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Soiled Nigerian Spirit of Patriotism By Ikenna O. Ezenekwe
Recent discussions at the many Nigerian night lounges in New York City have increasingly centered on the upcoming Independence Day anniversary of October 1st 2005. At one of the lounges in Brooklyn where many political heads often gather to analyze the latest political undercurrents in Nigeria, a debate was raising considerable heat over the relevance of our seemingly weakening national patriotism. The debate was sparked by the comment -our relationship with Nigeria is well wrapped-up in hell and there is no need sugar-coating a false patriotism and that Nigerian National pride has become meaningless. It goes without saying the discomfort in the above though not surprising or untrue. It presents a hard slap in the face of any well minded patriot that is difficult to shake off. There is no denying the relationship between Nigeria and her citizens being well wrapped up in hell to the point it has resulted to a mass exodus of her people away from Nigeria and anything Nigerian. The Nigerian citizens of the Diaspora who find themselves as economic refugees and the majority of the 150 million residing in Nigeria who find themselves at the lowest level of economic poverty, both understand this relationship firsthand. The immediate question then becomes why has this soiled relationship continued without abatement? And to whose benefit has it been? Are the factors responsible irreversible as predicted? Could it be possible Nigerians themselves share the biggest part of this irreversible trend? Would it be considered tin-coil conspiracy to delegate blame to the intrusion formula used by the colonial and imperial masters? The question of how it began and what conditions nurtured its development requires some sort an answer even though complexities are involved. To many, the genesis date back to before the days of independence of 1960 when the founding fathers first began engineering a mechanism for administrating Nigeria while others place it during the days of post-independence when the administrative machinery installed by the colonial masters was managed by Nigerians. A simple assessment of Nigeria’s historical background can shade the necessary light on why this nemesis resulted. It traces back to Sir Arthur Richardson’s constitution of 1950 which for the first time integrated the north with the south at the legislative level and the Macpherson’s constitution of 1951 which paved the way for full-scale regionalization that produced the environment of three countries possibly emerging out of Nigeria. By the time the eve of Nigerian independence, the gap between the regions of Nigeria widened even more, the deadly Kano riot occurred and all the three regions openly began considering the idea of secession. At this time, the hideous excesses of tribalism and sectionalism were being fanned into a deadly flame by the various regional leaders who rode the cancerous tribalism and ignorance to power at the expense of national unity. Matters took a turn for the worse as evidenced by the general census of 1962 that was annulled and redone in 1963. Both were considered a colossal failure as it was riddled with malpractice and inflation of astronomical proportions. The trend continued in 1964, when the first general election recorded the worst election irregularity in Nigerian history to date. The stage was set for the accelerated degradation of Nigeria as a cohesive unit, both for Nigerians and Nigeria. Between 1964 and 1970, Nigeria had witnessed a near complete breakdown of law and order in the Western region due to faulty election, an ill-fated Major Nzeogwu’s coup of January 1966 that led to selected massacring around the country, the vengeful coup of July 1966 by Lt. Gowon that led to complete lawlessness and unnecessary mass killings, and of course the very bloody Nigerian-Biafra war that resulted in 1967. By the dawn of the mid 1970s as the years of oil boom approached, the door to Nigerian cohesiveness was virtually shut. As a consequence, the new found prosperity that had initially translated to a peak in Nigerian national socio-economical standing worldwide quickly dipped in the 1980s and continued to dip as the 1990s came around. This trend has continued till today. The evidence of this is seen in almost every aspect of Nigeria. The lack of good working roads, bad health infrastructure, neglected environmental mess, lack of electricity and clean water, limited food supply, faulty transparency in government and private industry, attest to this. It is a testament of the state of national disarray evident in today’s Nigeria along with nonexistence pride of ownership, the unbalanced sharing of natural resources and other domestic issues that linger unsolved and unaddressed. What resulted was the Nigerian psyche completely disbanded what residue of patriotic spirit she had coming out of the rugged path preceding the years of 1960 independence. It is important a point be made clear however that not all Nigerians regard our patriotic spirit as meaningless. In fact, many Nigerians have refused to perceive our spirit of patriotism as a meaningless one. To these folks, the type of obstacles that have threatened our national identity and pride has not warranted the meaninglessness currently tagged to it by most contemporary Nigerians residing in the Diaspora. To them, the relationship with Nigeria is well without any sugar-coated patriotism. They see the spirit of hope still shining upon Nigeria. I, for one, hope these folks are correct because I see very little reason to continue believing in the spirit of Nigeria patriotism except by blind faith. God bless Nigeria. _________________________ Ikenna O. Ezenekwe is a chemical engineer in NYC, USA
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