For years, I have been hopelessly nursing a nagging problem whose solution seems benign. This problem is so acute that the remedy seems far-fetched. I have sought solutions from Nigerians without success. I even went to the extreme of dialing Psychic 900. Again, I came out empty handed. My nagging problem is that I am unable to unequivocally and without thinking, identify any particular ceremony or event celebrated by Nigerians that is uniquely Nigerian. Yes, you heard me – Nigerian. This lack of national identity forms part of the nucleus of today’s paralysis that has kept the country apart. This problem is peculiar to most developing nations, or what I will call nation states. Since I am more familiar with Nigeria, this piece will focus on Nigeria, although its solution can be applied to other nations with similar background.

In developing my thesis, I conducted an unscientific study in which I attempted to discover how Nigerians would respond when asked to identify their nationality. The outcome was amazing and it collated with my already held perception: Nigerians tend to identify first with their ethnic affinity and then with Nigeria. When a similar question was posed to non-Nigerians on how they perceived Nigerians, the outcome was similar to the response given by Nigerians. This shows without second-guessing that Nigeria is in a terrible ethnic mess, but how deeply entrenched is subject to debate.

In 1996, I had an argument with a Political Science Professor at Howard University in Washington DC regarding an article which I published in 1995 about this very issue. The Professor wanted to know why I did not count the Nigerian Independence as an event uniquely Nigerian. My answer was succinct as I argued that the colonial masters as a day that was convenient for them after checking the calendar invented the idea of October 1, 1960. It was dictated to the Nigerian nationalist like the rest of the events that the country celebrates today.

Lets start with the name "Nigeria." It was a name given to the new nation formed by the amalgamation of diverse ethnic groups with no cultural, social, or linguistic affinity, by the girlfriend of lord Lugard, the first Nigerian imperialist administrator. This forced marriage of convenience to the British colonialist has become the paralysis which modern-day Nigeria cannot divorce itself from. Unfortunately, Nigeria unlike normal African name that reflects the sentiment of its origin, or those who witnessed its origination, does not have meaning. This article is not suggesting in any form that Nigeria as a name be obliterated from the face of the earth, although once in the nation’s short history, a debate raged on the subject which saturated both the Nigerian press and the defunct Nigerian national assembly of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

I can vividly recall two leading proposals, one by a Nigerian lawmaker and the other by the press. The former proposed that Nigeria be changed to "the United States of Nigeria," modeled after the United State of America. However cynical and laughable this idea might be, the rational behind the proposal was that Nigeria is the giant of Africa, just as the United States of America is the giant of North America (and the world at large). This cynical argument was based on the assumption that bigness, although justifiable to the USA position, should translate to Nigeria. Nigeria is an oil producing country that welded enormous political power in African and international affairs in the late 1970s and 1980s. The assumption believes that the Nigerian position should automatically translate to super-stardom. A pipe dream by some scholars in the early 1980s such as Professor Ali Mazuri, the author of the book "The African Condition" and narrator of a Public Television series on Africa called the "Africans", envisioned Nigeria turning her enormous oil wealth and vast population into a balancing powerhouse between the East and the West.

So far, Nigeria has not been able to use this power justifiably in order to claim that mantle of fame. Instead, the world has witnessed the downward descent of the nation from super stardom to a nation whose GNP almost equals that of fourth world nations such as Tanzania and Haiti. Those who once saw and dreamt of a big picture of Nigeria has recoiled their pseudopodia and are now looking towards South Africa to provide the leadership which Nigeria could failed to do.

The other monstrous idea proposed by a member of the Nigerian news media, was that Nigerian name be changed to "Rushia." The idea behind this orientation was that Nigerians are always in a rush to do everything. That’s a plausible argument given that this is the major sticking issue of both past and present day Nigeria. For example, the champions of the new federal capital of Nigeria conspired and spent billions of naira in the development and construction of the city. To this day, the real cost of developing Abuja has not been rendered to the Nigerian people.

Furthermore, another element of rushing occurred as soon as the last Nigerian military dictatorship relinquished governmental control to an elected civilian government. Once again, Nigerians could not contain themselves and dashed into a mad rush to secure the dividends of democracy despite the shortness of the new civilian government coronation. They are in a rush to have the economy transformed overnight from dormancy to buoyancy. The leader of the Nigerian Labor Union was in a rush to see the new civilian government increase the minimum wages prior to stabilizing, modernizing and increasing the private economic base. The new elected politicians were in a rush to resume their old habit of robbing the country blind and that could be seen from the mountain of financial scandals that rocked the current civilian government that assumed office on October 29, 1999. The ethnicists could not wait to resume their old habit of divide and conquer in which one group is played against the other for selfish political gains. The religious bigots like the Governor of Zamfara State could not wait to stair up religious divide knowing wholly that religious flare-ups would Lebanonize Nigeria, thus, granting him chiefdom where he would be the undisputed king of the Zamfara Fulani clan.

