Re: So, what is Nigeria?
I read the thought-eliciting article with some degree of enthusiasm and a provocative mind, having in mind that it might attract a series of reactions. On my part, below is my hurriedly prepared reaction. In the same vein, before its reintegration in 1991,Western and Eastern Germany with separate political ideologies (Capitalism and Socialism) were separate nations; […]
I read the thought-eliciting article with some degree of enthusiasm and a provocative mind, having in mind that it might attract a series of reactions. On my part, below is my hurriedly prepared reaction.
In the same vein, before its reintegration in 1991,Western and Eastern Germany with separate political ideologies (Capitalism and Socialism) were separate nations; since the aftermath of the second world war. U.S.S.R was once a single republic hitherto the perestroika and glasnost political and economic reforms initiated by President Michael Gorbachev that rendered the union pointless, hence its disintegration into several independent nations.
Equally, North and South Korea were one political entity but later divided into two separate entities with different political ideologies during the cold war era.
The dynamics of change is the only constant phenomenon in human society. European nations had adopted the philosophy of economic and social integration leading to the formation of the European Union (EU). Who knows in the future the EU member states might evolve into a single state.
We in Africa have also adopted the economic integration model from Europe, though at a much lower scale and rate. In Nigeria, the emphasis has been exaggeration of our differences, as if we have nothing in common.
Somalia seems to be the only nation on the planet that has the same ethnic background, but it has been a failed state since 1990. The tragedy of Somalia has clearly demonstrated to the rest of Africa and the world that homogeneity is never an express way to peace and stability of a nation. The most important factors in national existence, peace, stability and harmonious coexistence are tolerance, understanding and accommodating our inherent differences.
Narrowing it down, no two persons are the same, though they share the same parental backgrounds as evidenced by our thumb prints. United we stand as a nation we progress, divided we fall beyond reconstruction.
Yakubu Sani Stores wrote via [email protected]