Genesis - In the Beginning

First a few words...

Let's go to bed, don't think of sex
We don't have to sleep together
Not in the same bedroom.

Let's go to bed, begin to dream
We don't want to have a nightmare
Not in the same horror.

Let's go to bed, hope to awake
We don't want to sleep forever
Not in the same graveyard.

The End (of the few words)


As a man, if you poured out your heart to a girl you "love" and then she responded by saying "You are such a dreamer"...You might experience some boost in your testosterone level which you can tell by the degree of offense you take to her response.

Unfortunately this feeling of being offended when something negative is said about your country has been beaten out of far too many Nigerians. It has become cliche and almost customary to hear that a Nigerian did something bad while in a foreign country. For instance, "Nigerian-born delinquent commits fraud". It is so bad that no one is surprised anymore.

However, another cliche feeling is that of excitement when we hear news like "Nigerian teenager gets admission into eight ivy-league schools" or "Nigerian-born striker scores goal to clinch Champions League victory for [insert club name]".

We have two choices here.

1. Continue saying negative things about Nigeria, dreaming horror for Nigeria and wake up screaming because it came true.

or

2. Start saying positive things about Nigeria if you haven't. If you have started already, then dream bliss for Nigeria and wake up like Prince Akeem in Coming to America because it came true.

Today's dreams are tomorrow's reality. (Only if you work on it)

The Real Nigerian Dream

Welcome to The Real Nigerian Dream!

When we searched for "The Nigerian Dream", the first result on Google.com was an article on naij.com in which then Governor Fashola defined it as follows:

"If you work hard, if you learn, if you are honest, you can be all that you can in the land of your ancestors - That is the Nigerian Dream".

The above definition, when pictured through any medium requires us to keep dreaming or wake up and start afresh.

The second result was a publication on vanguardngr.com which was centered on the National Conference as a tool for determination of The Nigerian Dream. We all know how that went.

The third result was a beautiful piece by Taiwo Odukoya published on the premiumtimesng.com. In this column, a national dream was defined, referencing the American Dream and the Chinese Dream.

You may have searched for "The Nigerian Dream" maybe just to know if one exists, or what exactly it is. In response to a lack of a standard definition of The Nigerian Dream, this blog was created with a firm purpose of defining The Nigerian Dream in addition to making this dream a reality.

You may also have been referred here by someone or perhaps, you stumbled upon this page. So, before you leave, please take this little offering - remember that if you don't define the Nigerian Dream, you will have to live by the definition offered by others because these definitions inadvertently shape the reality we know as Nigeria today.

While we all have individual dreams, there are points in our individual dreams that are shared and it is on the basis of these points or common interests that any meaningful reality can be achieved. Whenever this is the topic of discussion, the most common question is where do we start? Well, If we are to live a fulfilled life in this world, then the social development goals (SDGs) is a good place to start.

Thank you for your time. Comments and feedback are welcome.