This essay was written about three (3) years ago, for a competition (that never lived up to its promises... lol) although, I noticed many errors, i won't edit it for personal reasons... Because I want it served the way it was:
Please Read and Share your thoughts.... ThinkOutLoud Nigeria.


THE NEW-NIGERIA PROJECT; A WAKE-UP CALL TO ALL NIGERIAN STUDENTS
In an attempt to critically examine the role of the Nigerian Student in creating a New Nigeria, analytical questions comes to mind in this process of making objective inquiry into the true state of affairs as it affects the idea or notion of the New Nigeria concept. Who is a Nigerian Student? What are the ideas of the New Nigeria Project? What are the factors that lead to the relative success of failure of similar projects? How close or how far are we as a nation in realizing this dream? Are Nigerians involved in making this a reality? These and others are many questions which this essay seeks to tackle, and at the end give a critical examination of major contending issues and draw a reasonable conclusion with emphasis on the roles of every Nigerian Students with the vision and future the nation in her hands.
A Nigerian Student is not just that young man or woman sitting in a classroom, in or outside the territory of the country, or that young boy or girl who is been told continuously that the only way of becoming relevant in the society is to be in a classroom etc. A Nigerian Student is far more than the aforementioned. To set the record straight, a Nigerian Student is the strongest, most-hardworking, smartest, intelligent, dynamic and also a goalgetter. A Nigerian Student strives to achieve greatness not minding the stumbling blocks, which seem taller than an average mountain these days. She is faced with various social, environmental and psychological factors that seek to hinder his or her quest for quality life and making practical contributions to society. In any discipline and part of the world you find a Nigerian Student, he or she always stands-out among her peers from other part of the globe such as America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Their differences can easily be identified through her academic records with other extra curricula activities such as sports, music, acting etc. Some ground breaking achievements that have been made is this regards is quite magnificent, their exploits does not only speak well for the students, but it has over the years been able to place our great nation on the world map and it’s earning us great respect and commendation among the committee of nations. The grand breaking achievement of Emmanuel Ohuabunwa who made a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.98 out of 4.0, making him the first black man to achieve this unimaginable height at John Hopkins University, USA in the Neurosciences. These singular exploit is one amongst many that shows the greatness of Nigerian Students all over the world and how best their unique brain-power can be used to build a New Nigeria.
It is a common phenomenon to see Nigeria been referred to as a nation with one of the world best social and economic plans; through her various set goals and objectives which have been put in place since the attainment of political independence till date with little or absolutely nothing to show for it. Nigeria is undoubtedly one of the most blessed nations on earth, with rich human and natural resources which have been perfectly placed by the Almighty in different locality, areas, states and regions of the country. But over the years, we have continue to dwindle as a nation, with various preventable challenges such as; poor economic performance, insecurity, corruption among the high and low in the society, youth restiveness, religious intolerance, power instability etc. all of these problems continue to steer us straight in the face, without any proper actions been taken by our leaders in all areas of life, be it political, social or even religious gathering. This they have failed in putting the country in the right path of progress in terms of economic development, social and food security, good health care facilities and improved, highly technological advancement educational resources.
With a critical examination of the past events that have led our beloved country to this wrong path, one major problem stands out, that is the non-involvement of the country’s young-minds (youth or Students) in the activities of the nation. Having correctly identified Nigerian Students as problem solvers earlier; it is unfortunate that our leaders have deem it ‘unnecessary’ to involve us in decision making and solving current challenges that affects our national life. This unfortunate position of theirs can be attributed to various erroneous reasoning such as; “they are too small to get involve”, “why should I sit down and watch my little boy lead?” These and others are some of their reasons for shooting-out the Nigerian Student from the picture of making good national policies and the implementation processes. The questions of how well we have fared as a nation with this decision of our past and present leaders has obviously been that of disaster, as such many scholars have either referred to Nigeria as a ‘failed state’ and not too good predictions about the future of the Nigeria State from within and outside the nation.
