As a kid, the Nigerian student already has life figured out.
Primary school? “I’ll Secondary school, then go to university, study petroleum engineering or medicine, become a doctor, make big money, build a house for my parents, buy a Lamborghini, maybe even two. Life is simple.”
No doubts. No fear. Just pure certainty.
But then reality slowly steps in.
WAEC stress. JAMB pressure. Strike. Tuition problems. Uncertainty about courses. “Follow your passion” starts competing with “choose something that can survive Nigeria.”
And somewhere along the line, the dream doesn’t disappear… it just starts negotiating.
By the time adulthood fully hits, the same mind that once said “I will do anything” now says “let me just manage.”
That’s when it becomes clear:
Most of our early dreams were never fully ours. They were shaped by cartoons, society, parents, teachers, and the idea of what “success” is supposed to look like.
Then life in Nigeria starts rewriting the script in real time.
And you realize the real shift isn’t from childhood to adulthood…
It’s from imagination to survival.