by Blessed Jatt
Arise o compatriot.....
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| Nigeria's Coat of Arm |
The ambiguity in the introductory phrase of
the Nigeria national anthem gives one the impression that it will take some
special patriot or certain compassionate fellow to redirect and repositioned Nigeria
on the part of growth, progress and development. But in actual sense compatriot
in it ordinary form simply means countrymen. Meaning it will take Nigerians to
fix Nigeria.
It is the willingness, passion and commitment of
any Nigerian to respond to the national call that makes patriot out of
compatriot. However as a people we should retrospect and define what this national
call entails. What is Nigeria calling you to do or to become? The inability of
policy makers over the years to define the content and components of this call
has been the bane of Nigerians lack of solidarity towards the Nigeria project. But
how can anyone respond to a call that they don't know what it is. A man that
does not know where he is heading will obviously not know when he has arrived his
destination. Successive leaders have woefully failed to define what the call is
or to chat the course on how and when to respond, either because of personal political
interest or a crude ethnic sentiment and considerations
ALSO READ: Your Land Or Your Blood- Adamu Mohammed.
It has been argued that the national call is
to serve our fathers land. This vague, unrefined and unfocused position has
further complicated the issue because rather than answer the question, the argument
had rather left us with another question: “Where is our fathers land?” for
example, my name is Blessed Omoegbe Jattoh, i am an Esan, a Nigerian and an
African; so where is my father’s land. I am first an Esan before I am a Nigerian
and only became an African by default. Put differently, I am a Nigerian because
the white man created Nigeria and gave me that status. So since Nigeria calls
me to serve my father’s land, the question is where is my father’s land? Is it my
small ethnic conclave? The Nigeria geographical landmass or the African
territorial land space? It is this kind of confusion that have ensured that
Nigeria has never produced any true nationalist; A Pan Nigerianist by default.
The immediate post independent Nigeria
political space was bedeviled by ethnic rivalry and regional lobbying for
political advantages. The various ethnic groups and regions were engrossed in
alliances and counter alliances and were pitched against each other in a
selfish relay to gain for their region political advantages and national
influence, all because there is a call to serve their fathers land. From the
Yoruba in the West, the Ibos in the East and the Hausas in the North, our fathers
land is first understood as your ethnic nationality and in the larger sense
your region, Nigeria from the founding fathers till now has never been a consideration
on what our fathers land is afterall according to Chief Obafemi AwolowoNigeria is
a mere geographical expression. And could not have been what the founding fathers
described as our fathers land.
Nigerians
did not create Nigeria that is why Nigerians don’t have any affinity or
solidarity towards the Nigeria project. Thus, every well-meaning Nigerian must
as a matter of necessity support two major calls which will help define the Nigeria
call. The first being the restructuring of Nigeria and the second being the immediate
and full implementation of the report of the national Confab. Were the current
political leadership for some undefined political reasons feels they won’t
implement the said report, then every Nigeria should rise up with a thirds
call; the convocation of a sovereign national conference. Nigerians need to
discuss how they want to be Nigerians. You cannot force people to continue to
be Nigerians, they must decide to be. Only then can Nigeria be called ‘Our
Fathers land’.
On
how to serve, whether in love and strength and faith, I strongly believe that
is very inconsequential, the average Nigerian especially among the youth
circles don’t feel like being Nigeria this account for the large numbers of
escape fleeing through Libyan desert and the Mediterranean sea into Europe. They
would rather risk their lives than remain Nigerians. When Nigerians owns Nigeria,
they will love Nigeria. The primary objective of any well-meaning government therefore
should be a concerted effort at promoting “Nigeria for Nigerians”.
Also,
looking at the current Nigeria socio-political space it appears to me that most
labours of our heroes past are already in vain no need patronizing ourselves on
this. Sad as it may sound, several persons that died for Nigeria died in vain. There
is almost nothing one can pin as an offshoot of the labour of these heroes
past. Even though one can also hardly
deny that fact that most of these persons were never nationalist but ethnic
heroic figures. However, one areas some of these persons made their mark was in
the areas of activism and unionism, today there is not a single spirit of true
unionism left to emulate, all we have left are bands of comrade who are looking
for were to come and raid. In time past the Nigeria labour congress was a major
driver of policy change, but today been factionalized, bastardized and degraded
into mere ‘sychopantical’ praise leaders. NANS on the other hand has become a
political stooge or better put a mini political party and readily manipulatable
tools at the beck and call of any political bloc in power. Comradeship has
become a major occupation with all forms of unimaginable compromises and corner
cutting. Labour Unions especially the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC are the
voice of Nigerians at the political space, but today unions have become a
vehicle for self-aggrandizement. If Comrade Ayuba Wabba and Comrade Joe Ajaero
are concerned with the interest of Nigerians why are we having factions why can’t
one stand down for the other so as to forge a common front to protect the interest
of the people they claim they are representing.
One
last but major truth from the national anthem no matter how sad, is that
Nigeria is not a nation bounded in freedom, but a nation bounded by oil. ‘Bound’
according to the Oxford dictionary is define as being “forced to do something by law, duty or
a particular situation”, if we are
bounded by freedom, it will mean we are being forced by freedom to be together.
This to me appears to be one of the fundamental problems that confront us as a
people. We should ask and be able to tell ourselves why we are and how we came
to be Nigerians. This complication I will retrospect on at a later date.
Blessed Jatt
Executive Director
Blue Beacon Initiative Africa
A Non-Governmental Human Right organization
07066015026
Hmmm, seriously I think this is an eye opener
ReplyDeleteExcellent write-up. The present government would have it's name written in gold if at the end of their tenure, Nigerians can grow to own love Nigeria as theirs.
ReplyDelete