Almost everyone in Nigeria has heard of Tobi Amusan, the Nigerian exceptional athlete who won gold in the Women’s 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA. That remarkable achievement, the first of its type in Nigeria, gained social media attention. When Tobi ascended the stage to receive her well-deserved medal, the Nigerian national anthem was played, and she wept.

Those tears have sparked many emotional connections around the world, particularly among Nigerians at home and abroad.

Standing on that podium, struggling with her tears, Tobi embodied the essence of a hero who had overcome most tremendous challenges, both personal and national, to reach that precise point in history. Receiving what they deserved medal was not the social media story.

What it is is the singing of the Nigerian national song, which evokes both national pride and national revulsion in equal measure among all people who have varying interpretations of what Nigeria signifies, particularly sportsmen and women. Why would Tobi perform the national anthem after the Nigerian government nearly derailed her ambition? Why would the Nigerian government affiliate with the achievement of someone it had nearly discarded, as is customary, into the trash heap of damaged talents? These two questions have sparked a significant social media backlash.

My entry point into this composition is Tobi’s tears. In depth and perspective, it is akin to that of Prof. Oyewale Tomori, who wept in sorrow for Nigeria’s extended condition a few months back. Tomori lamented the thought of a country that offered all he needed to become a world-class scholar and virologist, but is now failing its own population. On Tobi’s face, one could imagine the many thoughts rushing through her mind as the national anthem played—thoughts of pains and depression at what could have been her lot if she had not got the scholarship to the University of Texas; thoughts of winning at the Nigerian Olympic Trials but the officials did not turn on the electronic timer; thoughts of the injury that the Nigerian government ignored, which could have ruined her aspiration forever; thoughts of all the greatness that Nigeria state encodes.

What did Tobi’s tears, like Tomori’s, tell us? Tears tell many stories, especially those shed within the nooks of Nigeria’s governance failures. Let me borrow this from Washington Irving, an American historian and essayist.

He stated, “There is holiness in tears. They are not a sign of weakness, but of strength. They speak more clearly than ten thousand tongues. “They are messengers of overwhelming grief, deep repentance, and unspeakable love.”

Of course, anyone who claims that Tobi’s heart is not wounded, even if she was overjoyed with her victory, does not know her story and does not comprehend the sorrow of not being pushed to shine by one’s country. Her personal trajectory before to her arrival in Texas and at the time of fulfillment. In an interview, she said, “When I was injured, they didn’t care about me.” “That’s how my career ended.” How could her emotions not have been driven by the fact that she was unable to pursue her aspirations due to an accident in which the Nigerian government could have intervened?

Tobi’s tears, on the other hand, are motivated by her steadfast patriotic pride. Standing and crying as the song washes over her expresses eloquently a profound belief and, more importantly, an indescribable love for a country with the capacity to be more. Citizenship in Nigeria is a strange phenomenon. Aside from the false nationalism of the political class and elite, Nigeria has lumped almost all Nigerians into the same space of suffering and lack of fulfilment. Many Nigerians have fled to greener pastures. Who is to blame anyone?

Who is looking for purpose outside of the limited scope of national space? Consider how many professionals have had their professional competency called into question as a result of the constraints of practising in Nigeria. Many medical physicians and professionals have recently gone for Saudi Arabia, where the medical infrastructure not only helps them find personal significance, but also improves their professional abilities and capacity to serve humanity. However, there are individuals, like as Tobi, who have been offered opportunities to advance their careers abroad while remaining steadfastly loyal to the Nigerian state. Tobi Amusan represented this category of Nigerian citizens as she stood on the podium and performed the national anthem. It was a moment of repentance; as if she had almost decided to abandon Nigeria and all of her problems, but she pulled back at the last minute and chose to believe in Nigeria’s potential. However, there is a last group of Nigerian citizens: those who do not have the chance or just choose not to fly out and seek greener pastures, but who have also been mistreated by the Nigerian government, and who have, counterintuitively, clung to the Nigerian dream in its absence. These patriotic Nigerians wept tears of frustration in Nigeria’s dark streets and many informal spaces. And yet, they have a spark in their hearts, fueled by the prospect of Nigeria becoming big soon. When Nigerian youth held the #EndSARS banner recently, it was a show of tough love for a country that must be forced to improve. It’s no surprise that many people turn to religion and spirituality as a way to keep their souls together in the face of life’s upheavals and government wrongdoing in Nigeria.

I’ve wept tears over what I’ve come to refer to as the missing pieces in Nigeria’s development—the barriers, misgovernance, missed chances, and other factors that continue to push Nigeria backward and delay her potential for greatness. In 1992, I was on my own search for purpose. I had begun a family, and the obligation to make ends meet had become significantly daunting. I had begun working in the Presidency’s Speech Writing Unit before accepting a position at the United Nations.
But then, the late Prof. Ojetunji Aboyade persuaded me to stay in the Nigerian civil service rather than pursue the more prestigious UN position. We had both wept tears in my office at the Aso Villa that day. It seemed as if I was watching the possibility of a brighter future slip away from my grasp. Aboyade was my mentor, and I had to believe his goal.

Nigeria. He told me how, as a student at Cambridge University in the late 1950s, he was part of a group of visionaries committed to redefine Nigeria’s greatness in the eyes of the world. These dreamers were eventually reconstructed into several tiers of multidisciplinary teams that began mapping Nigeria’s developmental path. Aboyade himself played a huge role in. With the Tobi Amusan narrative, we are compelled to consider how many more generations the Nigerian state would waste. How many more heroic actions will the state deny to those who believed in her? I believe it is extremely fortunate that the Tobi narrative is developing in the run-up to the 2023 elections.The campaign promises have begun to pile up, with no meaningful prod toward an ideology and issue-based itemization and discussions about what is important in taking Nigeria seriously. How, for example, could the heroics, enthusiasm, and patriotism of the numerous Tobi Amusans in Nigeria and around the world be used to help Nigeria advance?

Nigeria, like the continent itself, is a young nation with enormous human capital development that can propel national progress. This makes education, in all its forms, an important issue for candidates to the highest offices in the land.

How do we make education the foundation of national development? If any of the aspirants does not have a plan for a genuine and realistic engagement with education, they do not deserve our votes. Any candidate who does not have a youth engagement strategy is simply a player who want to squander Nigeria’s chances for national grandeur over the next four years. We have reached a point in Nigeria’s history where political rhetoric should no longer influence our decisions.

A farewell message to Nigerians: Tobi Amusan exhibited unwavering determination to endure despite Nigeria’s devastating limits. With her accomplishment, no one has any reason to continue criticizing Nigeria. Our dreams should serve as the foundation of our achievement. My dreams withstood the catastrophic dysfunction of Nigeria’s administrative system, as well as my premature retirement at the peak of my career. Tobi’s dreams overcame Nigeria’s awful sporting organisation. Our common aspirations, both personal and national, can serve as the foundation for greatness.