Aristotle once said that “duke est decorum et proi patria mori”, which means dying for one’s country is both fitting and sweet. It is obvious that Aristotle came from a different social setup compared to ours and a distant temporal era. Here in Nigeria such a statement will be greeted with bouts of laughter and scornful retorts. In fact, most Nigerians will agree to the wiping out of the whole country rather than give their live for a worthy cause. This does not mean that we are encouraging martyrdom, but the duties and obligations, even concessions that we need to make to move our department, faculty, school and country to greater heights. It is in this respect that we have failed our great country, our forefathers and ourselves.
This is not how we started. During the weaning years of this country, we had a fair share of heroes and patriots who gave everything, even their lives, to ensure the survival of this country. It is needless to dwell on the exploits of the Ziks, the Awos, and the Aminu Kanos who spared nothing in their quest for a better society. All these are history that we read in books because of the dearth of living examples.
Some cases can easily be pointed out. One of these is the failure of the golden generation (‘the wasted breeds’ according to Wole Soyinka) to give back to this
country what was given to them. Their generation had the best that was obtainable; they went to schools where standards were still up held, got scholarships from institutions all over the world and got the best employments. Yet, it is still these set of people that rule and ruin us. They are the ones who send their children abroad instead of improving the education standards. They prefer building mansions all around the world to proving good housing for all. They relish stashing away national wealth while more than seventy percent of the population wallows in poverty.
The blame also goes to the populace. How can we get miracles from leaders, to whom we have sold our conscience for a mere pot of porridge, or rather, for a wad of naira notes? We all dream of the day when Nigeria will rub shoulders with countries like the U.S, Germany or Great Britain, but we do not want to hear or talk about the sacrifices these people have made or how much tax the average American pays. We not only evade tax payment, we are willing to bribe the officials of the Electricity Distribution Company of Nigeria only to turn around and decry the poor state of electricity supply.
Not until we change our attitude and behaviour towards national issues will we be able to overcome the plethora of maladies that plague this country. However, we strongly believe that we all know what is right, but we just would not do it. If only we could do the right thing, regardless of what it will cost us! That is what makes one a patriot, not necessarily martyrdom.
