Leaving Our Nation

paulanii (51)in #writing • 6 years ago (edited)

Nigeria is a wonderful country. All that cultural diversity, the languages, ethnicity, and every detail, big or small that makes Nigeria what she is. This includes the not so good aspects.

I have had friends ask me if would ever want to live outside of Nigeria, my answer is always “Not permanently”. I would like to leave here. Just for a little while, maybe for school, or to see what I can of the world. But I’ll always come back.
Whenever I say this, 90% of them stare at me aghast. Like I have lost my mind or something. One of them even said, “You like suffer sha.” chuckling
Then I ask them why they want to leave and there are usually a whole lot of reasons. Some of which are;

There’s no money in Nigeria
Corruption is killing this country
Our government isn’t doing anything good
We don’t want Boko Haram to kill us
The funniest I have heard so far is;
This Nigerian climate is not for me.

Somehow, I don’t blame them for wanting to leave. There are a lot of people who think that being away from the nations’ chaotic cycle would be better for them. Maybe they are right, maybe they’ll do better outside of Nigeria, I mean, a lot of people are.
Sadly, I don’t think so. Really though, what is so bad about Nigeria?
Yes, we have a lot of issues, but there are millions of people who stay here and thrive and become successful.
There’re a lot of opportunities in this place, and I agree that they’re not easy to come by. But if we all abandon our country, who’s supposed to help make it better.
I think that there’s a lot more to being Nigerian. It not just about being from the giant of Africa, it’s about embracing everything about our nation. The good and the bad, and being able to make decisions that would affect us positively both now and in a hundred years to come.

Source
All of this could happen in a short time if our present leaders and the older generation would open their minds to the possibilities and not run the country like its their household.

So, to all my brothers and sisters who are itching to leave us, go ahead. But abeg, when you get there, do not forget us.
As for me, I’ll stay and look for that elusive but fantastic life right where I’m supposed to (the right way of course). I mean, if I don’t, who will?

Happy Sunday, Steemians. If you like it, please;