Let me start by asking this question…who do you think unites our country. The President? The Governor? Maybe, but did the thought of a Taxi Driver cross your mind? Probably not, why? Most times we decide to overlook some things we think are little.

Would you reason with me that the Taxi Driver has united this country in many more ways than every other person? The Taxi Driver who many citizens don’t respect, the Taxi Driver no parent wants their child to become, the Taxi Driver who is very self-willed. Well yes, The Taxi Driver.

I once heard the story of a then young man who was at that time trying to make ends meet by starting up a fish pond. He had no source of income, but had to feed his fingerlings and so what he did was to go about looking for the carcass of an animal and puts it in a bag and feeds his fish with the maggots from the dead animal. What do you think happened to him? No one in the taxi ever wanted him in the taxi except for the Taxi Driver, regardless of the stench coming from his bag; nobody wanted to converse or associate with him in the taxi but for the Taxi Driver. Not for economic gains because the Taxi Driver did not always collect payment due to this man’s current situation. Most of us Nigerians are not in any way like this Taxi Driver, infact, only a Taxi Driver has the bragging rights to not discriminating because a Taxi Driver does not care who you are, what you were before he met you, the clothes on your body, does not always care about your medical condition, does not care about your tribe, race or colour, does not care about your language; all he cares about is where you are going, your desired destination, your safety and your trust in him.

The Taxi Driver has been all over the country and is accustomed to the large variety of cultures we have and still knows that we are all Nigerians, we are all the same, we are all united, we are all children of the same mother, we are brothers and we are sisters. From Adamawa to Anambra to Akure to Abuja we are one and not just connected by River Niger and River Benue but also by the blood of our founding fathers’.

I do wish with all sincerity that all Nigerians are like the Taxi Driver who in no circumstance or situation discriminates, I wish we all see ourselves as branches of a very large tree, as members of an extended family.

Nigeria will be better, she will flourish again.

#madeofnaij #betternigeria

madeofnaij.