Nigerian Dream

Martin Luther King Jnr.

The Nigerian Dream: what is it?

Dream /dri:m/ n a stream of thoughts and  images experienced during sleep; a day-dreaming state, a reverie; an ambition; an ideal. (Webster’s Universal dictionary and thesaurus)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security”- Culled from the American Declaration of independence In Congress, July 4, 1776.

It is from the declaration of independence that the American dream, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work takes its root. The American dream sets the ideal for the opportunities that every American should have, and Americans have faith in these ideals, so that when anything goes contrary to them they do whatever is necessary to see that every American lives the dream. Americans are passionate about living the dream because they have a dream in the first place. What else would fire their passion to see that they live by a set of ideals if not the existence of the ideals? It was these ideals that fired the passion of over 250,000 Americans to march against everything that was against it, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” on Washington, August 1963, over 180 years after the ideals were declared they still had that much power to fire passion in over 250000 Americans. It was on this march that the greatest speech in the history of American freedom was delivered.

I have a dream…

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation…I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day…And if America is to be a great nation this must become true…And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"- Culled from Martin Luther King’s speech made on August 28, 1963, in which he called for an end to racism in the United States, delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

237 years after the declaration of independence and 50 years after the, I have a dream speech; America is one of the greatest countries on earth, arguably the greatest. Kept strong, by ideals and ambition, this is very instructive to me because I see America’s position in the world today as a direct effect of their foundational principles and ideals, they've always known what they want and they stand by it. Any country that must succeed must have a dream, a set of ideals, ambition, a goal, something that they exist for and pursue every day no matter what, even Nigeria, we need a dream! A clear idea of values and where we are headed as a nation, without it we will never know what to fight for or fight against, we will never be really patriotic or passionate about our nation, because everyone has a different idea and set of ideals of what Nigeria is to them and what we should pursue, so the first thing we should fight for is a dream. Why do we exist as a people? What are we to be known for many generations from now? America will always be known for freedom and equal opportunities, what will we be known for?

I dare us to dream in consensus, only then do we have a future of greatness guaranteed.

I have a few thoughts of what the Nigerian dream can look like, I would like to call it our noble cause, but we must agree.

The Nigerian Dream…Our Noble Cause…

We believe, that leadership exists not to be oppressive, subjugative or for amassing wealth, but for service, to the good of every single Nigerian, that as one diverse people without division we stand for the unity of our country and for integrity, to the end that our image breeds trust within us and with the rest of the world, that we embrace diligence and discipline never turning away from difficulties or finding the easy way out, we embrace creativity in solving our problems that the world looks to us for solutions, we embrace faith, we believe that situations can always turn out for the best, we embrace competence, character and capacity over sentiment, to the end that we are not swayed by empty pictures of gold without value but by content that adds value, we embrace accountability, we employ our resources to work for our common good in the best ways possible, to foster the growth, prosperity and development of our country. We believe in God who made us, leads us into greatness and secures our future. We believe in our greatness. We are great!

What is your dream?

I challenge you, dare to dream!