So much has been said about what is an ideal standard of living or an ideal life one should strive to attain or live up to, talking about ideals one has to know what ideal means in order to appreciate the basis for this discuss as issues of standard of living and public expectation as to how an average young man in Nigeria today should live his life.


Cambridge international dictionary defines ideal as a state of being perfect, something without fault, or the best possible. Ideal can be liken to a perfect situation, now that we have understood the meaning of the word ideal, going through the history and trends of living in this great country Nigeria, one question comes to mind, have we as citizens of this country been living an ideal life? That's a big question that needs an answer.


Our forefathers fought for the independence of this country, and in so doing they all had plans for this great nation, except I will be made to believe that their fights were fueled by selfish desires to enrich themselves and those around them, I only hope my assumptions are wrong.
With the current trend of things in the country today, I seriously doubt the fact if an ideal life is attainable these days. Well we may not appreciate what I am talking about until I give a vivid illustration of what an average Nigerian man’s ideal life should look like.


My perception of an ideal life for an average Nigerian man can be best illustrated in the following scenario; an average Nigerian man and woman agree to come together in love and understand, get married and give birth to a child in this a male child, this child is brought up in the best of environment, given the best of education, health care and other necessary care that goes along with raising up a child, all this made possible because the government has made available an ideal environment devoid of negative externalities, because the government in place, has a blue print of idealism that is implemented at all cost for the betterment of the masses.


This child in question attains the age of schooling which basically starts from the pre-nursery, to the nursery stage and subsequently to the primary school stage, where he spends six years to obtain the first school leaving certificate, all things been equal he attains this feat at age 10. He subsequently is granted admission into the secondary school system, which is structured into three years of junior secondary and three years of senior secondary, for which he obtains the junior secondary school certificate, and proceeds further to obtain the senior secondary school certificate, which is usually in any of the following forms, WAEC, NECO and GCE.


At the senior secondary school stage of his education, he comes to terms with his talent and area of greater advantage, in turn he receives instructions in that direction which could be in the sciences, social sciences, management sciences, arts and even education. At the end of the day he successfully graduates at age 16 from the secondary school system, taking a minimum of a year to secure admission into the university, where he is finally admitted at age 18 to study the course of his calling.

Bearing in mind the duration of university programmes which on the average ranges from 4-6years, for this scenario we work with a four year course of study, all things been equal, he takes his studies seriously, the university creates the right environment, his parents are living up to their responsibility and at all these he finally graduates successfully with a standard grade, at this time he is 22 years old, he proceeds for the compulsory one year national service, on attaining that he becomes 23 years of age.


All things been equal it takes him a year to secure a decent, well paying job at age 24, he starts working and in turn adds value to the society that created an ideal environment for him to succeed, he decides to work for at most two years and takes up an MBA program to improve himself and his career path thereby adding value to his organisation, on picking up the MBA admission he is 26, an average MBA takes two years to complete, by the completion of his program, he will be 28 years of age.


At this age he is very fulfilled in terms of academic achievements and in his career, and must also have risen to an administrative position in his organisation, he weighs his odds and confidently tells himself that he is psychologically, physically and financially ready to get married to the woman of his dreams, he sets preparations in place to achieve this inevitable task of life, this might take him a year depending on his taste, at this time he is 29.


He successfully marries at age 29 or 30 and starts a small family of his own just as his parents did, continuing in the same cycle of life. I know a lot of people that will take out time to read might feel that an ideal life is not possible or cannot be attained, but my dear reader it is very possible, if the ideal environment is created for the youths of this country to live in, but what do we have today the reverse, why? Because of the myopic view and mindset of our leaders, everything done in this country is done with selfishness and greed, no love for the soul of this country, corruption is the order of the day, the slogan i before we is preached everyday and everywhere based on our behaviour and attitude to things, tribalism and nepotism reign supreme, I shed tears everyday seeing the future of generations robbed on a daily basis.


My drive to writing this article is motivated from my experiences, because I am a victim of this failed system, but I have come to learn how to control my anger and put it to good use, hence my writing and hoping that one day my articles will get to our leaders and also to give hope to other youths in my situation that they are not alone, my advice is we should not be angry at ourselves but the system that has denied us an ideal environment to strive in, we should open our minds and strive to liberate our minds from the bondage our forefathers and past leaders have put us into, by accepting change and be advocates of it using ourselves, our families, our homes to kick start the change we need, because in us lies the future of this great country Nigeria.

Be Inspired.