“All of us are going to die and leave the country… so our thinking must transcend our immediate desires.”

– Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Katsina Radio and Television Interview, December 1994

This profound reflection from the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua feels especially poignant in this month of national mourning.

The month of July 2025 has been a solemn one for Nigeria. We join the nation in mourning the passing of notable national figures, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata, former President Muhammadu Buhari, and His Royal Majesty, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona , whose roles and contributions have left enduring imprints on the nation’s history. Alongside these leaders, we also remember countless everyday citizens who have passed, mothers, fathers, mentors, and unsung heroes of our communities.

Our hearts are with their families, loved ones, and all those whose lives they touched. We honour them not only in remembrance but in a renewed commitment to the values they stood for: duty, service, tradition, and love for country.

The passing of such national figures is more than the end of personal journeys; it is a call for reflection. What legacies do we leave behind? What foundations are we laying for generations to come?

In an age often marked by personal ambition and fleeting gain, the words of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua are a clarion reminder that our contributions to nation-building must reach beyond the now. We must build institutions that endure, strengthen communities that uplift, and pursue governance that prioritises justice, equity, and integrity.

When we strip away the distractions of position, power, and material accumulation, what remains is legacy. What remains is the impact of the values we upheld, the institutions we nurtured, the lives we touched, and the country we helped shape, sometimes in small, quiet acts of service, and sometimes on the grand stage of national history.

Transcending our immediate desires means thinking generationally. It means choosing the harder path of principled leadership over convenience, investing in systems that will serve others long after we are gone, and approaching governance, enterprise, and civil service with humility and vision.

As we remember those who have passed on, we are called to reflect not only on their lives, but on our own. What are we contributing to Nigeria’s future? Are we sowing the seeds of justice, compassion, and accountability? Or are we locked in the cycle of short-term gains that compromise the well-being of those yet unborn?

Legacy is not built in isolation; it is a product of deliberate choices and enduring convictions. As citizens, leaders, and institutions, we must reimagine what it means to serve. We must think not only of what Nigeria can give us today, but of what we can give back, so that decades from now, others can walk stronger paths because we chose to do the hard work of building now.

As Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s words remind us, death is inevitable, but what we leave behind is within our control. Let it be a country that is stronger, fairer, and more united because we dared to think beyond ourselves.