In post-Brexit Britain, people are now discussing what it means to be British. As Nigerians enter the New Year, now is a most auspicious time to identify those values that define us as a people, and that would help us build a stronger nation. Little surprise Nigerians are suddenly engaged in soul-searching and a journey of self-discovery. This was the essence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s year-end nationwide address to the nation. “…We celebrated the historic occasion of our sixty years as an independent and sovereign country on October 1st 2020. In the spirit of hope and gratitude, I would like to remind us again that as a country on the difficult journey to nationhood and greatness, we have confounded the many pundits at home and around the world who never gave the newly-born country that emerged unto the world stage on 1st October 1960 a chance of surviving much longer than a few years. Yet, here we are, 61 years by the next anniversary in October, and not only are we here, we are standing tall in the comity of nations as one country united under the will of God and also actively growing that indivisible Nigerian spirit that has enabled us, year after year, decade after decade, to weather all stormy waters and emerge stronger and better where others have fallen and disintegrated. This nation, this Nigeria will survive and thrive,” Buhari noted.
The president might be putting a positive spin on the parlous state of the nation with such unbridled optimism. That notwithstanding, Nigeria, in the estimation of many, has reverted to tragic levels of political kleptocracy and fraud, feeding political polarization, ethnic resentment, citizen alienation, an increasingly virulent Islamic terrorist movement and generalized insecurity. This is hardly contestable. But the fact is that, to paraphrase a famous American President in a different context, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria that cannot be corrected by what is right with Nigeria. All Nigerians need to do is to identify those things that are right, emphasize them and use them as tools for nation building. The palpable perception of failure of leadership and the huge deficit in the delivery of public goods to citizens have culminated in a loss of faith in the country. Hence there is no better time than the advent of a new year to rediscover those binding ethos of a nation and why it profits all to be Nigerians.
Truly, Nigeria has lost whatever national character it had before elite infamy set in and has become a bankrupt society where might is right, impunity thrives, corruption is a way of life, as elected leaders and all supposed servants of state dip their hands into the common till unabashedly. This is also a country where sundry political jobbers strip the commonwealth of its flesh and feed fat on same while the rest of the people wallow in abject poverty. The consequence is the emergence of a tapestry of perennial social violence – bigotry, kidnapping, rape, armed robbery, extra-judicial and ritual killings and random assassinations. In the sphere of economy, there is hardly any genuine production taking place anywhere. Reward is for idleness and comes about by massive looting of the country’s income from sales of hydro-carbon.
In the midst of these problems besetting the country, there is a relentless quest for those values that define an honorable people and those ideals that nudge or place them on the pedestal of humanity with its embedded dignity. These values can certainly be found among the peoples that make up modern-day Nigeria, despite their attempted corrosion by the insensitivity and rapacious greed of a vampire ruling elite that has held the country by the jugular. Nigeria’s greatest strength is her diversity. It should never be denied. Without doubt, there are things that Nigerians in their ethnic differentiation have as common values and to that extent are universally cherished and should be the basis for their unity and strength. A few of them need to be reflected upon and embraced for the country to live beyond the current trying times. Today, Nigeria is so greatly afflicted that some wonder at her prospects. But compassion is Nigerian. The extended family system or communal living in all parts of Nigeria is one value upon which the country will thrive. The task of nation-building may yet be on-going, but because each person is his brother’s keeper in all ethnic and religious groups, a united community called Nigeria is bound to be fully built.
Then, there is Freedom. This may seem abstract but few would argue that Nigerians cherish freedom: freedom from want, freedom for self-development and actualization. Of course, freedom defines the plurality of Nigeria and it is required to promote excellence even in that plurality. Peaceful co-existence is possible in only where there is respect for one another irrespective of differences. It was, indeed, respect for each other’s freedom that compelled the founding fathers of Nigeria to elect to have a federal constitution. Deference to age or respect for elders is also universally accepted as a norm across the length and breadth of Nigeria. It is taken as sacrosanct and not, of course, without a philosophical foundation. Age comes with wisdom and circumspection. This value also helps in social ordering. In most Nigerian communities, it is the basis of succession to leadership and local governance.
Every society cherishes peace and is wary of external encroachment, hence the desirability of a united defence force. Today’s reality, of course, may not permit ethnic armies but a national armed force is a necessity and is already accepted by all as a symbol of the nation’s oneness against any external aggression. Nigerians have always, as a people in their varied orientations, united in celebrating success. Once it is earned success or accolade, it has never mattered who or where the person hails from in Nigeria; a Nigerian is all that matters. Today, partisan politicians may have turned this value upside down and with them, what matters are where you come from and what your connections are, thereby plunging the country into the dungeons of mediocrity. Yet, above all, the real Nigerians identify with hard-won success as opposed to looting or primitive accumulation of wealth.
Other values that Nigerians hold dearly but are being vitiated are self-respect and respect for constituted and legitimate authority, all of which must be rediscovered if this nation would be fully built. Self-respect is innate to communities, who in turn respect their governing institutions devoid of authoritarian exaction. The incremental erosion of these values by the custodians of those institutions cannot be interpreted as the end of the values. Nigerians need only to demand a return to basics and cease being passive collaborators in the degradation of their own nation. Past efforts at moral regeneration through the ethical revolution and the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) of the 1980s merely sought to address the moral decadence at superficial levels. Nigerians now need to leverage the values identified above into the building bricks of a national creed. Nigerians must identify those institutions and structures that can mainstream these core values and nurture the dignity of a great nation.
“As a people, we have shown admirable resilience in the face of every adversity, an unmatched capacity to recover speedily from every setback, an unparalleled generosity of spirit when we resolve our differences, and a constant readiness to invest faith and hope in the destiny we share as a united country built on the diversity of its peoples. It is these attributes that underpin the Nigerian spirit of “can do, will do” that gives me hope that we shall yet get to destination and fulfill our calling together, especially with the solid resolutions we are setting in this new year. Keeping our country on a forward march is a duty which we all have and share,” President Buhari admonished Nigerians. In the end, Nigerians need not look far to acknowledge that there are too many things right with them in volume and in intensity, even in their diversity, to build a true, just, prosperous and united Nigeria.
