The 2024 Paris Olympics is over. The verdict is also out, loud and clear. The most appropriate epithet was delivered by Fr. Anthony Akinwale, when he declared in truth that “Nigerians won though Nigeria did not win.” Individually, we are good, hard-working and progressive, but lumped together we become destructive and destroy ourselves.

The negative energy that our lack of unity and focus imposed on us is still insurmountable. It is the law of life to seek to be better, to desire to attain the best possible position but if your environment becomes a limiting factor, it will be irrational to stay on if you can exit.

For a long time, the news is that Nigerians are bad, they are scammers, they are these, they are that. Yes, while the same may be extended to many nations, some of us feel, it behoves on us to change the narrative. We are good and can do better.

We need to demand better from our people and the world will appreciate us. Today, we know that our people are good and destined for more, the problem is with the entity called Nigeria.

Traversing two great countries, I have been pleasantly delighted to hear comments made about Nigerians and the hope wished for the nation. Whites of different nations are usually surprised to see how educated and hard-working Nigerians are.

A pastor told me, “You guys know book a lot”, and another said “Nigerians are the most intelligent set of people I know.” While others find life difficult, Nigerians are quietly rebuilding their lives and creating their empires.

Over the space of two weeks, I met Nigerians of all tribes and shades, everyone became my brother and sister, expressed love for their motherland or is it now Fatherland. They feel proud at each other’s success, glad to see a brother speaking with confidence and grace to a captive audience and wondered “how did we get it wrong? “

Recently, for those who left Nigeria for UK and Canada, life has been one of mixed feelings, it is like leaving your field of gold uncultivated to go and work in a vegetable garden.

The land beyond looks golden but it can only be so through hard work and great policies out in place by people -oriented government. It is these policies and stifling policies that are the bane of life in Nigeria.

The land is blessed, but leaders are clueless, adults with the brains of untamed animals and the greed of irrational vultures. It is the behaviour of these vultures in power that has made our work environment not conducive for productivity or maximization of potentials.

Truth be told people have always migrated for greener pasture, but as the world experiences exponential development, Africa is yet to tap into this look of opportunities. Our schools are still teaching materials that didn’t do much to improve life in the 19th century when nations like China and Japan are already planning for 2050. Hope for Nigeria, the title of this article is pregnant.

As a spoken expression, it is both a question and an affirmation. Is there still hope for our nation? As people of faith, we must say, yes, there is still hope, even if many cannot perceive it. But it is also an expression of hope, a proclamation that hope must be allowed to reign and shape our worldview.

We must not give in to doubt in despair. We can be better than we currently are and there is no height that we cannot conquer. For now, any sense of entitlement must be let go... Nothing is given us. We must fight for everything, and there is great satisfaction in knowing that you fight a good fight to accomplish your life's goals.

A person must have that stir of dignity that he didn’t steal the future of defenceless people or sold the poor people palliative just to pop a bottle of champagne. And it is essential to give people hope, especially the young generation, without hope, true life is not possible.

Owing to wrong values, many are just living for the moment, interested in only pleasure and the present moment. This is the danger we must avoid at all cost. We are more than material goods, we are more than the present moment.

We embody both the divine and the infinite and if we enslave ourselves because of the short-sightedness of some, then we don’t deserve any pity but the pains of living.

On the long run, whether we stay or “japa”, the future is of our making and we can make it better not just for ourselves but for humanity. Maybe there is wisdom in those words of the late American president J.F. Kennedy, who said “Ask not what your nation can do for you, ask what you can do for your nation”.

Holding ourselves and our leaders accountable is a necessary step to the redemption of our nation, others hope will remain a fleeting aspiration.