The list could go on and on. What the two proposals showed was a lack of seriousness, vision and conscious effort by the Nigeria leadership when it comes to the establishment of a national identify. The focus on changing the name has nothing to do with attitude. One can change a name and still maintain the same old habit. In 1983, Buhari coup dismissed the Shagari’s corrupt and inept government and proclaimed that his goal was what he called "war on discipline." There is no question in our mind that Nigeria is one of the most corrupt and undisciplined nations on earth. But by whipping people on the street like they do in the medieval ages did not solve the problem. A study in psychology shows that people would behave when an oppressor is around and as soon as the oppressor departs, they would resort to an old habit – as it goes, wash a pig, a pig would always be a pig.

Getting back to the heart of this piece, every nation in the universe ought to have a unifying factor, although in this age of globalization one may argue that multinational corporations such as Shell Petroleum, McDonalds fast food, Pepsi cola, located across countries and continents negate that need. Whichever side you might choose, it is the writer’s opinion that nations ought to build a national identity first and then whatever that comes afterwards would be dealt with accordingly. Countries should have unifying event that glues their citizens together. Take USA as an example, the USA celebrates Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Columbus Day, Presidential / George Washington Day and Thanksgiving. These events are uniquely USA alone. The dates when these events were celebrated were not shared with another country, unlike Christmas, Easter, and New Year, which are universally celebrated.

What should Nigeria do in order to move from this chronically fragmented and dysfunctional nation to a nation? What is unique to Nigeria such that when adopted, and perhaps celebrated would foster a sense of belonging, the Nigerialism? So far, none. The last attempt by the Obasanjo government to create a holiday known as Democracy Day was badly adopted and pursued. It was botched because he usurped the prerogative of the national assembly, by issuing executive order, a system, which he was apt to, when he was a military head of state. Nigeria can still celebrate Democracy Day next year, and by submitting the proposal to the National Assembly, which is entrenched with the power of law making, the bill undergo the normal rule making process – debate, amended and passed, and finally presented to the President to sign it into law.

Currently, the world is in a festive mood. The Muslims were celebrating Ramada, the Jews are celebrating Hanukkah, the Christians are celebrating Christmas, and in the USA, the African community would be celebrating Kwanza. Nigeria would join the world community in celebrating these festivities that were part of colonial legacy. Apart from all the above mentioned, the country also celebrates Id-Elfitir, Id-El-Kibir, Muhlud, Independence, May/Bank holiday, Unknown Soldier day. All of which were imposed on Nigeria by different forces at different times.

So why not celebrate New Yam festival or cultural day, a memorial day that would recognize those that perished during the brutal Nigerian civil war that lasted for thirty months, rather than unknown soldiers which was imposed on Nigeria by the Europeans? There are tens of festivities that are celebrated by the diverse ethnic groups in Nigeria that could be brought together and celebrated the same day. Nigerians should enjoy and rejoice the diversity of the ethnic groups that make up the beauty of the nation than picking on each other and creating unnecessary tensions and animosity.

What Nigerians have been doing since last century was to defer their responsibilities to the next generation and that is not fair to the next generation. If Zik, Awolowo, Saduana of Sokoto, Macurley deferred fighting for Nigerian independence so that this generation would have a place called "home." Here are some of the comments from this generation on the issue: " Nigeria cannot change in my life time," "I will take up citizenship of another country and save enough money so that when I retire, I will go home and enjoy myself," " I will join the treasury looters, if they are doing it, why shouldn’t I." This is just a tip of the comments coming out of Nigerians’ mouth and that is sad.

This article started off by commenting on a nagging problem, which I have, endured over the years. I have not taken the position that Nigeria obliterates any festivity or name that was imposed on her by the imperialists. However, I have argued that we should keep those things that we inherited and at the same time attempt to find a unifying factor, something that is uniquely Nigeria. There are thousands of Nigerians who could invent or structure something uniquely Nigerian, and if that could not be done, why not have a contest with a price - not necessarily monetary, publicize it and that would be sufficient to entice the reluctant to participate. Once attained, this nagging problem and that of the nation would begin to subside.

Finally, as we celebrate divergent festivities this month, we hope that Nigerians would pray for a better nation with an ideal identity and tolerance of diverse points of view. Nigerians should celebrate and enjoy their diversity as a strength and not weakness. They need to listen and learn from the uniqueness of their cultural peacock, language and religion. Complements of the season and a better year ahead.

The writer sent this in from the USA