Oh God of creation, direct our noble cause
Guide our leaders right
Help our youth and truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign

This is the second stanza of the Nigerian national anthem and for some reason, the lyrics tend to resonate more with me than the first stanza, especially the line that says “Help our youth the truth to know”.

I guess it’s pretty obvious where my mind is today and my question is “what truth are we helping our youths to know?” Are we just constantly rehashing our problems and issues? Oh, trust me we do have plenty of issues but which nation doesn’t? Are we inspiring hope in the younger generation? Are we opening their eyes to the immense potential we have in this great nation called Nigeria?

To be honest I really must hand it to the youths…they have taken lemons and made real lemonade. In the last couple of years, we have seen a lot of “proudly Naija” innovations from them. They have totally revolutionized and taken over the music and entertainment scene globally, they have made successful businesses out of  what hitherto would have been considered “hobbies”. Kudos to our youths!

As parents, let’s remember, it’s never too early to start teaching our children the elements of good citizenship and patriotism. We must deliberately prepare them for the future. So as we get set to celebrate our 57th Independence on the 1st of October, can I just say “we owe it to our children to be positive models of good citizenship, we owe it to the youths to inspire hope and leave behind a nation they would be truly proud of”.

Let’s do our part. Happy Independence!!

#IBelieveInNigeria