Nigeria, Aug. 4 -- When Olubunmi Familoni won the $100,000 Nigerian Prize for Literature last year with his children's book The Road Does Not End, I was deeply disappointed that he didn't even trend on social media. Had he been a Big Brother Naija winner, he would have dominated headlines, trended across platforms, and brands would be falling over themselves to offer him endorsements. He might even have been given an appointment by his state governor as SSA on Entertainment, because our leaders understand us very well. They know what we value and where our priorities lie.

In the midst of that disappointment, I wrote an article titled "Nigerians and Our Priorities", which was published by Daily Trust and other outlets. Nearly a year later...