Imagine that people have the privilege to preview and choose the country they would be born into before they were born, I am sure a large chunk of Nigerians wouldn’t have chosen this country, but by happenstance, circumstance or destiny we have been brought together as Nigerians, it is very essential for us to live the best of lives we can ever live. One fact people often forget is that we are only here for a while. Even if you will live for 200 years, you will leave this world one day. Methuselah lived for 969 years; he eventually died thousands of years ago. When we think about this fact, we would see the need for us to take life easy. There is need for us to live together as one. Our names and what we lived for will remain long after we have gone.
Some people fought for the independence of this nation with their blood, now we have people who want to destroy the nation even if they have to do it at the expense of their lives. WHY? Mark 3:27 says “A nation whose people fight each other won’t last very long” (CEV). As our faces and finger prints are different so are our up-bringing, educations, experiences, personal values and so on, so for us not to fight against each other, we need to have a common ground in terms of laws (constitutions) and standards (values) we all subscribe to. It is not only Nigerians that have disputes within themselves, even Nigeria’s constitution and core values are disagreement. Nigeria has a very faulty constitution, a constitution that promotes corruption, inequality and injustice
We all know constitutions but what are values? Values are beliefs, missions, or philosophies that are significant to one person, one family or one nation. Values guide our actions, choices and decisions. Every person has sets of values either they are conscious of them or not but for one to maximize one’s life, we all need to deliberately work on our values. Every family ought to have sets of values that each member of the family MUST adhere to regardless of the individualities of the members of the family. Every nation that wants to last long and bring forth good fruits must have sets of values that every citizen must adhere to. Everyone in the country must know of the values and strict measures should be taken against anyone who contravenes them.
I used to think that one of the major reasons we have problems in this country is lack of a set of values we all subscribe to apart from the constitution, however, l discovered that absence of core values is not our problem but an average Nigerian acts against Nigeria’s core values that are embedded in the national anthem mostly because nobody takes those values seriously. To solve Nigeria’s problem in totality, we must clearly write those values out, stick them to walls across the country, so that everyone will always be remembered that these are the values we subscribe to. Anyone who has contravened the values one way or another should not be allowed to be in government and anyone caught going against the values should be brought to book. The values our heroes past subscribe to, which gave us independence are in the two stanzas of the National Anthem.
Arise O’ compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey. To SERVE our fatherland, with LOVE and strength and FAITH. The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain. To SERVE with heart and might, one nation bound in FREEDOM, PEACE and UNITY.
O God of creation, direct our noble course. Guide our leaders right, help our youth now truth to know. In LOVE and HONESTY we grow and live in just and FAITH. Great lofty heights attain, to build a nation where PEACE and JUSTICE shall reign.
From this anthem, we would discover that our core values as a nation are:
SERVICE, LOVE, FAITH, FREEDOM, PEACE, UNITY and JUSTICE.
All Nigeria’s problems (I mean all) will be solved if every Nigerian both leaders and followers are made to subscribe to these values as acting contrary to all these is one of our major problems. For instance:
SERVICE: people vying for or occupying public offices don’t have service in their minds. They want power and riches. Students, workers and an average Nigerian don’t have service in their minds. We are all looking for what to get. This is wrong. We must live to serve our family, other people, our state and Nigeria at large. Service minded citizens are nation builders
LOVE: The summary of all commandments and laws is to love. There would be no single problem in the whole world if we can all genuinely love one another. Sudden removal of fuel subsidy is due to lack of love for another. Lack of empathy which results from lack of love could be seen clearly in the way Nigerian leaders govern this country. They occupy public positions only for the benefit of themselves and family and friends. Even the citizens up to the masses don’t love one another. Everyone is selfish and self-centered. Selfishness and self-centeredness are enemies of nation building
FAITH: The reason some people act negatively is because they believe Nigeria can never be good again, so before everything scatters totally, they quickly take what they can take. “every man for himself” is the belief on the street. We have to keep the faith. We must be able to envision and see the country the way it can and should be not just the way it is
FREEDOM: In Nigeria at the moment, it seems that the amount of freedom you enjoy is proportionate the amount of riches and affluence that you possess. Freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of movement and all forms of freedom are being trampled upon by the powerful when the freedom seems to threaten the affluent. This must change. People cant be living in bondage in their own country.
PEACE: If we know that peace is one of our core values as a country, we would do anything just to keep the peace and we will fight anyone who tries to still our peace with the last drop of our blood. Pesce must be prioritized
JUSTICE: There is no equity in our midst. there is injustice at every level of the nation and the state, even up to CDAs and estates. Any country where injustice prevails can never grow. One of the major tools for nation-building is justice
Everything must be sustained by its source. Fish is from water, it must be sustained by water, and plant is from the soil it ceases to live the day you disconnect or uproot it from the soil. The aforementioned values are what our heroes past subscribed to that gave us independence, for us to sustain it, we must all subscribe to the values. In addition to hanging the pictures of our leaders at every corporate office, let’s also hang a card on which the values are listed with the heading NIGERIAN CORE VALUES.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA