When the Bell Rings Again

By Faruq Ibrahim, Kaduna, Nigeria

My name is Faruq, and I am seventeen. In my neighborhood, almost every evening, you’ll hear someone say, “School na scam.” It has become like a national anthem among the boys sitting by the kiosk, playing draft and scrolling on their phones.

Sometimes, I am tempted to agree. My uncle graduated with a degree in Engineering seven years ago, yet he still drives keke to feed his family. Meanwhile, we see politicians on TV, some who never sat in a classroom for long, deciding the future of millions. It feels unfair. It feels like Nigeria has turned education into a joke.

But deep down, I don’t believe school is a scam. I believe Nigeria itself is what has been scamming us.

One day in class, our Civic Education teacher gave us an assignment: “Write what you want Nigeria to look like in twenty years.”

That night, as NEPA struck again and darkness swallowed our house, I sat by a lantern and wrote with all my heart:

“I want a Nigeria where a degree is not a certificate of suffering but a key to opportunity. Where the son of a poor farmer can stand side by side with the daughter of a rich man, and both have equal chances to succeed. I want a Nigeria where leaders are chosen not because of their last name or their godfather, but because of their vision. A country where youths don’t run away in japa flights, but stay because they know their dreams can grow here.”

When I read it out in class the next day, my classmates clapped, but Musa, my best friend, shook his head and said, “Faruq, your dream sweet o, but this country no dey change.”

I looked at him and replied, “Then maybe it’s us who must change it.”

That sentence has stayed with me. I realized that the new Nigeria I want to see will not fall from the sky. It will come when youths like us refuse to give up, when we use our education not just to seek jobs but to create them, when we see school not as a scam but as a weapon to rebuild this broken house.

So anytime someone says, “School na scam,” I smile and reply:

“No. The real scam is believing Nigeria cannot change. And I refuse to be scammed again.”

Because the bell will ring again for Nigeria, and when it does, it will be the youth who answer.