On our nation...
A New Perspective as we get ready to mark another Independence.

Have you ever recited something to the point where you could do it in your sleep? Well I have. For instance the prayer to bless my food; I got so used to it, I didn’t bother so much about what it meant any more, I just said it as a routine that I grew up with, and as long as I said it, I was ready to eat. However not attaching importance to it turned it from a prayer to a mere recitation causing it to lose its meaning to me. Sometimes we get to do things mindlessly, meaning our minds are absent. We just do it either because we are told to or because we don’t have a choice, hence we do it hurriedly, sometimes clumsily just as long as it is done.

Well I can say that about the Nigerian national anthem, it’s the second verse, to be precise.  While some have forgotten that it exists, others remember it partially and the few, who remember it vividly, don’t even have a clue what it’s about. Over the years, I’ve come to wish this was the first stanza because the words just go way beyond the surface to a place that only divinity can take one. It’s a prayer, a very sincere prayer from the heart that I believe if we had understood its essence all these years, and prayed it in sincerity rather than in mindless recitation, would have taken us way further than where we are now. Join me as I take an insightful journey through the second stanza of our prestigious Nigerian National Anthem.

Oh God of creation

Direct our noble cause

Guide thou our leaders right

Help our youth the truth to know

In love and honesty to grow

And live in just and truth

Great lofty heights attained

To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign

This is what I believe it says…

OH GOD OF CREATION…ever wondered about the phrase “in God we trust”? May not be ours originally but the truth remains that every man on the surface of the earth has a sub conscious knowing that God exists and relates either directly or indirectly.

We Nigerians have chosen to be direct in our relation. As a nation under God, we deliberately call on Him to…

DIRECT OUR NOBLE CAUSE…every individual has aspirations, we all have dreams of what our country should be, and though not everyone has the same dream (some being negative, others positive), there is one that is true and pure; our noble cause – “to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”. I pray to the God of creation that this cause finds expression and fulfillment in my day.

GUIDE OUR LEADERS RIGHT…as the body cannot exist without a head, so a nation cannot exist without a leadership. However, if the head goes wrong, the whole body has no choice than to follow. Hence we pray that our leaders be guided by the God of creation so that we can go in the right path to achieve our noble cause.

HELP OUR YOUTHS THE TRUTH TO KNOW…the pure and undiluted truth, truth not bended, not watered down or edited but the truth about life. Isn’t it obvious that there is only one truth? Indeed, chosen to to bring light to every dark and grey area so that we can see clearly the way to achieving our noble cause. But what becomes of a man who throws his lamp aside in the dark? He gropes for so long, probably never find his way. We are surrounded by so many lies, lies that we have built by ourselves and now they are so many, they have formed a prison wall around us. Now we sit inside the walls of our prison wondering how to get out…remember that the only remedy to lies is the truth! So we pray to the God of creation to help our youths know the truth; because the truth brings light and the light gives insight to the vision of the young man who is ready to run but for the lack of focus and direction which only the truth can give. We have groped enough; it’s time to switch on the light of truth.

 ...to be continued...

Mark 11:24