National Issues

Nigeria @ 57: Time to Commit the Past to Flames.

AS Captain David Ejoor commanded the army guards at the midnight flag raising ceremony on Nigeria’s Independence Day on October 1, 1960, the euphoria throughout the entire country was high. The hopes were favoured with the fact that our fertile land, vast mineral resources and large workforce will be harnessed optimally. The destiny of baby Nigeria didn’t need a crystal ball, to the visionaries the success of Nigeria as an independent nation was a sure odd.

Fifty-seven years on, Nigeria is overgrown, and when an overgrown child draws something on a piece of paper, you can’t ask the paper what the drawing is supposed to represent. The overgrown child must be able to answer and tell the anxious spectators what he has drawn. The overgrown Nigeria sadly can’t even draw coherent image as of today. We are still arguing what constitution we should be adopting at this stage. The absence of objectivity and intellectual rigour from those who ruled in the past has been responsible for the nation’s disorderly growth and deficiency.

We must therefore, commit our past to flames, the piles of wreckage from the first celebration of independence, we have to inaugurate a new philosophy and a new practice of politics devoid of narrowness and opportunism. The failures of our heroes past must never again be replayed. We should desist from pledging our supports to those who Chinua Achebe described as revivalists of a bankrupt and totally unusable tradition of political manoeuvring, tribal expediency and consummate selfishness. It will be unwise to sustain archaic rules of conduct that are different from those of present realities, our reactions must be spontaneous.

The present constitution must be rigorously examined and any assertion that was cynically conceived to contain sophistry and illusions must then be committed to the flames. No doubt we must embrace Federalism and abandon the Aguiyi-Ironsi unitarian system, which favoured the military way of doing things rather than considering the effects of such move on a diverse country like ours. Though, our foundational leaders made sure the federal system was tainted because of their own personal gains but historical relay and recent proceedings have shown, again and again, that we cannot continue to ignore or believe we can circumvent true federalism. Doing so is at our own peril.

According to Winston Churchill, “success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts”. Although we haven’t witnessed landmark achievements, our failure is not fatal yet, yes, just not yet, we must therefore be keen to embrace positive change with renewed patriotism as we celebrate our national new year.

God bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

By Oyekunle Oyeniyi

admin

Recent Posts

Ford Trims Workforce: 4,000 Jobs to Go in Europe

US car giant Ford on Wednesday announced 4,000 more job cuts in Europe, mostly in…

2 days ago

Tinubu Dissolves UNIZIK Council, Sacks VC, Registrar, Otukpo Pro-Chancellor

  President Bola Tinubu has approved the dissolution of the Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe…

2 days ago

Ekiti Workers to Earn N70,000 Minimum Wage as Govt Signs MoU with Unions

  The Ekiti State Government has reached an agreement with labour leaders in the state,…

2 days ago

N610bn Constituency Projects Under ICPC Scrutiny in 21 States, FCT

  The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has initiated the seventh…

2 days ago

Iraq Undertakes Historic Census After 40-Year Gap

Iraq is holding its first nationwide census in nearly four decades this week, a long-awaited…

2 days ago

Relief as Rep ‘Lafi’ Empowers 300 Constituents Through Skill Acquisition Programme

  Over 300 constituents of Akinyele/Lagelu Federal Constituency in Oyo State benefitted from a skill…

3 days ago