SHOCKING: “IN 1976, 133 US DOLLAR EXCHANGED FOR 100 NAIRA. TODAY, $133 US IS EQUIVALENT TO #26,467”. CAN NIGERIA RISE AGAIN?
Na we dey do our sef! Could all of our problems simply go away if we decide to embrace love? Kofoworola Ayodeji goes to the past to find the map to the future.

About a year ago, I was talking with a few of my friends who, like me, were members of the Nigerian youth corps rounding off their one year service (NYSC). Our discussion centered exclusively on life after NYSC: labour market and the agony of unemployed youths; the ‘killing’ of potentials in young Nigerians as well as the total loss of National Pride among citizens. “My dad once told me that he enjoyed life to the fullest, with loads of scholarships, as an undergraduate and as a graduate. Getting a place to work was not an issue; the major concern was the best place to work because there were many employment opportunities at that time”, Danbaba, a plump dark-skinned Hausa man who sat across me, said. Because of his story, I decided to research what life might have been like for the Nigerian youth back in the 70s.
Here’s what I found: In the 1970s and early 80s, a student who scored excellent grades in examinations such as The West African Senior School Certificate Examination gained immediate admission into any of the best schools regardless of socioeconomic status; and students travelled overseas only for courses that were not readily available in Nigeria. Nigeria’s Educational institutions were ranked among the best in the world. During the same period, 0.6702 Nigerian Naira was equivalent to 1 US Dollar; the value of Nigeria’s currency was almost twice that of the United States. Nigeria was indeed the predominant African leader, the true Giant of Africa!
Today, things have gone terribly bad: Giving and taking of bribe, Examination malpractice, Corruption. Nigerians are no longer trusted overseas and little wonder we are made to undergo dehumanizing scrutiny before access to certain facilities/entry into many countries. An average Nigerian graduate is not deemed competent in many instances, both within and outside the country. As an advocate of change, I can only say so much about Nigeria’s failing systems but we must answer this: Between the years 1970 and 2000, what happened, what went wrong and how do we get back on track?
This is what I think went wrong. Our society deviated from LOVE allowing Selfishness and Indiscipline to take centre stage. In fact, any problem you see in Nigeria today is an offshoot of these two; Selfishness and Indiscipline. The “ME and MY FAMILY” Syndrome which affects every part of Nigeria today, developed because our parents and leaders were selfish; they had no plan for the future. Now we have a VALUE-less, VIRTUEless mainstream Society with the good people being minority.
The only way out is to reverse the status quo. How? We must replace all forms of Selfishness with Selflessness, Indiscipline with discipline and Hatred with Love and Passion. We must work to change Nigeria’s belief system, one person at a time, and one day at a time. According to the highly sought-after Nigerian Motivational Speaker,Fela Durotoye, “What you believe determines who you become and who you become determines how you behave”. Also,in the words of the legendary Nelson Mandela, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be thought to LOVE, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”
It’s our collective responsibility to rebuild Nigeria. You must first of all teach yourself how to love and how to be selfless, and then you teach your family and finally your community. Once this is done, we will begin to have leaders in every profession and sector. Then, we can elect Nigerians to various public offices based on good antecedents, competence and vision. Nothing moves until you move it so be the change you want to see in Nigeria!
In essence, all of our problems could simply go away if we decide to embrace love and take our destiny into our own hands. God bless our dear nation Nigeria!
Kofoworola Ayodeji is a Writer and Transformational Speaker who is passionately involved in nation building of the Nigerian state.

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