Nigeria @ 61 : The Indivisible Intimacy
By Vicent Unogwu
As long as the Niger and Benue rivers flow, the country will remain one. As long as the two rivers meet in confluence before flowing to the great sea, then Nigerians will forever interact to achieve a greater purpose in life!
A day out of your home and back is a journey around the country. When and if your car did not start, you call a mechanic that may likely be a Yoruba man to fix it. Driving to the fuel station, an igala man may attend to the need of your fuel, when one reaches the market a Hausa man may sell the meat and an Igbo woman the vegetable. After the market tour, an Ibibio man attends to the need of your haircut in a saloon, when hungry and entered a restaurant, a Calabar woman serves the food. A drive to the pharmacy, a nupe lady, who is a pharmacist will attend to what is needed! Driving back home an idoma man warden the traffic, for everybody to pass, the road is free and open to all. On reaching home, your gateman may be a Bachama man! And so it is, that if your air-condition fails to work, an Urhobo man is called to fix it!
This is the typical day of a Nigerian, a trip to fulfil personal needs, is an experience of service from every part of the country. This is what keeps us together for 60 years, depending on each other to survive. Far from oil, far from gold, far from agriculture and far from politics, is the true heart of a great nation.
Nigeria is alive and will outlive us all. The country is our value and our value is the country. What we suffer, the country suffers, what we enjoy, the country enjoys. No matter how tall we grow, we can never be older than our country. It begat us all!
The name Nigeria is created from a river, the river itself is creation of nature long before our legends of historic migration! The people of Nigeria are united by various cultures, the culture is but the product of our nature: our land, our history, our environment and our story!
60 years have come and gone, but our future as a country will serve more years ahead! Is better we learn to live today for the next 60 years than to live the next 60 years like the country will end today! God bless Nigeria. The land of courage and determination.
To my pals who still believe.
