A reflection on migration, identity, and the lived reality behind the idea of a better Nigeria.

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9 mins read . Commentary . April 13, 2026

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Photo by @black_mamuu — EndSARS protest series

This was written on a Saturday morning,  one of those days when almost every Nigerian seems to follow the same quiet routine.

I just wanted hot Akara from the street and to take a gentle walk back home a little faster than usual so it wouldn’t get cold. 

Enjoy the music . Fuji, Apala, or Afrobeats playing from different speakers on the street of Ojurin, Akobo. The strange, almost familiar sounds coming from car engines. 

The atmosphere is a different kind of feeling. One that’s hard to put into words. You have to experience it, to grow up in it, to truly understand what I mean.

But far from the luxury of my roots, I couldn’t experience any of that this Saturday morning.

I am in another country for a better quality of life. Some even call it “greener pastures.” Just that nothing is green yet till summer, for only three months.

With limited access to so many things I grew up with that gave me joy, peace, fulfilment, love and happiness.

The food, the culture, the atmosphere, the joy despite the hardships. The things that make Nigeria home for me and a billion others. 

I really wonder if I was to do research down my lineage, back to when people left the countries we all scramble for now. The developed nations, if anyone ever left those shores to come back home. 

I know for a fact that I have read in books that at some point, especially during the June 12 election crisis in Nigeria. Nigerians in diaspora came back home in hopes of a better Nigeria. 

Some of them got killed, businesses gone down the drain due to the destruction that happened during elections, and a list of other terrible things that happened to them.

I really wonder if someone in my bloodline made that decision to come back home, only to be left with a country in shambles. 

One person in my bloodline or yours, ages ago left this countries we fight so hard to get into to happily come home, in hopes that the country was going to be a better place. 

Only for me to be back where they once left, in hopes craving the comfort and stability of home.

I wonder how disappointed the person would have felt if given updates in the afterlife about the current state of the “giant of Africa.” 

I wonder how much regret they would have, as they were the generation that still kept up hope in Nigeria only to be constantly met with disappointment.

Instead of their hopes, I wish they personally gave up and said there was never going to be a better Nigeria. 

I wish they didn’t sing along to Fela Kuti’s songs, or the other songs they sang in hope of one day. 

“One day” that will never be in their lifetime. 

And with the utmost negativity, one day that will never be in my generation’s lifetime.

I wonder who gave us that title, “Giant of Africa.” I would assume it is a deliberate act to mock the country, not to praise it. 

Like a metaphoric joke.

I know that is a bit negative, and I sound so unpatriotic to call the betterment of my country an illusion. 

But I am just an honest person.

As a kid, I remember always discussing this with my mum and she would tell me to stop being negative, that it’s going to be better one day. 

Then I’ll ask her to point out ways the country has been better, since we have all been saying it will be better even before my lifetime.

The situation of the country has gone far worse than it even used to be, and statistics prove that.

The scam of “the leaders of tomorrow.” 

But everyone is of age now, at least people within my age bracket. How many of them are in government or have taken up leadership roles? 

Zero!!!! 

Nobody would even want to waste their lives.

Only the children of those who benefit from the rot in the system are still being brought forward to us.

We are still left with the people who ruled before our parents were in puberty to have children. 

Some even ruled before our parents were born. 

Stagnation and Recycling of Power. 

My heart goes out to forefathers that were so hopeful of a better Nigeria. 

Some even left abroad to travel back home, after being shipped away in slavery. They really wanted home, their people, their roots. 

Only for Nigeria to be like this.

Just like our national anthem goes, “the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain.” 

Can it be changed to the labour of our heroes are in vain? 

Because what’s left of the country is just humans filling it up to be a country.

I really don’t care how this might land on some people, but what labour did our past leaders labour for? 

The system they built is still the system we are in today.

The corruption, military government taking over, fighting over power, making a mockery of democracy, and using the poverty of citizens to put themselves into political positions. 

Was that not how it was during the time of the June 12 election crisis? 

Was that not the legacy our past leaders left for us to tread on?

I know some people will come at me for being so strong because according to history, people actually fought for a better Nigeria. I agree. 

But the names that made it into current affairs as our heroes, apologies to them.

I haven’t seen enough of what they fought for.

The ones that ruined Nigeria are the ones that benefited from it the most. 

Yes!!! 

The leaders in the current affairs we studied in school got the best of Nigeria. 

The free education in actual standard schools, the working system a sane country should have. They enjoyed it all. 

One would think they would actually build something like that, as they benefited from it.

Whenever I sat to listen to my granddad, he would tell me how education was accessible with a promising job immediately after graduation. 

A young person could afford to live. To see the reward for their hard work.

He described a full working country.

The rot in the system of Nigeria didn’t just start today. It started even way before Nigeria was Nigeria. 

Sometimes I ask myself if the so-called leaders who fought for independence actually fought for the freedom of Nigerians just to make their pockets rich, or out of genuine concern for the people.  

Because they had something in place that was tangible to make the nation work. But I doubt it. 

Those in government then are still in government now. Still using the same method of approach to forcefully take over. 

If Nigeria being better was actually of interest to the so-called “heroes,” would they forcefully take over the government?

Using the most powerful tool you can never refuse, “poverty” to stay in power.

I personally think the independence of Nigeria was specifically the independence of so-called people in government to gather as much wealth as possible.

Those who benefited, and will maybe forever continue to benefit, from the rot of the system.

To all the people in diaspora who say, “if Nigeria becomes better, I’ll go back home immediately,” well, I can’t advise adults on what to do. 

But I’ll say to myself, better don’t. 

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF !!!! 

And this time, history could repeat itself in the worst way. 

You don’t even want to imagine.

For the people who are big advocates of leaving the country in search of a better future, for greener pastures. 

“Japa.” “Leave Nigeria as soon as you can.”

 Little did we know we are losing out on a lot of meaningful things that make our entire existence blissful. Our core roots. Our identity. 

The family gatherings we could attend before we bid farewell to our loved ones in death. The togetherness. Just existing with your siblings in love and every good thing. 

The genuine friendships your little innocent self formed. The relationship with the people in your neighbourhood. 

Everything all gone, all in search of a better future.

You spend years trying to struggle with the system. You could be lucky to find a balance, or not. 

Then old age comes, you want to go back home, like some people say “to retire in their home country”. 

You leave your country to seek better. You struggle to fit into another system. 

Then in old age, you want to retire back home. To rest. 

But you’re coming back from a system you once struggled to fit into, only to find yourself doing the same thing again in your own country. 

So when people say they want to go back to Nigeria in old age. Do they really think they will be able to fit in?

You just stare blankly at the TV screen while watching the news in old age, hoping for the same hope that made you leave in search of a better future. 

You sit outside, looking at the sun, the fresh green grass. 

Unsure of what you have actually become, how you have lived, or where you truly belong.

If you are a critical thinker, one who is quite aware, you would be worried about your roots and identity. 

Then you will realise running away has never been a permanent solution. Just a temporary one for survival.

Ever wonder why even people who were born and raised abroad still try to find a way to come back home, to connect to their roots? 

There is a particular way you can tell they are trying their best to fit in, just to know their actual roots and identity. 

Just to connect to what actually feels like home. 

But they are caught in the middle. 

Some might say it’s for clout chasing or what not. But at the end, the soul never stops searching for its roots. 

Its homeland. Its soil. The story of its people. The tradition. The food. 

And everything we are all slowly leaving behind, all in search of a good life. 

Sometimes I wonder if we could start all over again as a country to make things right. 

But I still don’t think that is achievable.

A better Nigeria? 

Where ? 

How ? 

When? 

Never!!!