I grew up with a very strong sense of pride in what it means to be Nigerian and what we can achieve as a people, which strongly contradicted the feedback I got from the world. For me, it is very important as Nigerians that we take time out to look for our personal heroes and learn about our heritage, who we actually are and what we have achieved as a people, instead of listening to the negative narrative the world gives us.

Nigeria is a country where the public appreciate good things

I believe very deeply that Nigeria should and will be great. I believe I deserve better.

The good citizen is the man who, whatever his wealth or his poverty, strives manfully to do his duty to himself, to his family, to his neighbor, to the States; who is incapable of the baseness which manifests itself either in arrogance or in envy, but who while demanding justice for himself is no less scrupulous to do justice to others.

Nigerians need to have the spirit of nationhood that our fathers and forefathers had. Whether you are Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba, Tiv, Ijaw, Igala or Berom we have to be tolerant of one another.

What I try to end up expressing is that being Nigerian is a state of mind. It doesn’t matter whether I had garri, milk and sugar in boarding school. It’s not about that. It’s about unity within the different ethnic groups and being able to help, love and understand each other.

I want my nation to work, I want to be able to tell my children this is why I say you must live in Nigeria and nowhere else.

The challenges that Nigeria faces today require me to continue championing the struggle for a better country with a clear conscience as I remain absolutely loyal to Nigeria.

Although we're American, we're also Nigerian. We're actually Nigerian first. That's the one culture that we know, that we were raised to respect and understand. To show people that it's okay to be both and it's okay to represent where you're from is a powerful message that, hopefully, we've been able to translate.

I think the endorsement of the Nigerian people is what I’m working so hard to get right now and that is why I want all Nigerian people to get ready to vote for me. All these years, what did you get in voting in almost 20 years of our democracy? Have you not been wasting your votes? A vote for Ezekwesili gets you good governance

I am writing all the time on being Nigerian and living in Nigeria but I have been accused of being stylistically un-Nigerian. My direct address of taboo objects, subjects and descriptions of people are supposedly un-Nigerian.

Nigerians as a whole are very confident people, I believe we’re confident, I believe we’re very resourceful and we are very hospitable when it comes to visitors in the country.

I pledge to Nigeria, my country

Consciously deciding not to, knowing and understanding what comes with being Nigerian in our world today, and choosing to stay focused on individual success, will one day lead to our collective success as a nation.