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.

Every soccer lover caught the bug of the Euro cup, not only in Nigeria but across the globe but after their loss, English fans quickly remembered that the ‘English boys’ of African descent, who lost their penalty kicks, are mere sojourners in a foreign land but do not belong to England. English fans forgot in a hurry that the brown skinned talented young men aided England to the finals of the Euro 2020 cup. If this does not send a strong message to African emigrants, what else will?

I looked at the faces of the ‘English boys’ in this image and I was heartbroken. The agony on their faces depict the dejection of dreamers who earnestly desired to bring glory to their adopted home, whether by birth or by naturalisation. I imagine their pains and disappointment for failing to deliver the trophy to the Queen but here in Nigeria, even the news media failed to hype the American defeat by Nigeria. What an irony!

It would appear to me as if the Nigerian identity is gradually being subsumed by our present travails that continuously makes it undesirable for Nigerians to be proud of Nigeria. What even is Nigeria’s vision for Nigerians? I guess we need to jointly define this vision, even if again.

Nigeria’s vision for Nigerians is blurry, if it ever existed. As Nigerians explore opportunities wherever they exist across the globe, I suggest we begin discussions around a diaspora strategy to harness Nigerian dreamers scattered in different continents.

It is difficult to tell Nigerians not to seek help outside Nigeria when they cannot synchronise their goal with Nigeria’s corporate goal, if any. I have an appeal to Nigerian emigrants though. Please do not burn the bridge when you cross over because you may just be reminded one day in the future that here is not your home just like English fans told Saka and his friends that they are privileged to wear England’s national colours when they succeed but their failure is unEnglish.
I will conclude with this excerpt from an interview granted by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – “the country (Nigeria) frustrates you, you are so disappointed but your heart, somehow, is still there, because …it’s yours”.

That is the Nigerian spirit but this hope is waning.

Akin Oluwadare Jnr.
19 July 2021