Otapiapia, the African Utopia, was your run-of-the-mill small town. It had all the basic necessities for human survival, and indeed the people thrived. Every citizen had a source of sustenance and it was almost impossible to differentiate the "haves" from the "have-nots". Such could be expected from a town with simple artisans and tradesmen who applied their skill to create value which they exchanged for money or any other necessities.
Life wasn't perfect but the Pians, as people from Otapiapia are known, were happy. The farmer could always trust that millers would buy his corn and the millers in turn knew that any flour they produced would be purchased by bakers. Well, the Pians could very well not do without bread and pastries, so the bakers never had problems with sales either.
Young Pians could grow without any fear of having no jobs to do when they became adults. As long Otapiapia existed, it would have people, and those people would have needs that could be met in exchange for money. A young Pian only needed to apply himself to learning and becoming excellent at one vocation and his future was secured. After all, the average Pian had only modest ambitions and could make do with the income from any of the many trades available. Except, of course, for some who aspired for more... far more than Otapiapia could give. One such youth was Daniel Ngote. Daniel wanted to own and personally define the limits of his destiny? He had big dreams and he was going to do all he could to see them come to fruition.
Will he succeed? How?
Otapiapia is what I would want my country to be like; a place where anyone willing and ready to work for want they want would be assured that their dreams could come to fruition; just as long as they are willing and ready to work towards those dreams. Unfortunately, Nigeria is not as it should be. Not as it could be. There is a potential... yes, plenty of it. However, much of this potential lies unharnessed and can not be fully developed. There are many factors acting to inhibit the tapping of this potential including the mindsets of Nigerians, the lack of any drive to want to push beyond the obvious and even when that drive is there, simply not knowing how to go about the process. These issues must be addressed... and they will be. Someday. By whom? Well, you are reading this, aren't you?
Share your thoughts in the comments below on how you think Daniel can achieve his dreams.
Also, what do you think has to be done to lift Nigeria from its present state?
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