Crafting a Better Nigeria: Why Your Work Should Be More Than A Means To Money 

We perceive other countries as the proverbial promised lands: clean, safe and functional. Even the internet doesn’t fail to remind us each day of Tokyo’s cherry blossoms, Paris’ romantic cafes, and the Caribbean beaches, where the sand kisses your feet and the breeze wraps around bare skin.

And so, we dream. We wish. We plan to leave.

I get it. I could give you one hundred and one reasons why I’d take a one-way ticket to Japan. But, skip the 1 to 99. The 100th reason is that sometimes migration is the easiest way we get to thrive. 

However, as seductive as the idea of moving to America or Europe is, it’s worth remembering that many of the thriving countries we now admire weren’t always this way. They went through their own periods of darkness. Some endured wars and death before emerging stronger and better. While others are developing gradually through strategic positioning and persistent effort. Nevertheless, all of these countries struggle with significant societal challenges to date. 

This isn’t to glorify suffering or shame anyone for seeking a better life. 

But I think too many people wrongly assume that simply changing locations will change the fundamentals of the human experience. 

Whether in Lagos or London, we’ll still feel pain and joy, fear and hope, laughter and tears, emptiness and fulfilment, vigour and sickness.  

Life can be unbearable in the most beautiful places, as much as it can be enjoyable in the ugliest of places. If it weren’t so, we wouldn’t have been hearing news of depression and suicides in developed countries.

So, I began to wonder: Why do some people stay in a place like Nigeria, even when they can leave? And how can staying become a meaningful choice, not a forced one?

What Makes Some People Stay When Everyone Else Wants to Leave?

Most people I’ve heard say they’d rather stay than leave seem to share certain characteristics: They’re often educated, with sort-after skills, and not solely focused on survival. Many of them are unwilling to accept jobs that don’t match their qualifications, or just simply want to stay closer to their roots. 

I’ve also noticed that beneath their choice often lies a spirit of ownership: 

• They’d rather be stakeholders with skin in the game, not just participants in someone else’s vision. 
• They understand that asking others to believe in your vision requires you to demonstrate that commitment first. 
• They’re driven by a desire to build, to be a part of something big, to do something remarkable and meaningful. And,
• Where others see only what’s broken, they imagine what could be built. 

Although thinking this way or speaking of this in our country (Nigeria), you might come off as naive among certain groups, or get the witty retort that not everyone has the luxury to think and live life this way. And that’s more than fair. It’s true. 

Realities differ drastically. Some people have better education, networks, and options. Others are managing day-to-day survival, family expectations, or circumstances that make “choosing to build” feel like a fantasy. 

Back to reality, most people don’t mind what they do, or where they are, provided it gives them a decent roof over their head, a satisfactory meal for their stomach, and perhaps a little left over to send back home to family or save for their children’s education.

And, for many, leaving isn’t even an option. They can’t afford a University education, not to mention a passport. Without these fundamentals, their focus naturally turns to making the best of their current circumstances.

So, I do recognise that what I’m describing in this piece would mostly apply to a specific segment of people, those with decent security and skills to have real choices or chances about staying or leaving. So, if you find this piece annoyingly discomforting already, it’s okay to stop or try reading other blog posts we have. 

Your Work Either Transforms Or Destroys You And The People Around You

As someone drawn to documentary photography and photojournalism, I’ve come to better understand how society is shaped by ordinary people through their craft. Sadly, there isn’t much of that around here. 

For example, Henri Cartier-Bresson wasn’t just another photographer with a fancy French name. His photographs were bulldozers that flattened comfortable assumptions about the world and gave rise to dramatic change. 

In the 1940s and 50s, when most people got their news from sanitised headlines, Cartier-Bresson took his camera into liberation camps, refugee crises, and political upheavals with no intent to filter what he captured.

He photographed Gandhi shortly before his assassination and documented the funeral aftermath. His work on China’s communist revolution and Europe’s reconstruction wasn’t just documentation; they were reality checks delivered straight to your living room. 

Suddenly, faceless political events had faces and distant suffering felt near, real even. Everyone started paying attention. But what really stood out, at least to me, was that he made ordinary people matter just with his craft.

Before Cartier-Bresson, photographs were focused on the wealthy and powerful. But he chose to point his lens at street vendors, playing children, and factory workers instead. He treated them like they were worth seeing. Worth remembering. And that had a significant effect.

Because when we start treating everyday people like they deserve artistic attention, you’re essentially saying their lives have value. That their struggles matter. That their moments of joy are worth preserving. 

However, this isn’t just about some foreigner in the distant past. The likes of Chinua Achebe, Fela Kuti, and many more did similar with their crafts, here in Nigeria.

At some point in their lives, they went beyond ordinary writing or music to use their craft to create awareness and heal certain parts of our society. 

Meaningful work opens our eyes, pulls us into places we may haven’t been, into lives we’ve never lived. And the more we’re exposed to more perspectives through someone’s craft, the more we see, truly see. We then reflect. Then connect the dots. And slowly, we begin to ask better questions. And solving the important problems.

