Nigeria Of My Dreams – 3rd Prize Winner – SSS Category

The Role of Secondary School Students in Nigeria’s Development

     As a secondary school student of fifteen years old, I can stand my ground and say that I become increasingly disillusioned with my country Nigeria every day. The question probably going through the mind of anybody reading this essay is ‘’why will such a young boy think this way?’’ Well, I can support this path of thinking that I have chosen.

     Though I am young, I am not stupid. My immediate environment alone gives me reason to believe in my country. What will change my mind? Is it the beggar down the street of my house? Or the road that causes so many accidents on daily basis? These are the things that I believe most Nigerians and I face every day of our lives that are discouraging.

     As I said earlier, I am just a secondary school student who still has a long way to go in life. As one of the leaders of tomorrow, I should be thinking of how to solve these problems when I get older. Why wait till then? As a patriotic citizen who is determined to make his country better, I believe I can start changing Nigeria right from now; after all, a drop of water everyday will make an ocean one day. So how can I contribute a drop of water to my country’s development everyday as a secondary school student? That question will be answered in this essay.

     The first thing I have to do is to obey all rules that apply to me. Laws like not littering and no vandalism are to be obeyed by people in all age groups because cleanliness they say is next to Godliness. If our environment is clean, there will be more room for positive change by the Grace of God. Also, as a secondary school student who is interested in my country’s development, I should be abreast with current affairs in my country so that I can identify Nigeria’s problems. Reading newspapers is a cheap and good way to do this.

     Another thing secondary school students could do to help the country is t be very serious with their academics. This will help them build a strong academic foundation. If this happens, Nigeria will have a very qualified labour force and there will be no need for companies to employ workers from abroad. This will save the cost of production of many companies.

     To contribute to Nigeria’s development I also need to love my country and have faith. Everybody needs to. To explain this I am going to use an example. Bode Pedro is the father of Veda Industries; the first Nigerian computer manufacturer. It will not be hard for him to get a lucrative job abroad with his qualifications but still he decided to use his love for computers to make his country better. Now, he produces laptops and desktop computers for Nigerian Schools.

     Last but not the least, as a secondary school student, I can contribute to my country’s development by recognizing my talents and thinking of how I can use them to benefit my country just like Bode Pedro used his love for computers. When I earlier wrote that I become increasingly disillusioned with my country every day, I believed that Nigeria had no hope but now I am beginning to doubt that belief. This is because with a little faith, God and hard work, nothing is impossible. We can make it.

Nosagie Asaolu – Corona Secondary School, Agbara Estate, Ogun State (3rd Prize – SSS Category)