Making patriots of Nigerians

The conditions given by the Nigerian government to Nigerians living abroad who expressed the desire to be evacuated from their countries of residence back to their home country as a result of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic  were as shocking as they were exasperating. According to a statement credited to Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigeria in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), not only must Nigerians wishing to return to the country be willing to bear the cost of their one-way ticket, they must also be ready to underwrite the cost of their 14-day quarantine on returning to their fatherland. This is after the confirmation of their COVID-19-free status in the countries they live.

While the response of the government to allow the return of the citizens during this time of lockdown is appreciated, asking the people to foot their bill is gnawing. This is an emergency with the affected compatriots needing the intervention of the government. So, the government should have been more than willing to do everything possible to ensure the safety of every Nigerian anywhere in the world rather than dishing out unsavoury conditions. By asking the people to defray the cost of their evacuation and isolation, the government is saying that it is not responsible for its own citizens; nothing can be more heart-rending for any Nigerian who needs to escape back to his or her country at this time than that.

These people are in a peculiar situation. While the whole world is groaning under the COVID-19 pandemic, their own situation is atypical because they lack the family support which could bring comfort to those in distress. Consequently, the government should have risen to the situation return them to the comfort of their family members without attaching any condition.

The question to ask is would any other country treat her citizens in like manner? Would the United States of America have asked her citizens to pay their fare in an emergency? Would the German authorities or British government have done that? The simple answer is that none of these other countries would have treated her citizens like common dirt. They would have spared no cost to rescue any of their citizens. That is why patriotism is so high in these other countries and so low, almost non-existent in our country. Those who manage our county have demonstrated that most Nigerians are nothing more than statistics to them, so they do not care whether Nigerians live or die.

Many of those people who live abroad were driven out of the country because of the suffocating situations emplaced in Nigeria by those who manage its affairs. Many of them went to school and graduated without getting any job. They wanted to start small businesses of their own but they had no access to funding. Those among them who were able to raise money to start businesses were frustrated by a regimen of inclement regulations that stifle new businesses. With their backs to the wall and no help in sight, they fled abroad to keep their sanity.

The current situation is an opportunity for Nigeria to launder its image with her citizens abroad and win them back. But rather than do that, the government is trying to throw her citizens to the cruel harvester called COVID-19. It is this attitude of government that has made it so difficult for majority of Nigerians to bond with Nigeria. There is such implausible disconnect between Nigeria and Nigerians that more often than not the nation and most of her nationals seem to be perpetually headed in different directions, pursuing different interests.

Most Nigerians feel alienated from their country as a consequence of their conviction that, to their country, they are nothing more than mere statistical figures. They believe that their country does not care whether they live or die, eat or starve, ill or healed. Consequently, Nigerians have no longing for their country rather, they are imbued with lonesome feelings; destabilised, disoriented and disenchanted like refugees, though resident in their fatherland.

Nothing strengthens citizenship and promotes patriotism among nationals of any country more than the knowledge that their country would spare no effort to give them a new lease of life whenever they are down. Those occupying political positions are quick to quote President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address where he made the statement, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”, but fail to understand what informed the statement. Americans don’t have to think about what their country can do for them because they know what it will do. They know that as American citizens, education, health services, security are a given, not subjected to discussion or negotiation.

What promise does Nigeria hold for her nationals? Is it education, health, employment or security?  What is it that binds the nationals to the nation apart from the mere circumstance of birth? What hope does the country give to her citizens? What assurances are there that if Nigerians give their best to their fatherland, their country would reciprocate?

Trust is never given; it is always earned. Nigerians would become patriotic when the state cares about their well-being.

 

 

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

 

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