on his generator before you charge your phone.


A quick one: Just recently I was having a conversation with a lad who’s never been to Nigeria, and he asked me what I meant by generator, 😂... cos he’s never seen one in his life and doesn’t know what it is. Thank God for google. Lol... I asked him to google. Just so you know that there are people who don’t understand what electricity cuts are. It’s just crazy! 


- A Nigeria that offers them internet accessibility in order to connect to the rest of the world, and access knowledge. On several occasions, I’ve lost my way in London, and a few times where I’ve had to ask for directions, the first thing the people do is to go online. I also recall taking a course online but unfortunately couldn’t complete it because internet accessibility was super expensive for me. Mtn data of N3000 will run out in less than a week. I was literally doing ‘osusu’ for Mtn.


- A Nigeria that recognizes talent and skills.

See, there’s only one reason why young people are choosing to ‘Japa’ out of Naija, and that is to look for OPPORTUNITIES. And this is a sad phenomenon because Nigeria is losing resources. Yes, Human Resources! Skills and talent that should have been used to build the nation are relocating to find means elsewhere. 


This is not good!

Please give us Nigeria! Give us home! We want home!

No fight, No shooting, No killing, just CHANGE!!!


Nigerian in London protesting for Change at Trafalgar Square




                              .               




Progress Oberiko: LinkedIn Facebook Instagram



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ONE BIG FAMILY...THE PARTY!

By -
Image
We organized a Christmas party to celebrate their recovery and liberation as well as thank God for his blessings. The party was organised by the hospital team and also supported by the 'Help Wihtout Boundaries' Foundation. The event took place on the 22nd December 2018, at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric hospital in Calabar, graced by the head of clinical operations Dr Ekpe, the consultant psychiatrist in charge of their case Dr Oluntoki, Oberiko Progress other doctors, nurses, social workers, guests and other patients in the hospital. You can imagine the feeling of extreme joy Ben and his family had as they celebrated Christmas. To every normal child Christmas is special, it is a season where they look forward to new clothes, an outing and unlimited fun but to these kids Joy, Ebenezer and Joshua who had no idea what Christmas means, nor looked forward to any new clothes, it was an extraordinary occasion and an amazing feeling as they had the opportunity to wear new clo...
Read more

UNDER PRESSURE

By -
Image
  Organizations should help us stop lying about this.  As for me, I can’t work so well  under pressure. First of all, why do you want to even put me under pressure? Don’t you know it’ll affect my mental well-being? Come to think of it, a well-organized organization will plan ahead of time, inform their employees, and take the necessary precautions ahead of time. Why are you making it look like an employee is inefficient or incapable if they’re unable to work under pressure? What's the idea behind being able to work under pressure sef? Pressure puts people under tension and anxiety, especially me!  😂   You need to see me when I’m running late for mass, about to miss a train, or late for an appointment; I speak to objects as though they had ears, everything on my way must give way, otherwise, ' wahala ' for them. I’d be speaking to myself, vex anyhow, rush, and just go Gaga!  😂   I remember when I was about to miss a deadline for submitting a project, ...
Read more

MY COMPANION - Tekno K7

By -
I'll be bias if I fail to appreciate you. You have been my only faithful companion in times of boredom, through thick and thin you have stayed by me. You get me busy typing when I'm inspired in my thoughts. I never knew you'd stand the test of time. No laptop, but you permit me to carry out the task of writing lengthy articles; even my keyboard knows my handwriting. You have proven to be that PC that never pisses me. No iPhone but your multitasking ability is amazing. Battery life don dey depreciate, yet you stand the test of time; even with 5percent I'm still jumping from instagram to facebook. Your memory space don hear ' Ween ' because I have stuffed you up with details, upon details, of everything I treasure. Pictures are flowing like streams of living water, my notepad is overwhelmed with stories yet untold. My gossip partner. I could be writing about someone next to me without him knowing. If to say you be human being, by now u for don ...
Read more

THE CHRONICLES OF DAWA-DAWA

By -
Image
(Smells like Sh*t) Dawa-Dawa(Locust beans), as it is locally called, was an indispensable seasoning in all the delicacies I prepared. At first I swore to never have anything to do with it because of the horrible smell that came along with it. "It is a fly lover. Chai the smell na blast!" But this same lady, my customer, convinced me, and also schooled me on the health benefits of Dawa-dawa: in her words, “google it na, Kopa. It is very very good”.  I tried it once, and the taste of the soup was unusually sumptuous. And that marked the Genesis of Dawa-dawa in my life! I even discovered that it has a way of controlling the salty quantity in food. Wow! I found my magic wand; it had no disadvantages, none I have been affected by. I never prepared a meal without a touch of Dawa-Dawa; and like melanin, all the meals I prepared always came out popping. Nobody knew the secret. My love for it increased in geometric progression, to the extent that I not only add...
Read more

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

By -
Image
All my life, I never really celebrated/acknowledged anything such as “Black history month”. Didn’t know about it until recently. And please don’t blame me, it’s not because I have been ignorant it’s just because I was never Black until I arrived in the UK.  🤷🏾‍♀️ This is the same reason a fellow Nigerian who just arrived in the Uk for studies has refused to identify with the term “Black”.  During our conversation, I noticed he deliberately tried to avoid using the word Black to describe himself while sharing his experience. And when I called him Black he bluntly retorted “ Please don’t call me Black, I’m not Black”.  He continued: “ You know back in Nigeria I can’t be described as Black, I’m light-skinned ” .  😅 And I remember laughing out loud and saying to him: “you don’t really have a choice here, you know; whether you like it or not you’ll be addressed as Black”.  I said to him: “ The moment you landed in the UK your identity changed, and with or without ...
Read more

VOLUNTEERING

By -
Image
I want to stress the need for volunteering. Volunteering means offering your skills, time, and resource to the benefit of other organizations or to someone else, without having an interest in being paid. I know that the term volunteering may sound synonymous with “ OSHOFREE ” for some people, especially Nigerians. It’s not your fault. For an economy where people struggle for survival, people will definitely eschew anything that doesn’t put money on their table. But regardless, the importance of volunteering cannot be overemphasized.  Volunteering gives you the opportunity to render service, and at the same time develop your skills. Sometimes our problem is that we focus too much on our stomachs and on immediate satisfaction that we lose out on many other opportunities for growth.   Yes, “man must survive” but there are so many other factors that can contribute to man’s survival, and some of them include: recommendations, improving your cv, building relationships, having goodw...
Read more

This Gender! (Part 1)

By -
Image
I want to tell you stories about my gender. One happened when I visited Scotland; I’ll tell the others in my subsequent posts. I visited a friend who had two daughters. In her kitchen my friend has this small corner dedicated to her daughter. In that corner there was a “kids kitchen” made of toy pots, gas cookers, utensils etc. She said she wanted her daughter to learn how to cook. So I asked her a question: “If your daughter was a boy will you still buy this toy kitchen for him and teach him how to cook”? She paused and stared at me. With a face like: “what kind of question is that”? She responded and said: “No, I won’t!” “Why should I buy a toy kitchen for my male child”? She asked. And turned to continue cooking. You see, many a time, we as parents and women, including those clamoring “equal rights for women” and those who claim to be “feminist”, we have a huge role to play in this race of “Gender equity and fairness”. It starts from your homes! From the toys you buy your kids, ...
Read more