But there’s something else happening when your work becomes more than a means for money. It changes you while you’re doing it. When you’re building something you believe is meaningful, you’re not just creating a business or completing a project. You’re developing parts of yourself you didn’t know were there: maybe the patience to work through problems that don’t have obvious solutions, the courage to try things that might not work, the empathy and compassion that comes from really listening to the people you’re trying to serve. And so on.

It happens in reverse, too. The more you understand yourself, what drives you, what you’re naturally drawn to, the more you find yourself creating things, solving problems, building something that feels necessary. Your personal growth starts demanding expression, and that expression usually looks like “work that serves others”.

The more we dare to put such intentions behind our works, I mean, to care enough to highlight the unnoticed, speak for the unheard, and make life easier for others through our endeavours, the faster we move toward healing and growing as a society. 

And, the best part is, you don’t have to be Achebe or Fela to start improving society with your craft.

The Trap of Individual Success: Why Meaningful Achievement Requires Lifting Others

I recently saw a video of Very Dark Man (VDM) dragging Burna, Davido, and Wizkid for flaunting multi-billionaire cars amid hardship in the country. While I generally avoid such blunt criticism and social media banters, I couldn’t help but agree with him on his other points, specifically about these guys needing to use their craft as well as influence to bring meaningful change.

You see, we’ve got to resist the trap of individualism, where everyone’s trying to outshine the next person instead of building together. Kill that urge to brag,  flaunt material possessions, or worse, mock others who haven’t “succeeded” yet. 

Chasing personal ambition alone isn’t always progress in the end. If we keep mistaking it for one, we’ll end up with silos of talent (isolated, wasted) in a society that already feels like a wasteland.

The big names: the builders, creators, visionaries who actually change things, they get something most of us miss: it’s not just about getting rich.

Aliko Dangote put it perfectly: 

“I will not have the guts to talk to anybody to come and invest in Nigeria if I am not leading. So the question that you have to even ask is that ‘if I had invested this $25 billion in the likes of Microsoft Tesla, Google and co. ’ I would have been worth $125 billion. But I’m not worth $125 billion because I choose to invest at home; I choose to make sure that I liberate my own people. It’s not about money. You know, if it’s about money, I would have gone the other way.” 

The man could’ve thrown his money at tech stocks and called it a day. 

But he didn’t.

Because for him, it goes beyond profit. He’s building something that creates value for everyone around him—for Nigeria, for Africa. That’s the difference between just making money and actually building something that matters.

Yes, it sounds idealistic. Especially in a country where things are not really working as they should, and thousands migrate every year: doctors, engineers, creatives, family, friends, colleagues, and maybe even you.

But maybe we should pause and ask ourselves, “What happens to our land, our children, our families—to those who couldn’t leave?”. Because, if we don’t, one day, the people we ran to their land will. In fact, they’re already asking and reviewing their Immigration laws. 

Conclusion: If You’re Still Here, You Can Still Make It Count 

To those still here, think of it not as a dead end, but rather a chance to plant something impactful in the hard soil, and maybe, just maybe, make this place a bit better for yourself and for those coming next.

It doesn’t have to be something grandiose. It might just be something simple already in you.

• If you’re skilled at teaching, your way of contributing could be to help your neighbours’ kids develop critical thinking. 
• If you understand sales, perhaps show a local business owner how better pricing could stop their losses. 
• If you understand systems, maybe help create better policies and cultures.

These aren’t guaranteed to transform society overnight. And they require a level of stability and skill that not everyone has. But every little thing counts.

For example,

• My friend Dick Daniel’s offers the message of excellence and being intentional across multiple social media platforms.
• My colleague and friend Dick David is obsessed with inspiring people to grow up, level up and step up through his writings.
• Edwin Ikenna, one of my oldest friends, is a college lecturer dedicated to surpassing his predecessors’ teaching methods to help students efficiently.
• James Chimdindu, yet another friend and design mentor, builds tech products that are Afrocentric.
• Winner Maxwell, a friend and colleague, spreads happiness and hope through her photography and videos. 

It might take many years. And within that time, we’ll doubt ourselves, take random walks, and might want to quit, like hell, some days I just want to throw in the towel. 

But I don’t. Why? Because I know we’re more likely to achieve an exciting, ambitious goal than a boring, moderate one. And this is as ambitious as it gets.

I believe if we sow the right seeds, in time, then even on a personal basis, we can reap the ornamented streets, relaxing beaches, romantic cafes, and all those nice things we desire in other countries here in Nigeria.

***

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu

Thank you for reading to the end. If you found this helpful, please share it with family, friends, or a colleague who might need or appreciate these ideas. 

Here are some blog posts you might find interesting:

• Why More Money Isn’t The Answer: Finding Contentment and Happiness in Tough Economic Times
• The Selfishness Paradox: Why You Must Think of More Than Yourself To Get What You Want In Life
• The Compounding Effect: How To Ensure Your Tiny Efforts Lead To Massive Success
• Why You Should Take More Photographs 
• Why You Haven’t Gotten What You Want: