All Ya Doubters.....Oby Ezekwesili Has Word For You.."Nigeria is not a NATION”

Former Minister of Education, and convener Bring Back Our Girls Campaign, Obiageli Ezekwesili, took to Twitter this morning to deal on a few matters of national interest...The former World Bank Vice President complained about the fact that Nigeria has never been  a ‘NATION...

Read her statements after the cut...

When some wrongly attack @BBOG_Nigeria 4 advocating for OUR #ChibokGirls they forget that the girls became a SYMBOL 4 all other CAPTIVES...A country must place VALUE on her Citizens. Nigeria has NEVER. Not in the 60's, 70's, 80s, 90s, 2000s to date. Reason Nigeria hobbles, Gulf between Nigeria-State & her Citizens explains 60's Civil War, 70s-date "Minority" issues of North Central Nigeria, 80s Niger Delta tragedy, Gulf between Nigeria-State and her Citizens explain the 90s June 12 & South West disaffection, the 2000s Odi&Zaki Biam &North East tragedies.

There are two concepts that are often misunderstood-- NATION BUILDING & STATE BUILDING. Two different things a country must do to BECOME...A Country first builds itself into a Nation &then as a Nation builds itself into a CAPABLE STATE. As a Nation-State a country WORKS FOR ALL! Amalgamated into one Country in 1914. Independence in 1960. We have not transited beyond Country. WE ARE NOT A NATION. That, is the PROBLEM.

Our Founding Nationalists, simply equated our becoming a country with attaining nationhood. Not so. Has never been so in LANDS of DIVERSITY...WE unified to send the British home but never UNIFIED afterward to DEFINE OUR SHARED IDENTITY..SHARED VISION..SHARED VALUES. So WE HOBBLE ON, The debilitating failure to FORGE CONSENSUS on OUR: 

* Shared Identity 
* Shared Vision 
*Shared Values is CLASSIC FAILURE OF NIGERIA's ELITE. 

* Shared Identity 
* Shared Vision 
*Shared Values are regarded "Nation Formations". 
WE do not have them as OUR FOUNDATION & so WE HOBBLE ON, Following Nation Building is State Building i.e. the building of social, human&physical infrastructure on the base of critical institutions...State Building is what then progresses a unified people into citizens of an economically, socially and politically viable Nation-State.

To end this cycle of HOBBLING ON-- if there is ONE THING President Buhari should invest time on, it is to RALLY the Country into NATION BUILDING...Nation Building is a PAINFUL PROCESS. To manage the strengths, mistrusts, distrusts, threats, vulnerabilities of disparate people is TOUGH...As we walk into our 55th yr of Independence, Nation Building efforts have to be on our minds. It will then make State Building a "walk over..

WE love to point to Singapore! Well, Lee Kwan Yew knew to BUILD a NATION out of his multi-ethnic Land first & then BUILD A CAPABLE STATE.Singapore's ethnic divisions were as fractiously strong as ours. Lee knew they could never make progress without RESOLVING them. Nation.

Citizens are coming of age gradually by finding their Voice on Governance. It may become the Game Changer in catalyzing the painful process...A Structural Problem requires a Structural Solution. Never ever pretend that a faulty foundation does not exist. Fix what you must, ALWAYS.

My final tweet on Nation Building today is to urge @MBuhari @HQNigerianArmy @DefenceInfoNG @PoliceNG to PAY ATTENTION to the NORTH CENTRAL.