Ashamed but Not Defeated

A Letter to My Country

This isn’t my usual tone of writing.

I don’t enjoy being gloomy, and I’m not here to rant or complain.

But sometimes, you carry so much on your chest, and if you don’t let it out, it begins to weigh you down.

So here I am, letting it out.

There are days I feel ashamed.

Ashamed of how a country so full of light can feel so dark.

Ashamed of how we export brilliance, yet import almost everything else.

Ashamed of how little seems to work, how many are suffering, how hope feels so fragile.

But underneath the shame is something stronger. Grief and love.

Grief for what we've lost.

Love for what we still are.

Nigeria is more than its problems.

It’s more than the government, the news headlines, or the failing systems.

Nigeria is the young woman in tech building from her bedroom.

The boy in Yaba sketching his dreams on paper.

The tailor, the teacher, the data analyst, the poet, the vendor.

Nigeria is me. Nigeria is you.

We are not the reason things fell apart but we can be the reason they rise again.

We are the hope.

We are the thinkers, the builders, the doers.

And even if we’re tired, even if we’re frustrated, we still have fire in us.

So this is not just a write-up.

It’s a reminder that we are the movement we’re waiting for.

Let’s keep learning. Keep showing up. Keep creating, building, innovating.

Even in small ways, we are making history.

Ashamed? Sometimes.

But defeated? Never.