inspiration post

It takes courage to build hope around the Nigerian dream. Some would even argue if there is any dream at all. Nigerians love Nigeria even if they can’t explain. Show me a Nigerian who has everything going for him in a foreign land and I will show you a Nigerian who longs to see the day when Nigeria will get it right to be called his first home with pride. What is the Nigerian dream? Two major events happened simultaneously in the world of sports recently. In the build up to the Tokyo Olympics, the Nigerian basketball team defeated the American team in an unprecedented upset by any African basketball team even on American soil. England lost the final of the Euro 2020 cup to Italy in a fiercely contested soccer duel. Two events, three continents but different responses. Not minding that it was an exhibition match, the news of American defeat by Nigeria did not make the news round in Nigeria the way any sports enthusiast would have expected, maybe because it’s not football.

America is in the eye of the storm and many are wondering if the land of liberty can still flaunt the title of the beacon of democracy as it is wont to. While I admit that there is a big question mark on America’s moral right to police the entrenchment of democracy anywhere else, I still believe that America’s democracy remains a model, even in spite of the brazen assault it suffered in the hands of President Trump and his allies. What is playing out in America only reinforces the fact that human beings are the same, irrespective of race or colour. What regulates the excesses of man is law and order which is what America prides itself on. The event at Capitol Hill on Wednesday the 6th of January, 2021 was only a crystallisation of a feud that was sown when Donald J. Trump was voted as The President of The United States on the 8th of November, 2016. I wrote an article shortly before President Trump took his oath of office in 2017. The article was titled “Lessons from America”. Before then and in the build up to the elections, I was a vehement critic of Donald Trump’s fitness for the Oval Office and I did it without apologies. Writers, they say, are more of idealists but writers, most times, are able to see into the future not because they are soothsayers but because history is not lost on them. Hence, they are able to project into the future, even at the risk of backlashes.

It’s a season of wishes. In the true spirit of the season, please permit me to wish you a happy new year filled with pleasant surprises. Truly, wishes become dreams and when dreams are formed into achievable goals they become accomplishments. What we call achievement are accomplished goals which is otherwise described as dream fulfilled. May your dreams come true in 2021. It is customary to have everyone speaking at the same time at the beginning of the year when goals are set and when the energy is still strong. In the midst of the collective voices saying almost the same thing, it takes discernment for you to sieve the voices to heed. Please let me add this to the myriads of wishes that you might have gotten as you set to action in 2021 – listen to yourself.

The year 2020 came with such a Big Bang. The sound of it was so unique and we all looked forward to an amazing year. What we did not suspect was that it was going to be a year of new discoveries, at least not in the fashion that we are used to. The world would have wished to have everything about 2019 gone with the wind but not with the novel Coronavirus. That was how COVID-19 (Corona Virus Discovered in 2019) changed the colour of 2020 and the world never remained the same again. The year 2020 rolls out in a bit. What an amazing year it would be remembered for. A year when positive could mean negative and negative could mean positive, depending on the topic. A year of opportunities. A year of excuses. The year 2020 would go down as the year when your social and economic status determined your risk of association. There were losses and there were gains. May God restore all that was lost. For the irreplaceable loss of lives, may humanity find comfort in the all knowing God.

Christmas is all about the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Who is this Jesus? He is the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counsellor. He is the reason for this season. Christ came to save the world. What if I wish you a safe Christmas? What makes Christmas merry? The fun in the atmosphere is peculiar to Yuletide more than any other time all year through. The wining, the dining, the sharing and the exchange of love make Christmas truly merry. The second wave, even with its scare, cannot stop the merry in our Christmas but in the midst of it all, please stay safe, stay alive for this Christmas to truly be merry. I wanna wish you a very merry Christmas but before then, I have this urge to wish you a safe Christmas. You have to stay alive to feel the merriment in Christmas beyond 2020.

If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. I grew up dreaming how to inspire people. The dream was without form but the conviction was so strong. This day in retrospect birthed a dream of many years, not even the vicissitudes of life could stop its manifestation. It is not enough to dream. Dreams come in vision but many visions live and die as vision because they are blurred. Your vision becomes clearer when they are lettered. This was what I did in 2016 when I took my vision beyond mere wishes. It was not for nothing. I’m a living witness. Winners don’t emerge from those who intend to run the race. Winners roll up their sleeves and jump on the field of play even when it is not convenient. If my weekly musing means anything to you, then you need a copy of my new book. I bet that the hard copy will find a prominent place in your library. The e-copy will be an essential companion. I asked another friend like you what price he is willing to pay for my e-book of over 200 pages and he laughed, he asked if I’ve democratised the pricing of my intellectual property but I said why not? You’ve been a part of my long journey and I’m incomplete without you.

Many would wish to have an omelette without breaking any egg but there is no record of such gains without pains in ancient and modern history. Some would argue that Nigeria got her independence too cheaply and took development for granted when there was surplus, that we failed to project far into the future. It may appear a coincidence but I think it is symbolic that Nigeria is witnessing a rebirth on her 60th anniversary as Nigeria clocked 60 on 01 October 2020. The #endSARS protest opened another chapter in Nigeria’s history and I dare say that Nigeria will never remain the same again. In the aftermath, there have been pains, some quite excruciating. There are gains, enormous gains, even if not immediately visible. There are also some exaggerated assumptions that look real. I would wish that any loss is avoided to give Nigeria a rebirth but wishes are not horses.