For the Nigerian Students, we have no other choice than to get ourselves involve and stop waiting for a call that will never come through from our leaders during decision making process; this was made manifest at the just concluded National Conference organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria who deemed it ‘unnecessary’ to involve the Nigerian Students is discussing national issues that will to a great extent define our future existence as a nation. We must as a matter of necessity get involve in steering the ship of our nation to the right path and direction to progress. It is time for our dreams for a New and Better Nigeria to become manifest; a New Nigeria where there will be no more starvation, no more insecurity, no more political and religious violence, no more killings of innocent men and women, no more tribal and ethnic sentiment, no more high rate of maternal and child mortality, no more rigging of elections and imposition of unqualified candidates in areas of our national life.
This call is going out to Musa in the North, Kemi in the West, Obiora in the East and Akpors in the South-South. There’s no more time to continue to dream dreams and live our entire youthful life in the dreamland, rather it is time to share those beautiful dreams about a New Nigeria with one another and play a major role to see to it full realization. The time to wait for invitation to get involve in our own destinies is far gone, with the obvious truth of how relegated Nigerian Students have been pushed to the background over the years. Looking back at history, it is very pertinent to note the various contributions and roles that were played by Nigerian Students both home and abroad in the nationalist struggle for the independent of Nigeria. This gave the colonial masters a tough, time which left them with no other choice rather than to relinquish the mantle of leadership to Nigerians; partially in 1960 and totally in 1963 when our beloved country became a full republic. Following this historical role played by the Nigerian Students of the 1950s and 1960s in the liberation of her nation from foreign rule and exploitation. It is worthy of note that after this period, Nigerian Students have not been given the opportunity to make contributions which would have benefited the country immensely.
In order to correct these ills in our society, the Nigerian Student have a very vital role of salvaging and building a New Nigeria to play through the following but not limited means:
Firstly, the Nigerian Student needs to assume responsibilities of her country‘s affairs in all area of human endeavor. Assuming responsibilities does not necessarily mean taking-over power or managerial positions, rather it means getting directly or indirectly involve. Many Nigerian Students over the years have continue to shy away from responsibilities when they are expected to lead their peers in particular and the nation in general. The reason for this is not far fetch, so therefore, through proper reorientation, the Nigerian Student will play a major role is creating a New Nigeria by getting involve and assuming responsibilities of our country’s affairs.
Secondly, in the New Nigeria project Creation, Nigerian Students need to create an enabling environment by avoiding activities that will lead to chaos is our country, rather our energy should be channel towards making the environment more safe, beautiful and welcoming to visitors from other nations. This can be achieved through education synergy and promotion of the New Nigeria Project amongst ourselves. Using our various clubs and societies as vehicles to as a vehicle to champion this noble course, leaders of Student Union Governments (SUGs) have a very important roles to play in this regards through sensitization of her members and selling the ideas of a better future of our beloved nation through debates of critical issues and policies, pointing out its positive effects to the lives of the students in particular and the nation in general. And not shying away in engaging in political discourse, making rational contributions that will give policy makers an idea of what the people wants and not making policies based on assumptions (as we have today).
Thirdly, the Nigerian Students needs to promote the name of our beloved country Nigeria, as we do not have any other country apart from this one. They should be a high level of patriotism among us all. This will not only promote the New Nigeria Project, but it will also give us a sense of pride and responsibility knowing that we played a major part in building this great nation when we attain the New Nigeria in the nearest future.
Lastly, we have a role of taking our education more seriously, which will enable us to break more bounds and be a leading voice is the international community. Scientific discoveries that will change the world in general will be made in the New Nigeria and this will be led by the Nigerian Students.
In conclusion, the roles of Nigerian Students in creating a New Nigeria cannot be over emphasized, as she will continue to play a major role is sustaining the New Nigeria Project and see to its full realization and maintenance. Despite the current challenges we are now facing as a nation, there is a bright future ahead of us which will be led by the youths of Nigeria. For a fact, there will be no New Nigeria without the involvement of the Nigerian Students.
May God bless all Nigerian Students.
May God bless the people of Nigeria.
And may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
source: http://thinkoutloudng..com.ng/

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