This morning, a thought came to me: On many occasions, I have attempted to keep my beloved country Nigeria alive by writing about her.
It is a simple sentence. But it carries the weight of my entire adult life.
I was born into a Nigeria that promised.
I have lived through a Nigeria that postponed.
And today, I write about a Nigeria that must not perish.
I do not write because I have mastered Nigeria’s problems.
I write because I am afraid of what will happen if people like us stop writing.
Chinua Achebe said, “The writer cannot be excused from the task of re-education.”
Awolowo said, _”The test of a leader is what he builds.”
I say, “The test of a citizen is what he refuses to abandon.”
Many have abandoned Nigeria in their hearts. They still live here, but they no longer believe here. They have checked out. They have resigned. They have concluded that nothing will change.
I have not.
I write to keep Nigeria alive in my own heart first.
Because if she dies in my heart, she will surely die in my hands.
I write to keep her alive in the hearts of the young man who has lost a job, the mother who cannot afford drugs, the graduate who has lost hope.
My pen is not mighty. But my silence would be more deadly.
So I will continue to write.
Not to impress. But to witness.
Not to attack. But to build.
Not to mourn a Nigeria that is dead — but to midwife a Nigeria that is struggling to be born.
For that is what WITNESS 2026 means:
To stand and say I was here. I cared. I wrote. I built.
#WITNESS2026.
