Nigeria’s Call Obey
To serve our Fatherland
With Love and Strength and Faith
The Labour of our Heroes Past
Shall Never Be in Vain
To serve with Heart and Mind
One Nation Bound in Freedom Peace and Unity
O God of Creation
Direct Our Noble Cause
Guide Our Leaders Right
Our Youths the Truth to Know
In Love and Honesty to Grow and Living Just and True
Great Lofty Heights Attain
To Build a Nation Were Peace and Justice Shall Reign.
Our national anthem is one beautiful anthem, It is one of
the many few things in Nigeria that does not need re-writing or any form of
change, it shows the aspiration of every nation and every individual socially.
It appeals to every part of our humanity, Spirit, Soul and Body. It tells us
what we want as a people and how we want to achieve it. One of these days I
will have to break it down for all to understand the Spirit with which I
believe it was written for us all.
Today’s Topic is a long one, I hope that in this few or any
words, you are stirred up in not only your mind but in your Spirit and Body; my
intention in writing this was not to awe to argh anyone but hope that you are
inspired to help along this road to Peace and Unity and (I will add)
Righteousness.
I went back home this late rainy season and it gladdened my
heart to see MY PEOPLE MY PEOPLE ( a name I fondly call Nigerians). But what I saw
back home brought frowns, smiles and then thoughtfulness in my Spirit.
It all began with my arrival at the Lagos airport.
At the Lagos Airport, there was a delay, the flight arrived
about 30minutes ahead of schedule and the airport authorities were not ready to
receive the plane, so we spent the next 30 minutes (or so) in the plane waiting
to be received. During those 30 minutes, there was consternation by those in
the plane about the problems of being back home, then the lights in the plane
were switched off by the pilot for a few minutes before it came back on. Then
to immigration, it took another 20 or so minutes because they had to take care
of over 300 people coming in at once while waiting for the 7 or so immigration
officers to do a check twice, then getting luggage took another 30 minutes .
Too cut the long story short, it’s not the way you want to be welcomed home
after a long flight home. I was surprised that the airport was pretty much the
same on the arrival end after one full year.
On the road home, the same story, Traffic coming in and out,
the rains did not help, bad portions of the road did not help, broken down
vehicles did not help, so a journey of about 20minutes ends up being a 2-hour
one.
The next day I took the journey to Mowe in Ogun state from
Gbagada with public transport, I was shocked. The bus stop had been moved, I
could not take a bus on the road side, the Lagos government had created a
Lay-by at the bus-stop and I had to climb an overhead bridge to the bus-stop, I
asked a woman who told me “Te ba ti ri ni
ayin, e rin lo si sale ni ayin” in thick Ekiti Accent (meaning if you don’t
find it here you’ll find it there), I wanted to ask her if she was from Ekiti
but I declined to and took the walk, got on a bus that will not use the lay-by use
them for the rest of my journey to Mowe.
“That’s Nigeria, how do you know you are back home if you
don’t see these things” people including myself say. Well, I hope by God that
will be thrown into history in a few years. If we are creations of God, we
cannot but create the same order that the God of Universe created, a smooth
system that no man has been able to fault till today. Not even the best
scientist will say, the earth will be better if one variable was changed, that’s
what we aspire to as creatures of the God.
Thoughts began to flow into my mind because I expected that
after a year away from home, the changes will be radical, I will see a
different Lagos to Ibadan expressway, A different international airport that
will be better than the Local MMA, I thought that the customs officer will not
invite me over to ask me if the items I was carrying were dutiable items in a
bid to see if he could by chance get a bribe from me, I thought that there will
be better order on the road, that motorist will obey traffic rules, I thought
and dreamt a lot it seemed, then it dawned on me.
The road to the Nigeria that we all want and dream of is a
Long journey, it’s not a sprint, it’s a long arduous marathon with hills and
valleys, much worse, it’s one of those courses where they intentionally put
obstacles along your way to test your strength and endurance, the winner is
always the one who really wants it and has the capacity to deliver on speed and
endurance. The road to a nation of peace, unity and justice, a nation that
attains great lofty heights is one that doesn’t suffer a fool. We will get it,
but not in 4 years or 8 years and when we have even gotten it we will have new
battles to fight because one of the implications of the Fall of man is that Light was come into
the world and Men Loved darkness rather than Light; hence, when we
have the Nigeria we want we will have to continue to work to make sure we don’t
go back to our old ways.
We will build a nation, by God We will because God wills
that we do, because He said to us Be fruitful,
Multiply, Replenish and Subdue the Earth. So, we will take earth
and we will conquer it. How fast we will be able to do this, depends on the
role you (who is reading this) and me (who is writing this) and the next man on
the street decides to play. This is not a test of speed but a test of commitment
and endurance. The last elections in Nigeria were pivotal, we voted for a
change (and we have learnt that there’s power in the ballot) and every election
thereafter will be so, because we must continue to make the decision to
continue to build or to destroy what we have built by our votes; every time we
make our vote count without taking a bribe, without thinking he’s from my village
or state but purely because he is competent and can deliver a better Nigeria
for us all we’ve taken one more step towards the Nigeria we dream of. And we
will make mistakes along the way, we will choose men who we think will deliver
but end up being disappointments, we will choose men who are one of us but will lose sight of the goal along the way and become power-drunk, we will make mistakes because we are not all knowing and oftentimes our choices involve other men who don't have the vision of a greater nation we have.
Just like it’s the small things that makes a person who He
is; Also, it’s the small things that determine what kind of nation we have or
would have, the small things like how the worker in the government agency
treats other citizens when they come the hospital or office, how we treat the
highway cleaner, how we build and use our lay-bys and other infrastructure, how
the government responds when the people are facing natural disasters, how we
educate our children, how we recruit into government agencies, how we treat
those who break the law, how we treat looters and armed robbers, how we handle
our triumphs, these small things matter
as much as the big things.
Building this nation is hard work and it will take years and decades of work.
God knows some of us might die before we begin to see the Nigeria that I want
but I have made the decision to work at it, I will strive for it, I will
contribute and will make war with whoever will not let peace and unity reign in
Nigeria. I will strive to give my child a new Nigeria, one He can be proud of,
I will strive and when it’s all said and done I will go back to the Creator of
the Universe and tell Him that I have done the work he has sent me to do, that
I have exalted Him by striving to build a nation that exalts Good over evil, Light
over darkness Truth over error, God over mammon, Righteousness over perversion, Justice over injustice, A nation that continues to strive to attain lofty heights, a nation in which
men know that God is and will not suffer evil to destroy His creation and that He is no respecter of persons. That is
what I will do.
So how will I do this? I will pray to my God that He grants
me strength every step of the way and I will work as hard as I can, I will make the
right choice every day, I will continually strive for excellence, I will not
take a bribe, I will not give a bribe, I will be an example just like Christ
was to the world, I will shine the light in my corner, I will give men Hope, I
will be a positive influence, I will not turn my back on my brother, I will
respect the opinions of others even if I disagree with them, I will vote, I
will use my office as a citizen to demand accountability, I will be the best me,
I will pay my taxes, I will not throw trash on the road, I will be a good
driver in traffic, I will fight for the interest of Nigeria in every place, I
will remember to say a word of prayer for Nigeria and its Leaders, I will give
my support to those among us who have a track record of contributing to nation
building, I will push for the best of us to lead us to peace and unity, I will be true to every word in the Pledge:
I pledge to Nigeria my Country,
To be Faithful Loyal and Honest
To Serve Nigeria with all my strength
To defend Our Unity
And Uphold Our Honour and Glory.
So Help me God.
Amen.
So let’s
work together, let’s build a nation for our children, let’s build airports that
work, let’s build roads, let’s build schools, let’s build a nation where men
can achieve their God given purpose, let’s build a nation where the catalyst
for success are more than the impediments, Let’s build a nation that gets
better by the day, let’s join our hands on the long road to peace and unity. We must also remember that whether or not we stay together or separate as a nation, our fight still remains the same; there are those who the current status quo benefit and there are those who a secession will benefit what these men have in common is that their God is their belly. They do not care whether or not we are a nation that excels or not, all they care about is themselves. Our struggle for a great nation has nothing to do with tribe, ethnicity or religion, it's much deeper than that. So let's get to work.
