THEORY OF NATIONS (PART 2)

THEORY OF NATIONS BY REV. (DR.) CHRIS OYAKHILOME. (PRT. 2)

In Nigeria 🇳🇬 particularly, in spite of cheap propaganda against our country, Nigeria, I tell you, is still among the freest countries in the world. There are those who may argue with that but many of us have travelled around the world, and we can tell you it’s true. We must be grateful for our opportunities so far: many of us should be grateful for the scholarships we received, the education, the environment, and even the wonderful, peace-loving people of Nigeria with whom we have been associated.

Many of us have benefited from the structure of our society, whether you love it or hate it. We must now give back to it. This thinking is the beginning of the birth of nationhood-the idea that we owe our society something; that we owe our nation something. We must not resign ourselves to always call out for help and handouts; reaching out to be given something by government or government representatives. We must make a solemn decision to play on the field, to become involved and be spectators no more. We must gladly render service and seek to improve our society. We must dream bigger and higher to create for ourselves and posterity a more secure, prosperous, virile and egalitarian society.

It is sad that at this time of our odyssey of self-realisation as a nation, major corporations and business establishments have not committed themselves to the infrastructural development of the country, the country from which they have so graciously benefited. No wonder the outcry in the Nigeria Niger Delta is getting louder, though unheeded. I call on major business organizations and corporations in Nigeria to help fund education as a testimony of their commitment to our evolution to nationhood and the realization of our dream of transition from third-world to first. It is their responsibility to give back to a nation from which they have received so much.

We are grateful for the opportunity and the privilege that we have had as a nation to transit from military regimes to becoming a democracy. Democracy is beautiful, if and when, a State achieves nationhood. Until-and unless-a State has transited from statehood to nationhood, the gains of democracy, if at all present, will be minimal. And this is the dilemma of many African countries who have embraced democracy. Many in their bid to salvage their situation championed nationalism instead of pursuing nationhood.

It is made clear that nationhood and nationalism are neither synonymous nor do they serve the same purpose. Though nationalism in its true and positive sense is laudable, it is important for us to realize that in our world today, savage nationalism is the same spirit of racism, resulting in such despicable acts of the American black history, South African Apartheid, and ethnic cleansing of Eastern Europe, and [Central] Africa’s Rwanda 🇷🇼. These evil are the result of nationalism where it is defined by blood, language, culture and history. We have to realize that nationalism, where it is so defined by our relationship through language, or culture or blood, has only led men

to their untimely graves and fractured societies.

To be continued…

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