With all the negative press surrounding Nigeria, and actual negative reality, its easy to gloss over the good that is happening. Young Nigerians are taking matters into their own hands, and creating the change they want to see. By highlighting the efforts of these young braves we hope to inspire you where ever you are, to realize you don’t have to be a millionaire to change Nigeria, you just have to want to be the change you wish to see.
Nmachi Jidenma is our first Naijadvocate, founder of Celebrating Progress Africa. Realizing the bleak climate surrounding Africa, rarely pierced by positive news, Nmachi decided to take matters into her own hands by creating a blog that… celebrates Africa’s progress. This is her story.
What led you to start CP-Africa?
I started CP-Africa because I wanted a space online where I could go and inspire myself about progress being made in African development. At first, that space online was my Facebook wall via posts and videos I shared with my immediate online network. However, one day I decided to move it to a blogspot account and afterwards to CP-Africa’s current home online, CP-Africa.com.
What made you focus on the developments in Africa?
As a Nigerian and as an African, I have always been drawn towards African development topics. I think the lure for me came from having someone like Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala lead Nigeria as Finance Minister at a stage in my life when I was still exploring my life interests and passion. Being able to witness the changes she brought to both the Ministry and indeed the country was extremely inspiring and it gave me hope and a belief in a better future for Nigeria and for the continent.
What keeps you going, and what is your ultimate goal with CP-Africa?
What keeps me going? The stories that we cover keeps me going. They inspire me and I am happy to discover them and share them with the world. Also, hearing from people who the site has helped out in terms of alerting them about business or educational opportunities or linking them up with likeminded individuals inspires me. I like the fact that people find the site useful and I will like it to continue to be a resource for them. Ultimately, I want CP-Africa to be an inspiring and useful resource that inspires Africans all over the web.
Why is it important to you for Nigeria’s youth to get involved in the 2011 elections?
Getting involved in the 2011 elections is incredibly crucial. The continent has myriads of problems but governance is one arguably the most important of them all. If we can solve the problem of governance, it will give us the opportunity to solve other developmental problems more constructively. Moreover, the outcome of this year’s elections can make a tremendous difference for Nigeria in the next decade or two. If we are able to elect a principled, competent and effective leader in this election, the sky indeed is the limit for this country.
If you could ask our candidates to change one thing about Nigeria what would it be?
Give us power; uninterrupted,constant power supply. Even with the current power situation, our private sector is as vibrant as can be. I shudder to think of how fast this country will grow economically if the power problem is solved – the growth it will bring will be nothing short of phenomenal.