Is Nigeria Worth Dying For?

By Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo

This is one question that has bothered many Nigerians. As much as many of us would readily declare their love for Nigeria and haughtily proclaim that the “unity” of Nigeria is not negotiable, I have never stopped asking myself if any of these apostles of Nigerian patriotism or unity would be willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of this country. This question has become very germane in our present situation where the Nigerian state has offered scorpion in place of fish and stone for bread. I think that time has come when we need to tell ourselves the home truth. In trying to answer this question, I would like to draw from an age-long anecdote, which I heard from my father.

*Dr. Arthur Nwankwo 

Once, in a certain community, there was a king who was reputed to be much loved by his people. He owned large parcels of arable land; uncountable cash crops and livestock. He offered his resources in the service of his people for a fee. A man who cultivates on his would share his harvest into two and give the king half. If the harvest is poor, the king still took his share. But he was known for his lavish parties where the benighted villagers usually come to gorge themselves.

Suddenly, the king took ill and the chief priest, after consulting the gods, declared to the villagers gathered in front of the king’s palace that the gods required one of them to sacrifice himself so that the king can recover. From the balcony of the King’s Court, the Chief priest said he would release the feather of a fowl and on whose head the feather rested that person would be used for the sacrifice. The feather was released but interestingly all the villagers kept their faces up; blowing air upwards such that the feather remained in the air. It never rested on any person’s head. Despite their proclaimed love for their king, none of them was willing to die for the king.

This is vintage Nigeria. Despite our pretensions about the unity of a Nigerian state, despite our pontification about our love for Nigeria, nobody in this country is willing to die for Nigeria. Not too long ago, I heard a former President of this country say on national television that any Nigerian who was not prepared to die for the country did not deserve to be a Nigerian citizen. According to this former president, the earlier such a person walked out of Nigeria, the better for the country. This former president was apparently referring to a former governor who had said emphatically that Nigeria is not worth dying for. I also recall a former minister for power, who is late now, who said that he was sure that Nigeria is worth living for but he was not so sure that it is worth dying for. I have heard some say that they would love to die for Nigeria; but not Nigeria in its present condition. A market woman once asked me what I consider a rhetorical question. “Oga”, she said, ‘we are suffering too much in this country, so how do you expect me to die for Nigeria? She queried. 

The truth is that in Nigeria, people think of themselves and their primordial loyalties first before thinking about Nigeria. But I recall that late US President J.F. Kennedy once urged Americans not to ask what their country could do for them but what they could do for their country. In Nigeria, this type of clarion call is strange basically because Nigerians seem to be united in saying that the country must first inspire their patriotism before asking them for sacrifices.
But what is patriotism? The standard dictionary definition of patriotism says it is “love of one's country.” Stephen Nathanson, in his philosophical study of patriotism argues that the term involves special affection for one's own country, a sense of personal identification with the country; special concern for the well-being of the country and willingness to sacrifice to promote the country's good. Chinua Achebe defines it as “insisting on the best for your people; and demanding the best from your people”.