2 of my friends--one is Nigerian and the other is not but grew up there--left great positions in other countries to go work for Tony Elumelu's foundation (they

2 of my friends--one is Nigerian and the other is not but grew up there--left great positions in other countries to go work for Tony Elumelu's foundation (they left the Rockefeller Foundation and a foundation in Boston). Both of them have always been passionate about seeing Nigeria progress and I was so happy for them a few years ago when they each got the opportunity to return there to work for such a promising foundation. I've seen the jokes in this page, and yes, even within Nigeria people laugh about all sorts of other hardships of daily life there as a way of coping with them, but Tony is one of many people I know of who are defying pessimism and truly making a difference. So many average citizens there already manage to pull off industrious plans despite roadblocks we don't have to deal with in countries like the USA, so with opportunities like this I'm hoping to see even more successes. With half the number of people of the USA and more than double the population of the next largest African country, Nigeria's next generation is well poised to take the world by surprise.