You Have All It Takes to Make It

By

Emmanuel Best Thliza 

etbestt@yahoo.com

How stupid it seems for such a statement to be made. We are living in a country with little or no power supply, inclined to corruption, bathed with poverty, lacking adequate facilities for education, as well as many setbacks that are more obvious. “How can one make it sandwiched between these limitations?” could be a person’s first question. But, there is much more to what we see. In all this, we are indeed a blessed nation.          

Nigeria is blessed with several resources; crude oil, agricultural produce, some industries, vast land, vari ety of weather conditions, rocks, Flora and Fauna, a great population etc.  Above all these blessings Nigeria is blessed with ‘you’.          

You, the Nigerian man or woman (to be gender sensitive) have much placed under this dark skin that you wear. With the situation in the country and yet consistent survival of the economically average and below average Nigerian it is evident that the Nigerian person is built up with sufficient inherent strength. Just like every other human being on this planet, earth, you- the Nigerian- have a lot stuffed up in you to make you ‘make it’.          

Naturally given or better still God-given to you are gifts and then abilities peculiar to you.  Despite all the odds one should acknowledge a particular gift which is so freely given but is easily neglected to the extent that it atrophies. With acknowledgement, “Self-belief” as a gift grows till it helps us accomplish so much in our lifetime.

As we grow from childhood to adulthood pessimism from superiors, jeers from peers, trials leading to failures, societal obstacles etc seem to depress our self-belief, but if you can muster it in the aspects that you want to it makes you an achiever. Negative statements and behaviors tend to attenuate this gift. Self-belief or confidence is always ready to make strengths out of your weaknesses. With self-belief, criticisms and insults hurled at you will only make you stronger and better.          

Desire as a gift will see you become another Winston Churchill whose love for the English language made him an orator. Desire to go beyond your present status will when mixed with some other virtues elevate you to another level. Problems will turn into surmountable challenges for you be cause your burning desire for a thing just won’t let you stop until you receive or achieve it. Take time to imagine yourself accomplishing great things, desire it so much, sooner or later, you most probably will actualize it.          

A lot of us in Nigeria have defeatist mentality; because we have gotten so accustomed to the societal imposed predicaments, we have surrendered our will power and desires to fate and fate alone.

Everything we imagine seems to be chasing shadows to us. But the mind is a powerful tool. Somewhere in the Holy Bible, a statement reads, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he”. If you have a servants mindset, so shall you be. Your attitude will be fashioned to that of a servant. If you have a victors mindset, even when defeated you will rise to fight another battle because you remain optimistic that someday you will win. The late singer, Aaliyah, in one of h er songs said “…incase you don’t succeed dust yourself up and try again”. When your mind is programmed to succeed against all odds your body will undoubtedly swing into action. Be determined.           Time is a precious gift given to everyone. I guess it will be fair to say that the greater percentage of Nigerians do not know the value of time. No wonder our programmes and occasions don’t kick off at the exact stipulated times. The media should be given Kudos here.

Broadcasts go on air right on time. They have learnt how to be managers of time. Time is very slippery: when it is not properly managed our lives would become very pathetic. When we allow time to pass us by, and we look back to take inventory of how well we have spent our time we might realize that we don’t have much to boast of for the time spent so far. Good budgetary of time usage will undoubtedly make a happy person out of you.          

So many Nigerian graduates are wandering the streets looking for white-collar jobs. On not finding any, they would sit down and wait rather than start up something small for survival. They believe that since they are holders of Degree certificates they can’t do some menial job. Perhaps their upliftment is in the job that they felt too big to do. Humility leads one to a place where he will be very content and self-dependent. We Nigerians (referring mostly to the educated ones) tend to look down on so many jobs. In fact, our society has made it look like if you are not a medical doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, an Engineer, or working in a big office somewhere, you are the least. While in some other countries someone could proudly tell you that he is a janitor, or a mortician, and they go about their duties with all enthusiasm, and are comfortable with their l ives. I guess it is time we get ourselves all humbled up. Humility is a great gift but it is the hardest of all gifts to illustrate. It is simplicity in spiritual purity, and yet found only in greatness of character. Opportunities come in ways we least expect.          

Another gift we have is that of work. A lot of young men and women fantasize a lot; they dream of having this and that but they don’t even sit to consider the question: “Can you pay the price?” An old saying which has become like a cliché goes “If wishes were horses even the beggar would ride”. Every body has wishes and dreams and hopes, but how many can set out a course, be dogged, work hard to see that it comes to be? Real success is an active process; it is an up hill journey. In all, one thing remains fascinating, and that is ‘hard work brings profit’.          

The greater your heart of Independence the more self-dependent you tend to become. It is time for individuals to loosen the strings that have held them to a brother, an uncle, a godfather etc and begin to work towards achieving things for their self. It does not imply that people should not support you, rather it implies that you get determined and focused on your desire or dream  and unswervingly work towards achieving it with or without support from outside. With an attitude like that supports coming in would be easily managed, but with the absence of such an attitude you would abuse the support.          

It has been said time without number that Knowledge is wealth, and I think this statement will keep reoccurring because of its degree of factuality. Go to the streets and places of work and you will see a lot of people idling away their time instead of in the absence of w ork and necessary leisure, seek for more knowledge.  Each piece of progressive information you get is a building block in ones mental development. The difference between an engineer and a medical doctor is the difference in the nature of the knowledge that they posses. The piece of information you have, whether good or bad, will drive you or your life towards its direction as you increasingly get more information related to it. It is only ideal that you get information that will help further develop your talents, develop your mindset develop your positive attitudes, and consequently develop our dear country, Nigeria.

How many people surf the Net for information? Most only send and receive e-mails, while wealth of information is there waiting to be tapped.

How many visit the Libraries? Except for lecturers and students on assignment, very few do. How many see the value of workshops and seminars? The same answer I guess, ‘Ve ry few’. How then do we hope to make it? And how do we know what has been done and what can be done or improved on?          

Emmanuel Best Thliza