By FRED ITUA, Abuja
A number of books have been written, both by serving and former public officials in Nigeria. While so many of these books predominantly dwelt on the economy, politics, religion and autobiographies, very little have taken up the herculean task of starting a national conversation on ethnics, values, rebirth and love for country. But the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on April 27, at the International Conference Centre, launched a new book, entitled, ‘Who Will Love My Country’.
A war veteran and former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, economists, politicians and a representative of President Muhammadu Buhari, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information was in attendance. Equally present at the book launch were scholars and labour unions.
Prior to the launch of the book, there have been concerns, recently expressed, that Nigerians did not have any sense of history. Those who put up this argument were always quick to remind leaders of their failures or inability to begin a true reconciliation process since the end of the civil war in 1970. Concerns had been raised about the sharp religious and political division among the two regions of the country, the North and South.
Beyond the failure of present and past leaders to deal with the aftermath of the civil war, there was another concern that no serious national discussion on the need why Nigerians must place high premium on ethics, national values and love for one another was in place.
Those who were at the launch of the book, unanimously agreed that the step of the Deputy Senate President was timely and would subsequently challenge other leaders of thought to follow suit and begin the national rebirth process. Author of the book, Ekweremadu started the discussion when he gave a brief summary of what informed his decision to put his pen to paper and write the book. “Let me state that I stand here today, not as the Deputy President of the Senate, not as a card carrying member of any political party, but as a patriotic Nigerian concerned about Nigeria’s future,” he remarked.
Continuing, Ekweremadu added: “This book, Who Will Love my Country, is my good faith effort to examine Nigeria’s problems, provoke discussions about how Nigeria can overcome its challenges and build a better country for our children. It is also an encapsulation of most of the things I have said before. I lay no claims to having the solutions to Nigeria’s problems. I simply want to challenge and inspire Nigerians to rise above ethnic, partisan and selfish interests and focus more on how to build a better country for us and our children. If you are on a journey and you find out that you are travelling the wrong road, the right thing to do is to turn back and take the right path.”
He did not stop there. He further noted: “I remember vividly a verse in our old national anthem, which challenged us “to hand onto our children a banner without stain. I urge everyone here to think for a moment the state of the banner we intend to hand over to our children. Are we going to bequeath to them a banner stained by corruption, bad governance, ineffective leadership, ethnicity, slacking moral values, decadence, mediocrity, and sloth? God forbid!
“The state of this banner inspired the title of this book. A country that has given us so much, provided the platform and avenues for us to live out our potentials now begs us to reciprocate its love for us. Nigeria deserves better treatment from all of us. We can and must do better to demonstrate our love for a country that has given us so much. The greatest honor and tribute we can pay to Nigeria is to love it.
“To love Nigeria requires us to fundamentally revise and reexamine our attitudes, our values, and how we treat one another. It demands of us some sacrifice. We must subordinate our ethnic interests, partisan ambitions, and personal preferences to the overriding interest of the nation and posterity. We must be ready to surrender our perceived advantages to the general good. We must let go, for unless you release the man you are holding to the ground, you would not also be able to move an inch. Now is the time to offer one another a hand of comradeship and together we can move to the Promised Land.
“Leaders must govern effectively, use powers wisely and in the best interests of citizens. They must show fidelity to democratic imperatives of accountability and transparency, respect the laws of the land and respect the rights and liberties of citizens.
“Nobody can save or help Nigeria but Nigerians. As Timi Dakolo rightly points out in his thought-provoking song, Great Nation, “We are all we have.
That is the message of this book. There is nothing that Nigerians cannot solve if we act in good faith, guided by the nation’s best interest. That is why I invited different contributors to express their views on the issues I raised in the book. Ultimately, I hope that this book Who Will Love My Country will inspire Nigerians to take stock of realities, recalibrate accordingly, and chart a productive way out of our present challenges and difficulties.”
Ekweremadu was soon followed by General Gowon who served as Head of State during the Nigerian Civil War. Like the Deputy Senate President, Gowon admitted that there was an urgent need to begin a national debate that will attempt to address decades of unanswered questions.
