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Arise O compatriots,
Nigeria’s call, obey!
To serve our father’s land,
With love, and strength and faith.
These are the words of our national anthem; the anthem of our people, song of our home. In the latter part of the anthem, we the singers affirm our hope of building a nation where peace and unity shall reign. Is it so now?
Forty-four years after independence, Nigeria has only moved very few steps towards achieving the goals of the national anthem. We are still swimming in the failures of the First Republic (1960 - 1966). Nigeria has no identity. To a large extent, Chief Awolowo’s definition of Nigeria as a mere geographical expression is true. Are you as much a Nigerian as I am? Am I as you are? Are we Nigerians, or are we nationals of our various ethnic cocoons? If we call ourselves Nigerians, then, we must have a sense of nationhood, a nation we all are proud of, believe in, will fight and die for.
It is true that nationalism is as alien to Nigerians as eba is to the Europeans. Yet we must embrace this sense of belonging to a political entity if our project Nigeria is to survive even the foundation stage. Nigeria is our home, and we must build it hand-in-hand, helping one another in our areas of weakness, and learning from each others strength. If I make the door, you must fix the hinges, and our partner must put in the handle without which the door will not be opened. We all have our very important parts to play.
If then, this nation is to be built, upon what precedence shall we look? Shall we look upon the activities of past leaders of the past republics and even the present ones? No! The answer is a thousand times, no! We must learn to dream. We must close our eyes to the present ills and discouragements and dream of the future Nigeria must be. We will build, but first, we must dream.
Someone may point to the evidence on ground; the evidence that shows nothing but hopelessness and conformity to a certain evil pattern if one is to succeed. It is true that the Nigeria of today has been, and is being shaped by an absurd realism of affinity to a monstrous cabal. Yet this monster is a dying one. Although, now, it ensures the wellbeing of a very select few to the detriment of many, it will self-destruct. When it does, what will take over the position it once occupied? There will be a vacuum, but it must be filled. It cannot be left void, lest the whole society be swallowed by the void created by the destruction of this monster by itself.
Thus, we must dream. We must have an idea of what Nigeria is to become. We must depart from the present realism and create a new realism born out of a perfected idealism. We must have a mental picture which will eventually be translated into the physical building of Nigeria. Nigeria must be shaped in the place of dreams. We must hope, and that hope will keep us alive. What is suggested here is not a dream about a utopia that will never happen, but a dream about a Nigeria, which when she calls, we will proudly obey.
This idealism is only for a select group. The youths should be the partakers of this new idealist movement. Vibrant, and driven by the need to yet become, the youths are the perfect vessels for this idealism. The generation of our fathers has fulfilled its call, and, in the process, a very large number of its members have led Nigeria to a deplorable depth. It now rests on the youths, those who are the idealist to the point of being termed unrealistic, to dream, and to actualize the dream. It is left for you and me to take Nigeria to her place in the committee of nations. Dream, and build.
The present realism of Nigeria is an abomination to me, and must be so for every lover of our great nation. We must therefore, put on our multi-coloured coats, dream, plan, and eventually, execute. Come dream with me!
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Ndukwe
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