To serve Nigeria is not by force

I pledge to Nigeria MY country
To be faithful Loyal and Honest
To serve Nigeria with ALL my strength
To defend her unity
And uphold her honour and glory
So help me God

As a little boy, I heard that when every American wakes up in the morning, the first thing they say is “God bless America” Because of this I always wondered how much they must love their country. I even attributed that to the success of the nation as world leader and police.

I have never been to America and recent happenings that we read in the tabloids and see in the news may tempt one to assume that there may be a bit of exaggeration in the above truism. Nevertheless, the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, the obsession to de-arm Iran, the fight for “the right candidate” to succeed President Bush all point to one common interest in America – Americans will always put the interest of America first in anything they do. Although American presidents would argue that they are trying to protect the world against these tyrants, Iran, Iraq or the Taliban will remain priority on any American president’s agenda as long as they pose themselves as threat to America.

Considering the foregoing, it saddened my heart when one of our “celebrities” in Nigeria released an “anthem” a few years ago - “Nigeria jagajaga”. Unfortunately for the rascal, he released the song during Obasanjo’s regime and I love Obasanjo’s response to the song. Charity they say begins at home, it therefore did not come to me as a surprise when a few months ago, I met a young man who had no single positive thing to say about his fatherland. I visited one of the electricity generating stations in the UK with some undergraduates from my place of work. The undergraduate who received us at that station turned out to be another undergraduate, a Nigerian whose father works at NEPA (Now Power Holding Company of Nigeria). I’m not sure what Mr Akande’s motive was that day, whether he was trying to gain the approval of the white folks in my company or he was trying to prove his level of intelligence (he strikes me as a pompous empty barrel), I am not really sure to be honest. He went on to boast about how he received a delegate of “top NEPA officials” the previous week. His father was among the delegates.

Mr. Akande was supposed to make a presentation, giving us information about their station’s mode operation and the reasons for its uniqueness (Combined Heat and gas). Instead of going to the business of the day, he went on telling us how horrible Nigeria and the Nigerian system are. At some point, I had to speak up to correct some of his misconceptions and misinformation which he was dishing out to the audience of which two of us were Nigerians. After arguing with him for a few minutes, I realised his level of reasoning and intellect and immediately let sleeping dogs lie. But I made my point. Nigeria is bad. We all made it what it is today (you may say you’re not one of them but trust me, we all are responsible). At the end of his presentation (eventually), one of the delegates that went with me remarked; “that was the most unprofessional presentation I have listened to” The Nigerian argument apart, it was a shoddy presentation, I felt ashamed. My team unanimously agreed that the time spent at Connah’s Quay that day was a wasted time.

Still on the issue of loyalty and patriotism, I stumbled on a TV program tonight (18 June). It was an AIT show. Unfortunately, the program for on schedule was different from what AIT broadcasted, so I didn’t get the exact title of the program on screen. But the segment of the program which I stumbled on was when the presenter conducted a random interview of some Nigerian Hip Hop “stars”, asking them to recite the national pledge. Out of about thirteen “stars”, only three could recite the national pledge correctly. To tell how bad the situation is, out of the three successes, the second success (Slam) missed “honour” in the 2nd to the last line. The most pathetic part of the story is that they ALL laughed about it and some of them shamelessly said “don’t blame me”. For crying out loud, if they went to school, we all recited the national pledge for at least 11 years of our growing up life! Perhaps stardom has eaten that bit of their memories.

Commitment to Nigeria and its growth starts from little things as knowing your national anthem and pledge correctly. It is like your religious mantras which you recite every morning or night. This reinforces your faith in whatever you believe in.

I have been in company of people in the past who sarcastically recite a portion of the national pledge as “to serve Nigeria is not by force” if you ask me, it is the same attitude with which such persons would handle any national issue if committed into their hands. I used to do the same in ignorance. But that was then. Now I know better. I know that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth thus speaks and as a man thinks in his heart so is he. The things which we utter out of our mouths or wish for are those things which we see manifest in our day to day life. Yet in ignorance, we blame it on our leaders. A nation that is great is made of patriotic citizens. It is patriotism that will drive out the canker worm of selfishness which is the bedrock of corruption and all its consequences in today’s Nigeria.

I pledge to Nigeria MY country
To be faithful Loyal and Honest
To serve Nigeria with ALL my strength
To defend her unity
And uphold her honour and glory
So help me God

So help me God

God bless Nigeria