I attended my secondary school alumni meeting yesterday and I felt really, really sad about Nigeria. Bear in mind this is Atlantic Hall we’re talking about, so pretty much all of us won the birth lottery to begin with. But everybody is leaving Nigeria. This is not a drill.
None of us is struggling. We’re all late 20s to early 40s. By Nigerian standards, we are balling. Everybody showed up in a nice car, we all have successful businesses and careers. No one would see us and imagine that we are anything but Nigeria’s elite. Then we started talking.
First of all, the common theme was “Why did I come back?” None of us could say with a straight face. Every single one of us regretted returning to Nigeria. Without an exception. We all left careers abroad to chase a Nigerian dream that has turned into a Jordan Peele horror flick.
Those of us with kids all said the same thing: “I’m leaving because of their secondary school.” None of us can afford to send our kids to the very school we are alumni of. N3.5m per annum? What if you have 2 kids? Totally unrealistic. So, Canada. UK. US. Germany. Australia.
Again I should stress that none of us is looking for bread. We’re all successful people in our own right. But Nigeria has taken the difficulty bar from where our parents met it and placed it somewhere far out of reach, even for its best and brightest. Now my question is this: If people like us whose parents owned property and did well for themselves before they died can no longer afford to remain in Nigeria because we are getting poorer, then what about everyone else? Mr Political Elite, please what is the plan? I don’t see one.
Ordinarily, we are the lucky ones that should be consolidating on what our parents achieved and building legacies. Instead we are disposing of the property they worked for and moving abroad because Nigeria wants to strangulate us. What is the plan? Are you trying to run a country without a middle class? Do you want every kind of successful professional to move to Canada before you are satisfied? Who will fly your jets? Who will give you primary healthcare before you fly abroad? Who will manage your money? What is the plan?
I’m just saying, because if people whose parents built houses in VI and Ikoyi are selling them and emigrating, you should know that something unprecedented is coming. These are not Masters degree hustlers. These are Nigeria’s silent elite. Leaving. In a stampede.
I don’t have any property to sell thank heavens, because my family is unorthodox so nobody should come after me in my mini-flat in Gbagada. Hustle nimo’n se l’owo. But I’m just saying. I feel like Nigeria is a TV series approaching the final episode. I feel real, actual dread.
That’s all I will say sha. As you were.
David Hundeyin
