At some point in our lives, we are given the opportunity to either stand firm and defend our country, or give into temptation and tear the country down and drag her in the mud. As long as we remain one Nigeria, anything we say about Nigeria to people of other countries will help them form an opinion about us. Whenever you opt to confidently castigate and deride the image of Nigeria or even completely disown the country, you only help the person listening to you to arrive at a conclusion about your character. That is because they say a Church is not the building but the people inside. So also a country is not the land mass but the people living in it. When some Nigerians go abroad and are able to get the passport of another country, they try to disown Nigeria even when it’s not demanded by flaunting the phrase I am "Originally Nigerian".
A friend of mine attended a party in Canada and she overheard someone asking a lady, " Are you a Nigerian?" to which the lady responded, "I'm a Canadian" and then added "Originally a Nigerian" with an attitude that suggested that she didn't want to be associated with Nigeria. This lady got her Canadian citizenship through a PR program she applied for as an adult. She practically grew up in Nigeria and all of a sudden she is no longer a Nigerian?
She went ahead to say that she had torn her Nigerian Passport as she got her Canadian passport ,I'm sure she's unaware that it's a criminal offense because it is the property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria- see Immigration Act 2015. The lady continued by saying that Nigeria is one hell of a place to live in and also that no reasonable leader has ruled Nigeria in the 50 years of her existence.
Whether her reasons hold water or not is not the case. It maybe true that you have dual citizenship and you prefer the new country, but nothing stops you from showcasing the positive aspects of your motherland and promoting it to foreigners. Rather than being quick to throw stones at those in power, ask yourself what have I done to improve my native community? No one is asking you to fix the country's problem, but every little help counts starting from the grassroots in our communities. Lets not sit on our fingers and blame others without first doing the best we can for our motherland.
I've read somewhere that a society is the sum of the consciousness of the people within it. So if we want a better society, a better Nigeria, or even a better world, we should first better ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAs Gandhi said, let us be the change we wish to see in the world. And maybe one day we can say we are all part of humanity and our passport is "Love."
Lets hope for a better nigeria and hopefully people would begin to appreciate where they come from.
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