Circumstances You Inherit, Choices You Make
Every generation is remembered not merely for the circumstances it inherited.
So, let me speak plainly to Africa’s young people—the Millennials and Gen Zs: we have not done right by you. The generations before you—the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers—did not do right by you either. If we had, this continent would be far better than it is today.
But here is what you must understand: in economics, a sunk cost becomes an irrelevant cost. It is done. You cannot recover it, so you do not remain trapped by it.
The circumstances you inherited are exactly that.
Nobody will ever ask you only about the situation you were handed. Life will ask you a different question:
What choices did you make in response to it?
History honours those who confront the defining challenges of their time with courage, conviction, and purposeful tenacity. That is the context in which you have been gathered here.
Why This Generation—and Why Nigeria?
You, as a generation, have been entrusted with a unique responsibility.
The challenges confronting our nation inevitably affect the entire continent because Nigeria remains the epicentre of Africa’s development.
According to economic data, a 1% growth in Nigeria corresponds to roughly half a percentage point of growth for the rest of Africa. Every time Nigeria grows by an additional point, the continent grows by approximately half a point more.
Anyone who understands economics knows that this is statistically significant.
The Mountains Before Us
The challenges confronting our country and continent include:
- Poverty: Deep and widespread
- Unemployment: Especially among young people
- Insecurity: Undermining life and enterprise
- Weak institutions: Unable to endure or deliver effectively
- Corruption: Draining resources that should build the nation
- Educational deficits: Leaving human potential untapped
- Infrastructure deficits: Turning the country into a perpetual building site
- Health challenges: Affecting people in numerous ways
Every one of these challenges is worsened by declining public trust.
Yet, they are not insurmountable barriers. Many of the countries we admire today once struggled with these same issues. They are not immovable obstacles; they are defining mountains awaiting a generation ready to move them.
So, the question is simple:
Is that generation in this hall?
Mountain movers carry themselves with dignity. Sit up. Sit as the ambassadors of Christ that you are—with authority, not lifelessness—because that is what you have been called to be.
God Is Not Raising Only Successful Individuals
God is not merely interested in raising successful individuals.
The mindset that says, “I only want to be personally successful, and I do not care what happens to everyone else,” has been one of the continent’s greatest tragedies.
It has kept us trapped in low-equilibrium performance: a country filled with brilliant and individually accomplished people who remain collectively disorganised and unable, through shared thinking and action, to change the dynamics of society and multiply the number of people who thrive.
This is an invitation to reflect on how your Christian faith should shape public leadership, responsible citizenship, and the work of building a just, prosperous, flourishing, and stable society.
Mountain Movers in Scripture
Throughout Scripture, mountains symbolise obstacles that appear impossible to overcome.
Consistently, God demonstrated His power by raising men and women of faith, character, and courage to confront them. These included:
- Moses and Joseph
- Esther and Deborah
- Daniel, Nehemiah, and David
He is the same God today.
Do not treat these accounts as stories belonging only to “Bible times.” They are also about your time.
Each of you is this generation’s Joseph, Esther, Deborah, Nehemiah, or David. God transforms society through prepared people who combine spiritual conviction with wisdom, competence, and a sense of duty expressed through selfless and faithful service.
The mountains confronting Nigeria today are not only spiritual. They are institutional, economic, and human-capital related. They include deficits in social cohesion and social capital.
These are all essential ingredients of nation-building. To the extent that we lack them, our country remains a building site where the materials never come together.
Faith That Inspires Action
To be a mountain mover is to be a leader whose faith inspires action.
Too many African believers assume that God will take every necessary action Himself. He will not.
For God’s children who live according to His Word, the spiritual foundation is already covered. What God will do, He will do. However, God expects execution, and He does not come down to perform it Himself.
He does not personally descend to build the systems that provide people with quality healthcare. He does not physically become the teachers and engineers who close educational and infrastructure gaps.
He works through people.
Faith-inspired action is what God is looking for. What undermines it is a lack of integrity—the kind of integrity that earns public trust—and the absence of commitment to the common good.
God is searching for the person who can say:
“I live for the common good. I am not living merely for my own appetite.”
Understand this: God is not merely looking for Christians in politics.
There have already been Christians in politics—and where has that taken us?
