A bunch of broomsticks is never easily broken by the effect of the mustered strength of a fierce man, but shattered is a broomstick with an effortless attempt to break it without its branch. This statement summarizes the old story told by our fore-fathers about unity. One thing that binds us together and makes us undefeatable is UNITY.
The first complete sentence a child makes is that which contains the pronoun I. The child graduates from saying “water” to “I want water” and thus a complete statement is made. At that moment, the child begins to monopolize everything within his reach and wants to be in possession of everything he could think of. The psychological make-up of Man is such influenced by both his conscious and sub-conscious states, but mainly affected by the latter.
The frequent usage of the word ‘I’ builds up a personality tending towards greed and selfishness. The human mind is a complex facility affected by our affirmations, thoughts and beliefs – in fact, it is shaped by them. Nothing else explains the high rate of corruption and bad governance among us other than greed and selfishness. It is always about me; myself or I. Everyone thinks about himself/herself alone and never care about the thoughts of their fellow citizen. We want our problems solved, not minding if the solutions to our problems hurt our neighbors or not.
This attitude in question is rampant among the African society and much need not be said about how it has greatly contributed to the undermining of her strength and arrested development. A continent has many countries; a country has many cities; a city has many homes and every home has a person in it. This means we make up a nation and decide its state at any given time, whether positive or negative. Any great country today has great people in it and that is why they are great. A nation without love and unity is a nation divided in grief and despair.
We have come to a point where we ought to sit down and think about how we can make a change. All the glory we possess are past glories and we are neither making progress nor stagnant. We keep fighting over political issues and we never tend to see the light in unity. This is more of a clarion call than a notification. It’s an awakening call to every African, especially Nigerians to wake up to reality and fight for our position in the emerging new world.
It is time to let the light shine in on us all equally and arise to the call of true freedom. It is time to make the difference. It is time to build a community for all not just for one; a nation where love and peace abound. It is time to tear the rags of greed and put on the garment of love and understanding. It is time we stop thinking “I want this or that”. It is time to start thinking about what we want as a nation in unity.
