There is nothing really new under the sun. A lot of the things trending now trended years back. Some things that might look new are simply improvements on what once existed or is still in existence.
The above is the reason I cannot agree less with those calling for the return of history into our school curricula. This should be allowed across board from primary to tertiary level of formal education.
The essence of my write up is not to talk about history as a subject with the attendant benefits but to borrow from our past to seek for solution to a prevalent problem threatening the very soul of our nation. Let us tell ourselves the truth, a lot of Nigerians do not believe in Nigeria. One obvious reason this is so is because those who ought to market the country to its citizens have not really done a good job. They have created a vacuum that fake news purveyors have been exploiting to keep our different ethnic nationalities apart. The advent of social media and its misuse have also done a lot of damage in this regard.
The different ethnocentric associations have done little to promote our unity. I am deliberately leaving out their names, but their activities mostly have been unpatriotic. A lot of the individuals in these ethnocentric groups unfortunately witnessed the civil war and it is looking as if they learnt nothing from the devastation.
Looking back to what the defunct Mass Mobilization for Social Justice, Self Reliance and Economic Recovery (MAMSSER) ably led by the erudite Professor Jerry Gana did will only highlight the widening gap in our national marketing to Nigerians. Messages by MAMSSER were strategic, relentless, catchy and apt.
Instead of marketing Nigeria to Nigerians first, we have spent a lot of our time and limited resources trying to market ourselves to foreigners who are mostly after their own interests which are likely not in alignment with the interests of our compatriots.
Nigerians must buy into Nigeria first and more than any other national. It is high time our orientation agencies at federal, state and local government levels began MAMSSER- like mass re-orientation and enlightenment campaigns about our beloved Nigeria through all available media platforms (both traditional and new). Patriotic individuals and non governmental agencies also have roles to play in this regard, Stop disseminating divisive toxic and unsubstantiated pieces of information in any form.
This is imperative due to the high level of toxic pieces of negative information already unleashed by the enemies of this nation within and without.
If we can succeed in making Nigerians buy into the Nigeria project just like a Jew believes in Israel or an average American believes in America, then it will be difficult to limit our greatness.
We need to get Nigerians within and abroad to buy into our country. The truth is, our greatest resources are not the natural inanimate ones like oil, water or solid minerals but the people. This is the time to rally our people to build our nation and take her to greatness.
The people in leadership: political, religious, traditional, corporate, families and individuals should show good examples in words and more importantly actions. Every one is a leader and responsibility should be taken by all.
Let the marketers arise and start the work to make our compatriots arise.
God bless Nigeria!
