Preserving Our Blessings
My fellow Yorubas, we cannot afford to throw all the blessings we have in Nigeria away just because we are angry at our neighbours.
Lagos Real Estate guru, Olu Okeowo has recently said that if the succession plan falls through, the South West will lose out the most as the only thing they have produced over the years are mostly area boys and fake pastors.
In his words;
”I have noticed, electricity is no longer in abundant supply because Shiroro has been surrounded. Gerreru has been surrounded. Electricity is being generated in the North
Those who are saying divide don’t know what they are saying. Even if we divide today, the gas that they would use to run any turbine comes from another area.
Unfortunately, my people here from the Southwest will be the ones to lose out most because what we have produced mostly are area boys and fake pastors. We need to pray for the unity of Nigeria.”
A popular Yoruba adage says that we cannot throw away a baby with the bath water. By choosing secession, that is exactly what we are choosing to do. Choosing secession over collaboration and partnership is a big mistake.
We should know that all countries have gone through the challenges that we are going through right now. Some of them have gone through worse challenges. Countries like Germany, America, England, France have been through worse situations. Most of them have gone through worse crises but they survived it because they choose to stay together and solve all their problems.
The World Bank predicts that Nigeria will be one of the leading countries by the year 2050, as a matter of fact we should be the third largest country in the world, overtaking USA, Brazil and Japan. If we stick together, we will still become great like China. India now is coming out of her problems. China is finally achieving her potentials. Why should we allow despair blur our eyes and makes us throw all our greatness out of the window?
It is our unity and diversity that is our greatest strength. Most small nations never become great. As rich as Switzerland is, it will never become a world Superpower. As rich as Sweden and all the Scandinavian countries, are they will never become super powers. Only big countries like Nigeria can be. Why? Because of our unity, diversity, size and population.
No matter how rich Ghana, Rwanda, Belgium and other small nations become, they will never be greater than Germany, France, England, America, Russia, China. It is only countries that have a population of 100 million and above that can become Superpowers. In other for countries to become great, they often go in search of newer lands and population. If we are already having 200 million people as our population strength, then it means that we have twice the opportunity to become a world superpower. We can become the next China. Our current challenges may not allow a lot of people to see this potential, but that many people are not seeing it does not mean that it is not there.
However, if we break up our population advantages and land mass into small pieces, then we will never become a great nation individually. It does not matter how much wealth the Yorubas, Hausas or Igbos acquire on their own, they will never be able to build a great country or world Superpower. At best, we will only become like Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands etc. All those countries are nothing compared to bigger, super power countries. They can easily be sacked or run over. In their wisdom, the smaller countries in Europe have come together to form the European Union. They understand that they are limited individually, hence they came together to form the European Union.
Today, Nigeria is the 7th most populous country in the world and could soon become the third most populous in a number of years. What that means is that Nigeria would soon overtake countries like, the USA, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
At times we underestimate the power of population. Friends, despise the size of a nation to your own detriment. The size of a nation plays a vital role in their positioning in the world. Again, no small nation can ever become a super power. This is not an assumption, this is a fact.
Have you ever wondered why countries like Austria, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium or other countries that are rich countries per capita are not super power nations? It is because it is not the amount of money each citizen earns that determines the status and the might of a nation. No matter how prosperous a small nation is, it is already limited if it has a small population. There is no way a small population could compete in production capacity with large countries with bigger populations.
This explains the reason why despite the fact that Nigeria is a third world country, our economy is bigger than the economies of some so called first world countries like Belgium, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, etc. Our economy is fast heading to be one of the top 20 in the world despite all our troubles and challenges.
Can you just begin to imagine what might happen when things begin to work for Nigeria? Our economy could easily double or triple if only the electricity supply would be fixed. If we deal with the questions of infrastructure, we could be talking of Nigeria as being in the top 10 economies of the world. This is all thanks to the fact that we have a big population. The credit goes to all the tribes that make up Nigeria as one nation.
Another reason why countries with a large population should never be disregarded in this world is because these countries can easily become military super powers. That is why European countries like Sweden, Belgium cannot be military super powers while poorer countries per capita like India, Pakistan possess nuclear weapons. It is also for the same reason that while India was able to launch missions to outer space and the moon, it is still poorer per capita than most European countries.
Yesterday, I got a message from Zambia in east Africa, the gist of the letter is that this person said he and others all over Africa had hoped Nigeria as a big brother will lead Africa into a United Nations of Africa. But instead he is really disappointed that Yoruba and Igbo are rather thinking of secession. I assured him that it shall be well, Nigeria shall not loose her birthright in Jesus name. You see the whole of Africa is looking up to Nigeria for leadership, actually the whole of the black race is. If we choose to go our separate ways, then we will have to look up to other countries to begin to lead us. From being the first, we will now become least even in Africa. We will have to become followers from our previous position as leaders. Then it won’t be Fulani or Hausa of Nigerian leading us, but we will now be led by other Hausa/Fulani from Chad, Niger, Benin Republic, Ghana and other smaller nations that our young independent nations will have to look forward to for leadership.
My fellow Yorubas the only reason why we could stand and be counted in the league of nations is to be a part of a greater union, which we already have. Nigeria is the only Black Country with a promise and potential to be a great super power. To break down Nigeria is to break down the hope of the black race. We have no option than to help the most populous black nation on earth succeed. It is our glory, and the glory of all the black race. If we break away and simply become another one of the black African countries, there will be nothing special about us. We will simply be just another poor African country without honour or fame among the nations of the earth. It’ll be much easier to bypass, ignore and despise us. No matter what emotions and sentiments we have today, better to cool down, do all the maths before taking any rash decision. All empirical evidences and statistics are on the side of being in unity with a larger body, herein lies our future, our pride, and our glory.
For The Love Of God, Church And Nation,
Dr. Sunday Adelaja.
