How do we define hope for young Africans? In a society where people struggle to eat three square meals each day, cannot afford to live in good quality houses, cannot afford quality healthcare services, and are in constant struggle for their safety with fear of being the next kidnapping victim, does the word hope still exist?
While struggling to define this, I think it is important to cast our minds to the countries we have now come to respect, like the United States, China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and Singapore, just to mention a few. Look at them 50 to 100 years in the past and you will be amazed at what you find. Many of them were in similar or worse states than we currently are. The question then is, what was the defining factor for them? What was the catalyst that led to their exponential growth? The answer is hope, hope for a better future, and hope that all the struggles will end.
Hope keeps you going even when every other person sees no reason to keep going forward. It is only hope that will make you keep using substandard pencils produced by your country even when you are in a foreign country that produces excellent stationery, as was said of foreign Japanese students in the United States way back or that will make you keep going on peaceful protests advocating for the rights of black Americans even when the security personnel meet you with such hostility, as was the case with Dr Martin Luther King Jnr or that will make you keep advocating for the freedom of blacks in South Africa, despite being arrested countless times, as with Nelson Mandela. The list is endless.
Scattered throughout history, there is evidence of nations that became great or survived trying times because of the determination, hope, and resilience of the inhabitants of that nation. No great country is born out of disbelief or hopelessness. Africans will never attain greatness if we see it as a lost cause.
It was hope that drove Nigerian youths to come out en masse during the End SARS protests. It was hope that drove ‘Obidients’ to come out in their numbers to vote for Peter Obi during the 2023 Nigeria presidential elections. Both events did not end in the favour of the youths, but does this mean the end for Nigeria? Certainly not! History never lies, I reiterate. The countries of the world we envy today did not get their freedom at just one attempt. A series of attempts driven by hope gave them freedom, hope in the most uncertain of times, in the bleakest of situations, won them their victory.
In essence, Nigerian youths have a picture of how the country ought to be in their minds, but many of them do not think that picture will ever become a reality. Hence, they have decided to abandon the ship, rather than sink with it. I tell you that the ship will not sink, not so long as you and I do not give up. The change we seek is very possible, but it will never come on a platter of gold. Keeping our hopes alive will spur us to build capacity and prepare ourselves for the future we seek. The reins of power will be handed over soon. Do we have what it takes to make the most out of it?