The most appropriate reaction to Nigeria’s name on a list of 14 countries to watch in the war on terror is not the one that most Nigerians and I have had. It should not be dismay, shame, or outrage. Instead, it’s times like these that we need to hunker down and get to work on making our home a place that isn’t so easy to ridicule. And this applies to every person from the continent of Africa.

I think I’m done talking and thinking about the entire AbdulMutallab incident. We have an ailing continent to build and all this talk isn’t necessarily getting anyone closer to that goal. There is little room for dissension to the fact that creating strong education, healthcare and business systems in every single African nation with or without the help of the government is a priority.

As much as is in our hands to do, Africans, Nigerians, what’s your role in moving your country off the so-poor-and-dysfunctional-it’s-easy-to-ignore-them list? The thing is, when we start answering that question and implementing those solutions, the activities of extremist crazies are less likely to have a voice to drown out the idealism, hard work and plain-to-see results of millions of individuals working to build their piece of home.