How can you build a future you don’t believe in?
Over the past few months, I’ve been building Taré — addressing a problem that millions of Nigerians live with every day: the complete disconnect between citizens and their government.
Government exists, but it doesn’t work for the people. Citizens have no real way to be heard, no power to influence decisions that affect their lives, and no mechanism to hold leaders accountable. So we provide everything ourselves — electricity, water, security, roads — while government collects taxes and delivers nothing.
Here’s the humbling, nerve-wracking truth I keep confronting: Nigeria’s problem isn’t structural. It’s psychological. We’ve collectively surrendered to the belief that nothing can change.
Somewhere along the way, people stopped believing change was possible. That’s probably why people are leaving Nigeria in droves. It’s a sobering, humbling reality.
How can the people staking their lives asking, fighting for change not believe that change is truly possible?
Here’s what troubles me: Most of our leaders, mostly above 40, with years of valid experience in Nigeria’s political and government landscape — people we protested against — largely believe we CANNOT change Nigeria?
How can these government officials make decisions to build the Nigeria of our dreams when they don’t believe the system can change? How is that even possible?
And more importantly, how will they ever write the policies we need when their minds are already closed to the possibility? We’re fucked right? Truly fucked if that’s what we have to grapple with.
I just attended the Citizen Town Hall organized by Zikoko Citizens and Big Cabal. Walking away from that call, I realized something crucial — the first step in rebuilding Nigeria’s reputation and developing not just Nigeria but all of Africa requires a mindset shift.
Here’s what Taré Organization is built on: a single, unwavering premise — CHANGE IS POSSIBLE. That’s it. That’s all. And that’s all we need.
This is why Taré Development Reimagined exists. It requires attempting newer approaches — things we’ve never done before. It requires welcoming optimism from anyone who can see that change is possible if we simply allow it to take place without actively opposing it. Anyone who has an audacious idea and wants to stand behind implementing it to the best of their abilities.
Taré is building the infrastructure to make change happen. We’re creating systems that force government accountability, give citizens real decision-making power, and rebuild the connection between leaders and the communities they’re supposed to serve.
But I need to understand the full scale of the problem first. Why are so many Nigerians leaving? What pushed them to that point? What would actually make them stay or come back?
I’ve created a research survey and I need your perspective. Whether you’re in Nigeria watching friends leave, recently relocated yourself, or left years ago — your story reveals what’s broken and what needs fixing.
The belief that change is possible is where we start.
But the real question that bugs my mind is harder: How do we get the people in power right now — worn down by the system, convinced that change is impossible — to make policies that actually propel us forward?
How can leaders with closed minds about revolutionary change be the gatekeepers we must pass through to gain momentum?
How do I get them to give room for a new perspective? To welcome a reimagined approach to change? To systematically alter the system, one thing at a time?
Here’s what I need to say clearly:
It’s okay if you don’t think things can change. I don’t need to convince you. But you’re not welcome in conversations where we’re building solutions.
It’s okay if you’re skeptical, but don’t actively foil initiatives that hope to make change possible.
It’s okay if your lived experiences make it difficult for you to see a way forward. But don’t stand in the way of progress simply because you cannot see it.
The thing that makes change possible is the willingness to allow new perspectives — to plant seeds on barren ground and let them take root and grow.
It’s absolutely okay to step aside for ideas, visions, and blueprints you didn’t create especially if you don’t believe in them. Let them gain momentum. Let them be led by minds that can dream of change and strategically implement it.
It’s totally okay to be a spectator. Just don’t project your doubt onto us. Don’t put me or my organization on a pedestal waiting for us to fail. Don’t make a sneak diss out of the early challenges that every young organization faces.
Do nothing. Change is possible. Even with only a 15% chance, that’s more than enough.