He is looking for the Christian who, like Nehemiah, can say:
“Unlike all the other governors before me, I did not lay a charge on the public treasury.”
What Governance Really Means
Governance is central to this conversation, and it is far broader than government or politics.
Governance refers to the systems, institutions, and processes through which:
- A society is led
- Public resources are managed
- Justice is administered
- Decisions are made for the common good
At its heart, governance is about the quality of leadership. It involves accountability, transparency, the rule of law, and the effectiveness of public institutions in improving the lives of citizens.
God cares deeply about that improvement.
In Psalm 72—the treatise David wrote for his son Solomon on how to govern—the person who rules is distinguished by a heart for the poor.
Can we honestly say that those who call themselves our leaders have such a heart?
Generally, no.
If they did, we would not be heading towards a future in which, by 2030—when the Sustainable Development Goals conclude—more than 85% of the world’s remaining poor are projected to be found on our continent.
As much of the rest of the world moves beyond extreme poverty, Africa is increasingly being placed in that category.
The Paradox of a Rich Continent
Consider the contradiction.
More than two-thirds of the countries on this continent are endowed with natural resources such as oil, gold, copper, diamonds, and tantalum.
Today, the world is discovering that many of the critical minerals it needs are concentrated in Africa. Yet, by 2030, the majority of the world’s remaining poor are expected to live here.
Anyone thinking only about “how to make it big,” without confronting realities like this, is simply repeating the same pattern.
Instead, declare:
God forbid that our generation should repeat a negative pattern.
Governance: The Binding Constraint
Governance is now the binding constraint on Africa’s development.
A binding constraint is not a mountain that can be moved by scraping lightly at its surface. It places a limit on everything above it.
We no longer have an ideas deficit. Knowledge has never been cheaper or more accessible in the history of civilisation.
Africa did not fully participate in the Industrial Revolution, but the information and communication technology revolution represents its first true societal revolution.
Among the greatest potential game-changers for the continent are its young people and technology—and you are the generation that combines both.
Yet, the governance deficit still affects you.
You cannot simply “entrepreneur” your way around it. You cannot manage your way around it.
For those who believe they are already succeeding, the difficult truth is that what you are earning is only a tiny fraction of what could be possible. Your productivity and the value generated from it are dragged down by poor governance.
That is why you have every reason to care about governance.
Poor governance caps destiny, and it must not be allowed to cap yours.
Development research is consistent on this matter. When countries with similar resources and populations are compared, the major difference is often the quality of their policies and institutions.
Studies of Africa’s periods of economic growth show that increases in growth and poverty reduction often coincide with genuine improvements in governance and macroeconomic management.
When those systems collapse, corruption and weak adherence to the rule of law raise the cost of capital, discourage investment, and waste human talent.
Diversity as a Strength
Nigeria’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, even though we are constantly encouraged to question its value.
The data points in another direction: the more diverse a society is, the higher it tends to rank on global measures of innovation.
Rather than looking at another ethnic group with suspicion, we must recognise that our multi-ethnicity is an asset—one that requires a collective commitment to integrity to unlock.
Ethical Leadership
This discussion goes beyond politics.
It reflects God’s concern for justice and righteousness. Our faith must, therefore, find expression not only in worship but also in ethical leadership.
Consider the examples Scripture gives us of leaders who could speak with a clear conscience.
Samuel
In 1 Samuel 12, Samuel could ask the entire nation:
“Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe?”
No one could accuse him.
Abraham
Abraham refused the spoils offered to him by the king of Sodom so that it could never be said:
“It was the king of Sodom who made Abram rich.”
Imagine carrying the gift of Sodom—a city that would soon be destroyed—alongside a covenant life.
That is a tragedy you must not embrace.
Repairers of the Breach
Those of you considering public service are the people Isaiah spoke about.
When the Lord asks whom He should send, your answer should be:
“Here am I; send me.”
Of such people, it is written that they will:
- Raise the foundations of many generations
- Be called “the repairer of the breach”
- Become “the restorer of paths to dwell in”
So, lift your hand and declare this over yourself:
I am a mountain mover. I will repair the bridges in this nation’s building deficit. I will be a restorer of the paths on which the generations coming after me will dwell.