"Last time I checked"

Asabi! Asabi!! Asabi!!! She heard her mom call. We don’t want to miss our train now, do we? No ma, she replied, I’m on my way. She hurriedly applied the rest of my makeup and ran outside where her mom was waiting with the driver. She quickly greeted the driver while trying to avoid her mom’s eyes, Good morning Uncle Sesan, how is the family?’ Ha! Asabi, we thank the Lord, he replied...

As Uncle Sesan drove out of the compound, her mother asked, what kept you up there for so long? She knew her mom was going to ask and she had her ready made answer. I was looking for my train tickets ma, she said. Ok o, her mom replied. Where is it now? She showed her. Her mom nodded approvingly. She was glad she didn’t ask any further questions. Mrs Majekobaje didn’t like to be kept waiting and even when you did keep her waiting; it had better be a solid reason.
They were going for a ceremony in Ile-Ife in honour of her dad’s group. The driver would drop them at the Lagos State Railway Station and they were to board the train to Osun State Railway Station. It had been eventful over the years but her father’s struggle with the group for a better Nigeria had finally paid off. It was the year 2022 and looking back to the past 12 years, she knew it wasn’t an easy struggle.
She remembered 12 years ago, the nation was in shambles and tottering on the edge of destruction. Wasn’t it them going to take a train now? They wouldn’t have dreamt of that some years before. Last time she checked, there wasn’t even a good transport system in Lagos State talk less of the whole Nigeria. Things had really changed including Health System, Educational System, Governance, Transport System, Research and Technology, Tourism, everything! When she went on transfer for a one year course in the United Kingdom, she had made some friends (Non Africans) and they were coming to visit! Who would have thought that would happen? That people would come from all over the world to come and see the change in Nigeria? That Nigeria would become great again? She blessed her father and his group in her heart.
She vividly remembered that it was first in January 2010 that her father joined a group that first got the idea into his head that the nation could turn around for the best, nobody had been able to remove the idea from his head not even her mother. The idea came from a lecture she attended with her dad. She was supposed to be going back to school; she was a boarding student; but her dad had been invited for a lecture that day and since it was on her way to school, he decided they attend the lecture first before dropping her off. She had been so angry, for the next 2 hours or so, she would be listening to a boring lecture. She had been very wrong!
They were a little late for the lecture because as usual, she had taken her time to ‘dress up’. When they got in, the lecture had started. Only a handful of people were present. The man speaking didn’t look a bit like what he was saying. Even with his small stature, he was a furious speaker. Her dad had whispered to her that the man, Mr. Amuludun, was the one who invited him for the lecture. She didn’t have to try to keep up with what he was saying, it was very interesting and about her country, Nigeria. He was saying:
‘As far as the world is concerned, one out of every four black men you meet is a Nigerian. We are too huge a number for that to be wasted. We are going to merge our human, intellectual and material resources and we are going to trust God that the best, the brightest and the most competent will come together and fix our nation. Men who know what to do with power will come together and make Nigeria great. That’s our vision for the future. If others did not fix their country, you have no where to run to.
British people fixed Britain, Americans fixed America, and Japanese fixed Japan.
It is the responsibility of Nigerians to fix Nigeria.
Our fore fathers against their will were compelled into slavery and shipped to all those different countries. Sadly, many of us are buying our way into it and doing menial jobs we would never think of doing in Nigeria.
Time has come, to be stirred up in your patriotic drive to return to your country especially if you are not gainfully employed here and even if you are, come at the right time to come and contribute your quota. It would require all hands on deck; both those within the country ad those who are outside. For there is no other country you can truly call yours other than Nigeria that is if you are truly a Nigerian.
You will always be a second class citizen anywhere else regardless of the travel documents, certificates or papers you have been given. Whether you are legal or illegal immigrant, there is only one place where you truly belong and that’s Nigeria. Let’s go and rebuild, and let’s make it a place that other nations will also like to come, just the way we have been going to other nations.
It can be done and we will do it; God on our side’.
After the lecture, they shared the manifesto of the group. It was to be called the ‘Save Nigeria Group’ and they just needed ten things to be done including: Good governance, Infrastructure, Agricultural Food and Security, Health and Social Security, Security/Law and Order.
After the lecture, her dad had gone to have a long chat with Mr Amuludun. He joined the group. Her dad was a successful lawyer but from then he on, he had ventured into politics. In the upcoming year, 2011, there was a general election coming up, they championed a lot of causes including #LightUpNigeria, #EnoughISEnough. That got Nigerians listening especially the youths in the country. It was a long and hard fight. But finally, it had paid off!

And now this was the year 2022 precisely October 1, and she and mom were going for an honorary ceremony for the patriots in the group.
Asabi! Asabi! Asabi!!! She heard her mom call out more intensely. She jumped out of her bed! It had been a dream. She checked her calendar, She wasn’t in the year 2022, she was in the year 2010. No!!!!!! It had been a dream but it was a wonderful dream. She had seen what her country could be! Last time she checked, she could also contribute her own quota to her country. She could be her father in her dream. Then she looked at the quote on the wall, it read:
“The amazing thing about the future is that it isn’t like the past which says ‘This was me’ or the present that says, ‘This is me’. It says ‘This can be me’. Be responsible for your life, go shape your future” – Funke Asake Oladimeji ’10.
She heaved a big sigh of relief, said a little prayer, ‘God help me make my impact in my nation, Nigeria. She quickly ran out of her room to meet her mom. Her mom was also as impatient as she was in her dream.
Last time I checked, you could be Asabi. Let us shape the future of our nation. The time is NOW!!!

Written By By Olufunke Oladimeji.