The former military Head of State said: “From the title of the book, it is easy to determine that the author and Distinguished Senator Ekweremadu has set out on a journey of self discovery, not necessarily personal to him but one in which all lovers of Nigeria should be interested in venturing an answer.
“It is a journey that is hinged on patriotism. It is a journey in which only an individual is best positioned to answer as honestly as possible based on personal convictions and whether or not, he or she truly loves his or her country; this country; our country Nigeria.
“One statement that particularly struck me in the opening pages of the book is the open declaration by Senator Ekweremadu and I quote him: ‘I love Nigeria and will forever love it’. This is a strong bold statement that he further clarified and substantiated by saying that he had lived all his 53 years and now nearly 54 years in Nigeria and that he had no other country to call his own in a haste apart from Nigeria regardless of personal feeling or the circumstance of nationhood. In other words, my country, right or wrong, how many Nigerians can make this bold declaration? ”.
Gowon added: “I would want to believe that the motivation to write this book derived in large part from the circumstance of our nation’s contemporary history. In itself, this can be likened to back times without which new life cannot be brought forth. Many years back, we fought a war to remain a united, indivisible nation. This was because we believed, and still believe that what binds us is far greater than what divides us. There is no denying the fact Nigeria is stronger together and that the future remains very bright if we continue to move ahead together as one. Nigeria has a great potential to become great but it will be up to you and I to do our best to ensure and hasten the process.
“Who will love my country? The truth is no one but you. This answer is plain for all to see. No foreigner will love your country more than you do. Neither can you love any other country more than your land even if as our old anthem said ‘tribes and tongues differ but in brotherhood we shall continue to stand’, to paraphrase and adopt the scriptures ‘who or what will separate us from the love of our country?”.
He continued: “Definitely, not economic adversity which we shall overcome; not political differences which we would easily settle if the leadership is committed to truly serving the people; not corruption which I believe is the current leadership we tackle and definitely, not insurgency or the so called Fulani Herdsmen nuisance and harassment which with the help of God and the cooperation of all citizens and our gallant security forces, we shall soon conquer.”
President Buhari who was represented by Information Minister, Mohammed, did not deviate from the earlier position taken by Gowon and other speakers. President Buhari recognized the need to begin a new conversation of how Nigerians can be more patriotic and add their own quota to nation-building. Like Ekweremadu, Buhari said Nigerians can get the country of their dreams if they put the interest of the nation above personal or parochial interest.
President Buhari noted: “The author struck the right plane when he enjoined leaders to carry out programmes that will enhance the prosperity, happiness and living conditions of citizens and value reorientation including attitudinal change especially as it concerns corruption and impunity and of course, the need for Nigerians to love their country.
“He also demonstrated in the book that Nigerians can only get to the Nigeria of their dreams if they make these efforts to love her above their individual selves and individual interests. Let me say here that there is no controverting these critical issues posed by the author and that indeed, for this government, excellence and merit and virtues to be coveted.
“The author demonstrated that Nigerians can get the Nigeria of their dreams, if they put the nation first. We should start with the individual; if we change our ways, society will change for the better. The author urged all tiers to undertake programmes and policies to enhance the people’s living standards. I hail the deputy Senate president for investing his time and energy to write the book, which is a wake up call, and thought provoking.”
Erudite scholar and respected economist, Professor Pat Utomi, in his intervention, noted: “What has happened unfortunately in our country is that, we do not have a rational intelligent conversation about the human condition. The mentality of our democracy can never be what it is supposed to be until we have such civilised conversation and I thank you (Ekweremadu) for bringing us up to that level.
“What is unity reality about? I think that unity makes sense because it has certain values. If the country is not united, what you can have and sadly, our country has been in this state for quite some time now, is a series of lingering civil wars. We can call them all kinds of names; today it is herdsmen attacking some communities and yesterday, it will be militants preventing some activities of economic nature, the other time, it is insurgency in some regions, but our country has been in a continuous state of a really civil war. If we are going to make the kind of progress that we deserve, that civil war has to be ruled out.
“One of the essences of a federal structure is competition between units as to who will make more progress among the constituent units. How did Nigeria begin to industrialise and did so rapidly in the early 1960s?”