By David Adetula
“I pledge to Nigeria my country, to be faithful, loyal and honest. To serve Nigeria with all my strength, to defend her unity, uphold her honour and glory, so help me God.” If only we can live our days abiding by this allegiance we pledge to our dear nation, I tell you fellow Nigerians, our nation Nigeria will be a safer and better haven for us all.
I will not do well digging into
this topic without explaining the key word therein; Patriotism. What is
Patriotism?
The generally accepted Oxford
Learner’s Dictionary defines Patriotism as ‘the love of your country and
willingness to defend it.’ Yes, as simple as that. Obviously short but
encompasses a whole lot of things. Considering Nigeria, the love of our nation
is something that should continually ring in the heart of us all and the
willingness to sacrifice our all for her and her progress.
With this, can we say we are
Patriotic? I mean, do we love our nation and defend it AT ALL time? Without any
shadow of doubt or complacency, you will agree with me that an average Nigerian
will answer the questions afore asked with a YES which is not true many a
times.
It is quite disheartening that
thesame Nigerians that confess to love their nation ignite, spearhead and
encourage motions and actions that affect her nation negatively while they do
little or many even do nothing to affect it positively. Why then is this
happening to us? Why do we see less of Patriotism in Nigerians?
I want to say the virtue of
Patriotism has been relegated to the background by our citizens and even
leaders. Need I say that Patriotism even extinct amidst us faster than evil in
our land? It is quite bad!
Like I pointed earlier, this
issue gets more disturbing and worrisome that the leaders that are supposed to
even be in the frontal position of inspiring citizens to be patriotic do more
to discourage it. Some leaders put their selfish interest above the interest of
the over the interest of the over 160 million Nigerians. You vow to make the
nation violent because your interest was not popular among the citizen. What
can we call this? Patriotism?
Little wonder we see many of the
nations in the Western World thrive well because Patriotism seconds no virtue
possessed to propel their nation. This reminds me of a movie I saw sometimes
ago titled ‘Olympus Has Fallen’, many that have been opportune to see it will
understand what Patriotism in the United States of America looks like. Even at
the face of death, the spirit of Patriotism never dies in them. Either win or lose,
Patriotism is always appreciated.
Being Patriotic is not only
required from the leaders, the followers are also expected to be patriotic. ‘I
will do this’ says Peterson and he did it, Patriotism starts from there.
Sincerity and honesty to fellow citizen is also next to being patriotic to the
nation because what connects you with your neighbour is the similar citizenship
you share. How about being a law abiding fellow even in the face of
intimidation and oppression? Patriotism is an issue that cannot be discussed
without mentioning the word ‘Faithfulness’.
Fellow
Nigerians, your being patriotic may seem unrewarded today but may I tell you,
the God of our fore-fathers that brought this nation into existence is
watching! Yes, it sounds like myth but that is the truth. Beware! Rewarding
Patriotism at most times may not be through Money or valuable items but in
other appreciable means.
My esteemed
readers, permit me to end this write-up with the popular quote of that Greek
historian and philosopher, Thucydides, “a private man however successful in his
own dealing, if this country perish, he is involved in his destruction. But
however, he be an unprosperous city, he is much more likely to recover. Seeing then, that States can bear the misfortunes of
states.” Nigerian belongs to us all, so we should continually seek and promote
and encourage actions that will work for her wellbeing. Thank You.
The
writer of this article, David Adetula is a 300L student of Obafemi Awolowo
University. You can reach David through his e-mail: davidadetula@gmail.com
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