There can be no unity talk much of progress where faith is not existing. Things fall apart and the centre cannot hold. It is a crystal clear fact that we must swallow with pride that Nigerians have and are still losing faith. Why?
The answers are bad but relatively true:
1. When you have a soldier that has paid the ultimate price in defending the territorial sovereignty of the country in the North-East or South-South. The government for one reason or the other struggle to take care of his widow and orphan. People lose faith
2. If you have a Nigerian graduate that has graduated from the University or polytechnic with 2:1 or 1st class or distinction and has to plight the street of Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt or Calabar because of Federal Character, quota system, tribalism, nepotism or godfatherism. People lose faith
3. If you have a mother who has to endure the pain of watching her child die because she has to pay upfront for her medical bill, or the medical practitioners are on strike, or the hospital has no drugs or the drug are too expensive. People lose faith
4. When some group of people collectively steal our common patrimony and neglect their primary duties of constructing bridges, rails and roads that connects the North and South, infrastructures that will be of benefit to all and sundry and they continue to brainwash the poor unsuspecting masses. People lose faith.
When people lose faith in a state ( country), they take solace in the tribe because tribe is a natural enemy of the state and this continues it threatens our oneness.
These and many more can be averted by bringing progress to the people, only then can you restore their faith.
When the Nigerian passport( Green/White/Green) becomes a valid ticket to a better life, people rush to embrace the country.
The government must do more than preaching one Nigeria by bringing progress that is inclusive to all. So that in this time of heighten ethno-religious tension, the need for good governance and economics inclusion has never been important. Because the last 2 decades was driven basically by socio-economic conditions, which has opened many violent fronts all over the country, Militancy in the South-South, Insurgency in the North-East and if these continues, how many fronts can we fight at the same time? If we do not do the needful, then it only a matter of time before the Nigerian state begins to buckle under the increasing rate of this multiplying socio-economic contradiction. No amount of operation Crocodile smile, Python dance, or monkey smile can solve these violent fronts.
I hope by now we would have learnt our lessons from the rainbow nation South Africa, in which many predicted bloodbath and chaos after the fall of the apartheid. It was averted by the famous Nelson Mandela Madiba. Because he felt the need to integrate the black and white people of South Africa together for the common good of all.
The government is the center of that famous line in Achebe's "Things fall apart". The government must invest in our collective infrastructures. The government must give the youth one more chance to believe in this country again. So that those that have their own house and Cars are less likely to burn other people cars and houses.
There is no victory without sacrifice. The government must stop politicizing key nation issues.
(Adapted from speeches in the 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit)

Which unity?

Faith? Non existent

Progress? Lol