I learnt the stakeholders’ forum was meant to be an occasion for the governor and his cabinet to give account of their stewardship in the last one year. I was watching to see the achievements of the New Face of Imo with a friend who wanted to see whether my home state has been transformed more than what we have seen in the Center of Excellence. But the whole thing started on a rather chaotic note.

When I was growing up panel beaters, mechanics and iron benders had their shops very close to our neighbourhood. We used to play inside their workshop during the weekends or in the evenings. We took them as people who work and know only about metals. Many of us could not differentiate between a panel beater and a mechanic or iron bender – we took all of them as mechanics. But much later we got to know that their works differ.

We do know that the difference between people is in what they know and what they do with what they know. In a seminar not too long ago, I told the audience that when there is no light there is no life. Knowledge or mental illumination guarantees clarity of vision and can help keep focus in life. While trying to buttress my point, somebody made a comment amongst the audience.

Recently, I was discussing with a specialist doctor and I asked him the commonest disease or ailment prevalent in Nigeria. He said we may name any other but a good percentage of our populace suffers from Amnesia. I argued that malaria seemed to be the prevalent one but that did not change his stance. If you do not know, Amnesia is a medical condition in which somebody partly or completely loses their memory.

I looked at the school uniform of my little Precious, and saw the motto of their school. It read thus: "To lead is to serve". It invariably means that leadership is synonymous with service. But if you take a closer look at what obtains here, you will find out that leadership is not, cannot, would not, and may never be synonymous with service. The slave and colonial attitude and mentality are still very much with and in us as a people.

I have always heard that youths are the future leaders or the hope of tomorrow. Most countries invest a lot of their resources for the welfare of the youths. And many believe that the future of any nation is determined to a larger extent by the quality of her youths and not even mineral resources. But I do not believe that many understand or believe that the quality of our future can be evaluated by the quality of our youths today. If we do believe or understand this fact, our actions and inactions do not depict that we do.

Recently I wrote that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria but things are wrong in Nigeria. If that is well digested, we will understand that rebranding Nigeria is not about going to the foreign media houses but looking inward and dealing with our orientation and value system as a people. This is not the time to wash the outside of the pot and leave the inside dirty. The monster called ‘the Nigerian factor’ must be dealt with this time for many universal, time-proven principles that had not worked to work effectively.

Many people have used different acronyms to describe the nation Nigeria. Some described this nation as the most populous black nation in the world. In some quarters, Nigeria is the giant of Africa. In some other quarters, this nation had been seen or is being regarded as the economic hub of Africa, the nation of possibilities, the sleeping giant, the land of opportunities, the sports giant, the fraudsters haven, the nation with the dreaded green passport, the nation with the richest human and mineral resources in Africa, and the list goes on and on.