By Muhsin Ibrahim
It's only human to prioritise your interests. However, as per my interactions with many fellow Diasporans, many would rather stay and work in Nigeria than in our current host countries. In other words, we want to sacrifice our comfort for the fatherland.
In fact, if given a chance, many of us would remain in Nigeria with half of the welfare we get here because, at least, we have more loving family and friends there than we can ever find overseas.
People leave Nigeria not only because of the systemic failure the country is known for. We are resilient people who make do with many problems and fewer resources. For example, despite our infamous "infrastructural deficit", our entertainment industry is excelling. This is only one example of our success stories under an adverse atmosphere.
Almost everyone works and focuses more on their duties than other inanities and shenanigans. Here, colleagues are often colleagues and not friends. Yet, you also respect one another - at the workplace.
As Nigerians, we need to review our relationships with other people at our workplaces. Being a superior doesn't or shouldn't give you the right to abuse your underlings. Humans, regardless of their socio-economic class, deserve respect.
I don't want to discuss specific subjects. Nevertheless, we discussed various intriguing cases during our get-together yesterday. Three of us have PhD, eight are medical doctors, and one is an IT expert. One media specialist and another doctor couldn't make it. This is only a tiny contingent of professionals living in the West. So, we mostly spoke from (bitter) experiences.
May we see a better Nigeria in our lifetime, amin.
Amin ya Allah
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