I am looking forward to President Tinubu delivering an Easter message in which he tells Nigerians to abandon once and for all any dismemberment talk and focus on nation building

Ayo Akinfe

[1] When I look at the way Nigerians throw in the towel simply because their nation is going through the birthpains of nationhood, it makes me shudder. Are we really that fickle and shallow that we have zero staying power?

[2] Even if you are as fickle as the proverbial northern wind that changes direction every hour, you should have a little resilience in the face of adversity. Past and current leaders being nepotistic, Fulani herdsmen going on the rampage, Boko Haram’s insurgency, a rise in kidnapping, limited productivity, widespread corruption, etc are all part of the compulsory nation-building process, so please learn to deal with it

[3] My people expect a paradise to be handed to them on a platter of gold. Have they not heard the saying: “The darker the night, the brighter the dawn.” Every industrialised nation on earth went through what Nigeria is passing through today but they came out of it triumphant because of their resilience and staying power. There is no short cut to success!

[4] Do you know that in 1839 the British captured Hong Kong from China? Yes, this almighty China that we all revere today was once a playground of the rich, was carved up by the powers-that-be with her resources plundered willy nilly by colonial conquerors

[5] Hong Kong was under British rule from 1841 and was briefly occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 before surrendering the territory back to British forces, resuming British rule from 1945 to 1997. Trust me, the Chinese have been to hell and back. We have not endured one tenth of their suffering in Nigeria

[6] Talking of Japanese influence in China, the story is a very gory tale. During World War Two, the Japanese killed about 25m Chinese, many of them used like lab rats in biological experiments. It is to China’s credit that they have let bygones be bygones. Were they a vengeful people, China would probably have nuked Japan by now, occupied its cities and turned the nation into a penal colony

[7] If China can get over her woes and go on to become the economic super power she is today, why are Nigerians going on as if their problems are insurmountable and unprecedented? Today, China is the world’s second largest economy with a GDP of $12.24trn and the country is set to become the next big thing in humanity

[8] In 1945, China was a rural agrarian backwater but following the 1949 revolution everything changed. She went on an accelerated production drive. This was not without hiccups though. For instance Mao Tsetung’s Great Leap Forward led to the death of between 16.5m and 40m people between 1958 and 1961 in what is considered the greatest famine in history. However, the Chinese preserved and look at where they are today

[9] Just imagine where China would be if they were fickle and decided to dismember as the British colonies in the Caribbean did. After World War Two, the British created an Anglophone empire in the Caribbean but alas, trust the fickle negro. Jamaica pulled out and it collapsed. Today, the Caribbean is littered with small, weak, irrelevant and powerless states that have zero influence in world affairs

[10] It is big empires and nations that determine the fate of humanity, accelerate development and who will take the Homo Sapien over the next hurdle. Our future as a species lies in the hands of large developing nations like China, India, Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Egypt, etc. There will be a special place in hell for all those calling for the dismemberment of the only negro nation on the list.