Disappointments can be a blessing.

Disappointments can be a blessing.

If Nigeria had not disappointed me, I would not be in Ghana now.

But because the political situation in Nigeria has dampened my spirit with the killing of thousands of people, the daily abduction of ordinary citizens, the lawlessness and lack of judicial repercussion for those who plunder the coffer of the country, I have started shifting my gaze away from Nigeria, and started looking at other African countries for a place to vacation, invest and create.

My mind flashes back to the 70s when we were undergraduates.

There were less than ten universities in the entire country at that time: University of Lagos; University of Ife; University of Ibadan; University of Benin; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Zaria: that was all. No Ilorin, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, or any private university.

We had only public universities. The competitions to get admitted into any of them were extremely hard. Sometimes people waited up to ten years after completing high school before gaining admission to a university.

You worked hard to get admitted to a university.

And when you are in the university, you worked doubly-hard to remain in the university and get a degree.

If you failed, you could repeat only once. If you failed twice, the university would kick you out, and that was the end of your dream.

About sixty percent succeeded and left with a university degree.

Once you graduated you automatically were assured of a fine future.

You got gainfully employed; you would have a car; start building your own house; and begin to raise a family.

That was the Nigerian dream.

It used to happen.

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Picture shows me in my hotel in Ghana.