NIGERIA MUST DO, OR DIE!

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet who lived from 1759 – 1796 A.D. In one of his lines, he wrote, “Let us do or die”. As controversial as this statement sounds, it holds a lot of messages for the Nigerian society and her crop of leaders. Nigeria must do, or die! What do we have to do and why would we have to die? This question would most likely be answered at the conclusion of this piece.
Prior to 1960, a group of persons came together to pursue independence for the people of the Niger area. They as patriots made personal and collective sacrifices to achieve independence for the combined people of the Northern and Southern protectorates of the Niger area. In the year 1960, their efforts yielded the fruit of independence from the English colonial masters and Nigeria was born. Although there is no documented text of declaration of independence as is the case in America, yet, there is a medium in which the dreams of the founding fathers are clearly conveyed to us and their dream which was collective is fundamentally, the Nigerian dream.
The first line of the National anthem says: ‘Arise oh Compatriots’... and skipping to the last line of the second stanza, it says ‘to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign’. The role of the composer of the National Anthem which he played effectively was to communicate to every Nigerian that will be born in the future, the Nigerian dream as was originally designed by the Tafawa Balewas of blessed memory. That dream he made clear and the dream is, ‘to engage compatriots in the building of a just, egalitarian, peaceful and progressive society’. That was the dream, the creed and the reason why Nigeria came into being in the first place.
What must we do as a Nation? Nigeria and Nigerians must work towards achieving a just society. A society where there is fair treatment of all persons, whereon one will be victimized for their beliefs, race, religion or class. We must strive to build a nation where all, no matter the class and category, no matter the ethnic affiliation will feel part of the Nigerian project. We must build a nation where everyone, from the giants to the dwarfs, from the poor to the rich will have equal opportunities to maximize their God-given potentials. We must build a nation that accords the dignity of man to each and every citizen without fear or favour.
What again must we do as a Nation? We must build a society where we can all thrive together in an atmosphere and give a conducive environment for the actualization of the Nigerian dream. We must set aside ethnic, political, religious and social differences and build a Nation to which we can refer as ‘God’s own Nation’. We cannot go forward from here without standing together, we can do but nothing if we stand as 206 tribes acting for tribal advantages, we only will survive in this country if we learn to stick together just like the founding fathers did.
What else must we do? We must do everything individually and collectively possible to achieve good progress for our fatherland. We must promote the economy, we must build solid infrastructure, empower agriculture, improve upon our technology and science and we must do all these with the aim of achieving progress for our homeland. We are all employees in a giant entity, we must all work hard for only then can the rewards come out of the entity. We must oil the wheels, man the steering, and maintain the vehicle to ensure that the nation moves constantly in the direction which the founding fathers foresaw.
What if we do not do? As Robert Burns wrote, we must do, or die. There has been no time in history when it has been clearer to us than now what we must do and the consequences of not doing. If we refuse to do, we must then expect the Nigerian state to die a natural death. If we fail to water the tree of liberty with the collective sweats of patriots, we shall have no right to expect it to bring forth fruits and its natural death will be sure. We must do all the above or watch our nation die.
Boko Haram is already killing it, political violence is strangling it, corruption is shooting at it, religious intolerance is wrecking havoc on it and tribal divisions are dealing it massive blows. The signs are imminent, they are clearer to us than ever, that if we do not do and do right away, the death of the Nigerian state is just around the next bend. We must save our nation, or leave it to die. The words of Robert Burns comes to us again, we must do, or die!