This is not how to move things forward and make progress. It is unpatriotic to complain about the system and not do anything about it. It is unpatriotic to have a general apathy towards politics and governance. Real patriots belong to a political party. Real patriots are involved in local politics. Real patriots care about what is going on in their local government and Aso Rock. Real patriots criticize the country when the need arises but never bad mouth it in public.
Real patriots pay taxes. The third line of the pledge summarizes this well. If you do not serve your country, you are not patriotic. You have to do it with all the God given talent and resources at your disposal. Felicia Adebola Adedoyin in , to be self evident that you cannot be patriotic if you do not defend the integrity of your nation.
We would love to hear what you think about the content on Pulse. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The idea that groupthink must never be mistaken for patriotism goaded Stephen Nathanson, professor emeritus in philosophy at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, to write:.
It is particularly troublesome for people who care about the common good but are alienated by the all too frequent use of patriotism and patriotic symbols to stifle debate, tarnish the images of rival candidates or arouse popular support for aggressive military policies. The unfortunate thing is that as the Nigerian state becomes more polarized, it concomitantly generates more groupthinks that support and feed the various polarities that widen the social distance among Nigerians.
A key idea here is that the truth will emerge from the competition of ideas in free and transparent public discourse. A nation or nation-state often has different nationalities within its range. In countries where the basis of nationhood remains contested, nationalities often compete with the nation-state.
The decisive issue is the manner in which this pride in the ethnic homeland is portrayed and narrated. Quite often, which of these identities one privileges or prioritizes will depend on which one the person feels is most under threat.
To understand patriotism's uneasy place in Nigeria, you have to go back to when the Southern and Northern protectorates and Lagos Colony were brought together to form a single country. In the process about disparate groups - including the three major ones of Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba - were welded together in a "Tower of Babel" of sorts. To this day, this uneasy coalition is still struggling to stay upright.
In fact, the story of Nigeria for the past 50 years seems to be characterised by a great deal of mutual distrust and suspicion between the various groups. And this state of affairs means that most Nigerians, consciously or not, see things from their tribal or factional perspective rather than from a common national point of view. It appears that what many eminent Nigerians, including the celebrated writer Chinua Achebe, have referred to as the country's "failure of leadership" has meant a weakening of the national commonwealth and subsequently a lack of patriotism among its citizens.
At the centre of this is the growing corruption of Nigeria's elite which has given rise to anger and disillusionment throughout the country. The fragility in the Nigerian project - or a lack of patriotism, call it what you will - is even visible online. Raise any issue that mentions Nigeria in an internet forum and you are likely to see many comments which betray the ethnic, sectional or religious bias of the writer.
In reference to the challenges that we face today, some still refer to what they call "the mistake of ". On a more serious scale, such perceptions have also fed into the muted separatist tendencies of organisations such as the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra Massob. This group came to prominence during Nigeria's civil war 40 years ago and is still hankering after an independent Biafra state - home largely to the Igbo people.
Although today Massob seems to be a fringe group, the sentiments it champions continue to resonate among a surprising number of Igbos. Many feel that they are still marginalised because, in the years since the end of the civil war in , they are yet to hold the presidency.
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