Today, every Nigerian is clamouring and calling for a better Nigeria, but then we can't be a better people if we do not correct the mistakes of our past.
We have co-existed as a country for fifty eight (58) years now but then we are yet to attain the status of a great unified nation. We still have religious crisis here and there, ethnic crisis bedevils us from different areas, struggles for seccession from constituting elements, and so on and so forth.
WHAT IS NATION BUILDING:
Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. This process aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. Nation-building can involve the use of propaganda or major infrastructure development to foster social harmony and economic growth. Definition: The development of behaviors, values, language, institutions, and physical structures that elucidate history and culture, concretize and protect the present, and insure the future identity and independence of a nation.
PATRIOTISM:
According to Wikepedia, Patriotism is the ideology of attachment to a homeland. This attachment can be a combination of many different features relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects. It encompasses a set of concepts closely related to those of nationalism.
WHERE THEN DID WE GET IT WRONG?
The problem is that we have been so much divided along our ethnic, religious and political backgrounds that we have failed to build a progressive and united Nation.
The first stanza of the first Nigerian National Anthem:
Nigeria we hail thee,
Our own dear native land,
Though tribe and tongue may differ,
In brotherhood we stand,
Nigerians all, and proud to serve
Our sovereign Motherland.
As seen from the lyrics of the first stanza of the first Nigerian National Anthem, our allegiance to our nation goes beyond our ethnic, religious and political cleavages. We must understand that we are first and foremost Nigerians, and as such have no other nation we can call our own.
Political office holders should remember that after their days in office, they would still return to the populace and would still be seen as Nigerians.
Religious leaders in same vein should also preach peace, unity, and peaceful co-existence between the different religious bodies.
If you think your allegiance is first to your own ethnic group, before your nation, remember that when the nation is in crisis, everyone suffers irrespective of your tribe.
We are all Nigerians, whether Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Christian, Muslim, Atheist or what have you, we have no other nation to call our own, so lets build this nation and make it a better place even as she takes her rightful position among the comity of nations.
Be patriotic, place the love of your nation above your personal gains and ethnic, religious and political allegiance, be a better Nigerian.
