Building a National Psyche, a Necessity

A deliberate effort at building a strong national identity that will unify all the various tribes and regions have become imperative. Our national identity or what some call the ‘Nigerian Way’ forms an integral part of nation building. Consequent of which our national anthem, flag, traditions and culture are all part of an essential national value system. We cannot undermine the enormous influence of religion and foreign cultures on our lifestyle.

A convergence of our diversity to produce a virile and binding national value system that is supported by law and enshrined in our constitution will form a very solid base for the unification of Nigeria. Our country needs laws that will give her citizens power over tribe, culture, religious, tradition, political or any other affiliation; laws that will make every citizen of this country to be a proud Nigerian first, before any other thing. These laws will break all existing barriers and dogmas where people put tribe first before the nation. This will take absolute power away from the centre which empowers the President to make unilateral political decisions that favour more of his own people than it does with generality of the citizenry.

The dream of every Nigerian for a better country is attainable if and only if, power can be transferred to the citizens by enshrining in our constitution, laws that are targeted at resolving the various agitations from the difference regions and sections of our country.

The main challenge facing us today is the unwillingness of the ruling class to acknowledge that equality of all citizens is above any other interest and affiliations. In an article titled, ‘Nigeria:Hijacked by the Ruling Class!’, this issue had been extensively discussed in this forum and suggestions were made on how to reduce the present tension in the country. The persistent reluctance and resistance by the elite or the ruling class to do what is necessary to bring about the true change, that Nigerians are yawning for, boggles the mind of all well-meaning Nigerians.

But whenever laws are to made that subject the citizens to order, you will be amazed at the great speed the same ruling class (government) put machinery in place to make these new laws. Multi-layer agencies are created with the relevant laws backing the imposition of often times, unnecessary permits, licenses, controls and fines on the citizenry, and all of this sometimes takes less than one month. The same cannot be said when laws are proposed or are to be created that will have impact or benefit the ordinary people of this country. In this case, it takes eternity to pass such laws and sometimes the process is stalled and such law never sees the light of day.

The ideals of any modern society are for their government to guarantee equality and justice for its citizens and to protect the rights of the people against all foreign or external threats and undue influence. These national ideologies are what the citizens go at any length to defend, but the case is not the same in our country. The hope of the citizens should lie on the Nigerian constitution and not in the hands of a few individuals in government. The government is made up of people, and people are bound to be subjected to influence from various areas and they are capable of undermining policies and actions of national interest for their own selfish or sectarian interest. But if the law is in black and white, it is sure to take the right cause when the need arises.

Again it must be clearly stated, that the unity of Nigeria lies in a very strong constitution, thus the call for the immediate amendment of the constitution of the federation to address all the various grievances and concerns so far expressed by all the agitating parties. To achieve this, both our law makers and the executive must be prepared to shed all sectarian interest and focus on just one common interest, the national interest. The judiciary also has a major role to play as well. Theirs role is to ensure that cases are handled in a responsible and timely manner, so that judgements are passed, and these judgements form part of our statutory instruments.

#OneNigeria!