I clearly
remember that night, as a young student
of architecture, armed with a letter of
introduction from my departmental head in the Nigeria College of Arts, Science
and
Technology, in Zaria, I was able to gain admittance into Race Course – now
Tafawa Balawa Square – in Lagos to witness a once-in-a-lifetime event.
The
lowering of the Union Jack and the raising of the Nigerian flag. It was the
night of September 30, 1960. By midnight, that night, Nigeria was born as an
independent nation, free from colonial rule and ready to take her destiny in
her hands. The pomp, the pageantry, the glamour, not forgetting the speeches,
gave promise of a glorious future. Armed with a Federal Constitution, we
marched with confidence into that future as Nigerian Citizens with a Common
Destiny. That today we speak mournfully of our fading glory suggests that
indeed we had attained a glorious height in the past which, today we have lost.
So many reasons have been advanced for this and so many depressing stories have
been told about the consequences of this loss that I need not dwell on them.
But can we not regain our past and climb to greater glories? My firm conviction
is that we can if only we would agree to carefully examine, and select for
adoption those things that had helped us to greatness in the past.
Victor Attah
To me, the most potential elixir of our rise to glory was the federal
constitution upon which the country was founded. We should ask ourselves, if we
had continued the practice of true federalism which is anchored on self-reliance
and autonomy of the federating units would we have abandoned our cherished
agriculture, mining and indeed industries, rudimentary as they were; would our
groundnut pyramids have disappeared, would our cocoa farms, our palm and rubber
plantations been abandoned; by the time we exhausted the tin on the Plateau
would we not have turned attention to other solid minerals with which the
country is so abundantly endowed? Would we have stopped mining our coal; what
about our hides and skins, would we not by now be having a thriving leather
industry; would our textile industries have gone into extinction? The words of
our previous anthem tell us that “though tribe and tongue may differ, in
brotherhood we stand.” There was no greater affirmation of our common
citizenship, our common heritage. This we need to assert in the strongest
possible terms. We should remind ourselves of a few things that made us great
in the past. We should remember that in 1950, before independence, Olorunimbe
was the first Mayor of Lagos with Mazi Mbornu Ojike as his deputy; in 1956,
still before independence, Mallam Umaru Altine was elected twice as the Mayor
of Enugu. We can say all these happened
then but, even after independence, in 1961, Margaret Ekpo was elected to
represent Aba in the parliament. All these happened because they were citizens
of the same country, living in those respective areas. It had nothing to do
with being an indigene or coming from a particular local government area. It
had nothing to do with religion or tribe and in this was embedded the kernel of
our budding greatness- Unity in Diversity. To experience this potent greatness,
we must allow this kernel to germinate and bloom. We must not allow ethnicity
or religion to divide us. The only way to do this is to accept the fact of our
common citizenship; also to institutionalize and enforce the fact that Nigeria
is a secular state. Our attempt to make it into a Multi-Religious country has
introduced religion into our national constitution and created difficulties
that have brought strife and discontent.
The concepts of quota, federal
character, state of origin, religion, different cut off marks, etc., have
entered our lexicon and become our constant narrative because of corruption and
our inability to be fair, just and equitable. How can we not see that even
influence peddling is a form of corruption? To be great again, we must wage
total war on corruption in all its ramifications. We must exorcise the haunting
evil spirits of ethnicity, religious jingoism, looting and wasteful spending.
Having regained our potentials for greatness, the country must then move on. To
do this, we must re-examine our national ethos.
We must determine to bind
ourselves together with a sense of common nationhood. The thinking must not continue
to be me first, my people next and then maybe Nigeria last. We must transform
this country – this geographical contraption as some people want to call it –
we must learn to transform it into a nation with a common citizenship and a
shared destiny. I will be the first to admit that this is easier said than done
but it is something that must come if truly we want to attain our highest
height. Why can we not acknowledge our oneness by celebrating our amalgamation
day! However united we may become, and regardless of whatever sense of
nationhood we may acquire, we cannot grow to the attainment of our full glory
without adequate infrastructure. I must
commend the current effort at Rail Development, but I must insist that our most
fundamental need in today’s electronic age is Power. Without power, we can go
nowhere. Next in my order of infrastructural priority would be Roads. Without
an efficient road network, the economy cannot move. But things cannot continue
to be done haphazardly. There must be a rationalization of federal roads. The
situation in which minor village roads are designated as federal because they
were established more by patronage rather than by reason or logic cannot be
sustained.
Beyond rationalization, the roads must interface with major rail,
air, sea and inland ports.
The aim should be to establish a few major vertical
and horizontal Transportation Corridors or Backbones for the rapid and orderly
growth of the country. The most critical element in this particular endeavour
is Leadership. A fair, just and purposeful leader; a leader that will imbue in
the citizens a sense of belonging a sense of brotherhood; a leader that will
give the people a sense of adequate protection; a leader that will not only
make everybody proud to be a Nigerian but will consider Nigeria a country worth
dying for; it is only such a leader that can hope to accomplish this feat. Can
we find such a leader in Nigeria? Indeed we can. Heights of greatness reached
and kept were not obtained by sudden flights, but we must take those crucial
initial steps for our journey of a thousand miles. It is only then that we can
ensure that the labours of our heroes past will never be in vain. So let us
resolve to serve with all our might one nation bound in freedom for all, peace
and unity. It is our only path to future glory. Long live a Great and Glorious
Nigeria.
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