Nigerians especially the youth, and by these, permit me to say persons aged 18-50 excel everywhere in the world, but hardly ever excel at home, the reasons are many, but some are not far-fetched. Do you know where your mother is from? Is your father from Plateau? Where does your mother’s mother come from? Your father is Lagosian, and your mother is from Kaduna you were born in Bauchi, you suffer identity crisis. You are not native, you are not indigene, you are possibly not even Nigerian and you are not alien, you hold a national ID card or passport yet you cannot be voted for in most of those places but you can vote. We are a laughable nation.
We are proud of our multicultural ethnic collation but it remains largely our undoing, and the young persons have keyed into this ageing malice of bitter ethnicisation that has never promoted national cohesion.
Today, the Nigerian young person does not know Nigeria and cannot relate with his or her nation. What does Nigeria mean to our kids? Can a university fresher or graduate define Nigeria?
Most people have a vague idea what their name means, but few give them much more thought.
Is it because we do not know the meaning of Nigeria or could it be because we do not know the origin of the name that we have attached a phenomenon to it called the Nigerian myth or the Nigerian factor? I dare say at this point that Nigeria has no meaning, can we not start to give it a meaning, after all what we want as Nigerians are simple, a Nigeria that is as good as its promise.
We need a Nigeria that is a definition of principles, of idealism, of character, not of birthplace, creed, ethnic group or tribe. This lack of origin is one that has led to a weakness of attitude, which translates into weakness of character. So, our culture has been shaped by the Nigerian factor, one that we have been forced to develop for lack of direction, for lack of a beginning. So, as a nation we have continued with a culture of indifference.
Telling our leaders who are Nigerians to tell the truth is like un-Nigerianising them, they lie about everything, they are loved for what they are not, they speak of changing Nigeria, but they are not changing.
That Nigeria has gone wrong, should we also go wrong with Nigeria?
In contemporary Nigeria, we have continued to exhibit that we have neither history nor heritage apart from all the scatters of cultures from Oodua to Arewa, Biafra to South-South.
What is the circumstance of the birth of Nigeria, can anything be done to bring destiny and fate to conjure up some good for us all?
Dr. Charles Dickson
pcdbooks@yahoo.com
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