@The Passport Is Not a Prayer Point

@The Passport Is Not a Prayer Point

There is a growing irony in many nations today — especially within the developing world — where the national passport has transitioned from being a symbol of identity to a sacred relic in waiting rooms of hope. In churches, mosques, and prayer circles, citizens lift their passports with trembling hands, beseeching divine intervention as though that small book of paper holds the keys to heaven. This is not just desperation; it is disorientation.

A passport should be proof of origin, not an object of escape. It should affirm belonging, not stir anxiety. A strong nation builds the kind of confidence where her citizens travel not to flee, but to explore, contribute, and return. The moment a nation’s young begin to see their passport as their last prayer request, the leaders must ask themselves: What have we done to our people’s dreams?

The dream of many citizens is no longer to build, innovate, or contribute within their homeland. It is to ‘japa’. To leave. To start afresh. Not from a place of adventure, but from a place of survival. This mass exodus is not due to a lack of patriotism. It is the outcome of poorly governed systems, suffocating economic realities, failing institutions, and policies that reward connections over competence.

Nations are not built by those who flee, nor do they grow when the best of their human resources are outsourced to others. No government should feel accomplished when its brightest minds are being celebrated in foreign lands while their counterparts at home are drowning in mediocrity and neglect.

It is a shame when embassies are overbooked, yet local agencies remain underutilized. It is a national failure when every youth wants to leave, and few dream of staying to build. The passport was never meant to be a prayer point. It was meant to be a tool for travel, a document of dignity, not a lifeline for survival.

Leaders must rise to change this narrative. Policies must work. Security must be restored. Education must be reengineered. The economy must empower, not exploit. The healthcare system must treat, not traumatize. Hope must be legislated not by miscommunication, but by tangible progress that people can touch, taste, and trust.

There is a need for a generation that will say, “I will not run. I will rebuild.” A generation that will flip the passport not for visa interviews, but for cultural exchanges, business expansion, or international impact. A generation that will remember that dignity begins at home, and you do not have to cross borders to become valuable.

The passport is not a prayer point. It is a page in a bigger story — the story of a nation that works, or fails. Let the ink on it not just tell where you've been, but also speak of where you were proud to come from.

Until then, the real national emergency is not at the border. It is at the broken place where hope once lived — and must rise again.

Yours in fulfilment,

*@Otunba Femi Abiola, CMIE, MCE*

*@President*

*@Project Youth Fulfil*

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