I have just recently returned from a trip to Nigeria, the country of my birth….my homeland. Certainly, the famous Nigerian poet, John Pepper Clark, might well have been writing about the entire country when, in his poem about Africa’s third largest city, he described Ibadan as a “running splash of rust and gold flung and scattered among seven hills like broken China in the sun”.
You see, I took a trip with my son to Nigeria a few years ago and we spent a few days in Ghana on our way to Nigeria where I was scheduled to present an academic paper at a conference occurring at the University of Port Harcourt. The year prior, my daughter had visited Nigeria and Ghana and had returned home with incredible experiences from her time both in Nigeria where she spent 2 weeks staying and volunteering in an orphanage and in an elementary school in Ghana where she also volunteered as a teacher for 2 weeks. She again joined her mother and me for a few days on this recent trip to Nigeria. My children have a love for Nigeria…indeed for Africa.
That was my son’s first trip to Africa as an adult and there are not sufficient words to describe the time that we had, nor are there enough words to describe the time that my wife, my daughter and I had during my most recent trip to Nigeria.
Back to my trip with my son a few years ago: He requested that we travel by road in Nigeria because, although it was a business trip for me, it was a heritage trip for him. Therefore, for 2 days, starting from Lagos, we travelled just over 17 hours down the southeastern coast of Nigeria, stopping in multiple towns along the way. In the process, we acquired experiences that I would not trade for a substitute.
I did not bargain for what the trip would do for me, nor will I ever forget what it did. Finding myself in a position to see Nigeria through the very objective eyes of my son, I realized for the first time in my life that my views about the country had always been based on a subjective premise… But why not? After all, I was born and raised there. That trip, however, put me in a position to see the blessings and contrasts of the country in full view. Just watching the women dart across the hectic, traffic-laden streets of Lagos carrying heavy items on their heads and children in tow that they would walk to school before going to sell their wares, seeing women selling food items on the roadside as we traveled -begging us to buy what they were selling to enable them feed their families… seeing school age children begging for alms in the streets of oil-rich Port Harcourt on a school day; seeing lazy police officers asking for and collecting bribes from travelers; and…from seeing the dark streets and homes across the country to seeing the bright lights of skyscrapers whenever there was electricity; from seeing the muddy rugged streets and highways unbefitting a giant nation like Nigeria to seeing the beautiful corn fields and greenery of the countryside landscapes….the beauty and ruggedness of Nigeria was on display. Flying back to Lagos from Port Harcourt, it was impossible not to behold in amazement the beautiful, clear skies that God placed over the parts of Nigeria that the plane flew over.
That trip provided me a once in a lifetime opportunity not just to be alone with my adult son for an extended period, by which I actually mean a week, (a rarity in this “modern” world where we are both high-flying professionals), but also because it allowed me to see Nigeria through objective lens. Of course, the signs of corruption and government inefficiency were everywhere, but there was much to admire in the spirits of the Nigerian people and the country’s blessings in the form of natural resources – all unfortunately taken for granted. The green leaves and grassland reminded me of the existence of life even in the face of trials and hardships such as now face millions of Nigerians. The smiles and polite attitudes of so many were a good reminder of the goodness inherent in a Nigerian people who may well be described as a people as warm as the weather to which they are accustomed. Although, by any sincere standards, the quality of some of the conference presentations was a stunning revelation of how far south the educational system had traveled from the high quality standards that I remembered…..well…that is another story for another time. 
Back to my recent trip. I am unable to recall any time when Lagos was as beautiful as I found it to be during this visit. Driving through parts of Lagos at night felt sometimes as though one was driving through the streets of a Western country. To be sure, I am not one who believes that Western countries are the gold standard for all things good. However, I am also aware and sincere enough to acknowledge that, except for a few exceptions, African countries and cities are generally not good examples of organized systems – and that is putting it mildly…..and generously. So, if the discussion is about aesthetics, structure and system efficiency, it would be delusional to suggest that African countries generally measure up. They do not.
Having said that, I am aware that the beauty of Lagos should not be considered by me or anyone else as a reflection of the entire country. I know of homes, schools, healthcare facilities, roads and other structures that exist in overwhelming states of disrepair across the country. The consequences of such states of existence are often unquantifiable because suffering has no representation on any scale of measurement.
So, I am not one who believes that the physical beauty of inanimate structures is an accurate measure of the quality of life of animate beings. To that extent, the beauty of Lagos is by no means representative of the quality of life of most of the over 100 million people who live in Nigeria. Lagos is very wealthy, beautiful and full of people – an educated class – blessed with the ability, courage and presence of mind to consistently elect dedicated leaders, each with a knack for service and commitment to the people and state that they govern. While Lagos is developing impressively and shining as Nigeria’s “golden state”, much (though, perhaps those who know better than I would say all) of the rest of Nigeria wallow in rust created and maintained by their political leadership; leadership that is created, emboldened and sustained by weak, dishonest and short-sighted voters who only care about their own stomachs at the outset but then complain ceaselessly after getting ditched by the governments that they installed with their votes. 
Nigeria may not be impeccable, but no country is. Nigerians have a tendency to emphasize the country’s rust while ignoring the potential gold that also lies within the country. Nigeria may be comparable to a wreck but in that wreck live many people with beautiful souls, children too innocent to deserve to be victims of the cruel machinations of the adult leaders who caused the wreckage in which those children must live and grow up.
We need a better Nigeria. Africa needs that; the world needs that. However, for Nigeria to move to a better place among the world’s best nations to live in, Nigerians must do the work of transforming rust into mostly gold. That process would have to start with the transformation of Nigerian hearts and minds. For that to occur, more Nigerians than not must accept that most of Nigeria’s problems were created by Nigerians and must be solved by Nigerians who are willing and able to look inward for potential solutions. Also, Nigerians must shun the tribalistic urge that often sends them into defensive postures on behalf of the thieves that suck their country dry. Nigerians must be willing to report the thieves among them for prosecution by legal authorities. Unfortunately, legal authorities in Nigeria, as in much or all of Africa, require extensive sanitization due to their role in fostering corruption and other crimes. Yet, those authorities are needed to do the work that is expected of them if Nigeria is to be truly transformed. Nigeria’s problems can only be solved by Nigerians. The fields are green, the tools are all around us ready to be picked up and it is time for all Nigerians to begin to perceive of themselves as the laborers who must pick up those tools and embrace the call to refine themselves and transform their country. The power to change our native land is in our hands, and so is the responsibility to use that power. To the extent that that responsibility is ours, it is we who must change. Nigeria cannot change without her sons and daughters. We are the ones who must change ourselves and recognize that a country does not exist without its people. To that extent, a country cannot change itself, let alone one with systems as damaged as Nigeria has; one with so many unwilling, unpatriotic and negatively enabling citizens. For Nigeria to change, its citizens must change. This is how I see it.