Opinion
Nigeria: One Country, Two Flags?
To most Nigerians, it is
known simply as the Green-White-Green flag. That is, going strictly by the colours of this national symbol introduced since Nigeria’s Independence in 1960. Ordinarily, nothing appears to have changed with this hallowed object ever since. But to the very canny, something has surely added. Somebody has discreetly implanted the nation’s Coat of Arms right at the centre of this sovereign insignia.
Could be the unforced error of an apprentice Corel Drawer. Or, better still, the fallout of late Dora Akunyili’s rebranding effort while serving as Information and National Orientation Minister a few years back. Sorry, the latter is unlikely because the Proudly Nigerian logo which is a product of that dispensation does not suggest any such makeover at the time.
In any case, there are already indications that Nigerians are increasingly falling in love with the ‘redesigned’ flag. What with the way it adorns most vehicle dashboards as a choice pin-up. Again, the new national flag now easily dominates its ‘precursor’ at venues of Nigeria’s international sports meets, including the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Who says a country’s national symbols cannot be touched up to reflect latter-day experiences or even enhance their physical attributes and underlying messages? After all, the Nigerian National Anthem took a rewrite not too long after its maiden rendition. And even the Coat of Arms whose original motto, Unity and Faith, was later expanded to include Peace and Progress. Yet, the citizens appear not to have batted an eyelid.
As far as national flags go, Nigeria’s official flapper is one rare example of a stand-alone symbol. Its simple white and lush green colours hardly conflict with any other. This is unlike the identical colours of some notable European national flags which hardly distinguish these nationalities save in the eyes of their respective citizens. In short, try identifying the French flag from a collection of the French, Russian and Dutch flags.
In the United States, for instance, each of the 50 states is known to have its own distinct flag, flower, bird, song and nickname, among other emblems; but even with all these, they still find a rallying point in their national symbols. Any attempt to alter the colours or the stripes and stars that constitute the American flag would normally require a laid down methodical procedure and adequate publicity.
Here in Nigeria, states have also made a success of designing coats of arms and coining fantastic sobriquets for themselves; the latter being more visible on vehicle number plates than on any serious state document. It is, however, disheartening to discover that only Lagos and perhaps one or two others, among the initial 12 states, still identify with their original logos. The rest of these first-comer states have since traded their ingenious symbols of authority for badges that are hardly unique, especially after being dismembered in the course of subsequent state creation exercises. Among the new ones, Bayelsa stands out as having crafted a fashionable coat of arms and also proudly showcasing it.
Over the years, abuse of the Nigerian flag had ranged from non-replacement of faded and torn flags to the use of varied shades of green, including lemon and khaki colours. The banks and other financial institutions are reported to be mostly guilty of these.
The latest of such abuses is this seemingly surreptitious wedlock of the flag and Coat of Arms. It is made the more worrisome as this questionable flag is seen standing right behind Mr. President in his widely distributed official portrait. The state governors, National Assembly leaders and ministers are also co-travellers in this, prompting one to wonder when the nation adopted this new flag.
In fact, the way things are, and judging from the speed of its circulation, it is not unlikely that Nigerians would soon be awakened by the rude discovery that their symbol of national identity in London or Moscow differs from the one fluttering at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Talk of one country, two flags!
The Nigerian flag and Coat of Arms each has its own story. Joining the two symbols in an unholy matrimony would only make their combined messages a little verbose, if not mainly repetitive.
Outlawing the hoisting or use of the new flag in whatever form will force the country back to the status quo; in which case the aforelisted political office holders would need to reappear before their photographers; but this time, in a politically more correct ambience.
If on the other hand there is a popular wish to officially adopt the new flag then it follows that the country’s lawmakers will need to formally amend the relevant ordinances to give it legal impetus and total acceptance. No doubt, this choice will be very costly as a lot of items bearing the old flag would have to be redesigned. It also means that a fresh process would be set in motion to design a new coat of arms for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ibelema Jumbo
Quote:”Communities have rights to peace, safety, and quality of life. Noise pollution, crowds, or other impacts from religious activities can affect these rights. Balancing these interests requires consideration and dialogue”.
“All work and no play”, its said, “makes Jack a dull boy.” Despite this age-long maxim that recognises the role of play in early childhood development, play appears to be eluding many Nigerian kids. The deprivation of play opportunities comes in different forms for the Nigerian child depending on family’s social setting or status, but the effect is much the same. For children in Nigerian poor families, life is becoming as much a hassle as it is for their struggling parents. Due to harsh economic conditions, many families resort to engaging their kids prematurely in trading activities especially in hawking, to help boost family revenues, when these kids should be enjoying leisure after school. Some of these children barely attend schools while being forced to spend much of their childhood hustling in the streets. For children from well-off families, time could be as crunchy as it is for their busy parents when, obsessed with setting agenda for the future of their kids, parents arrange stringent educational regiment too early for their kids.
These group of children are made to get-off the bed by 5.30am every weekday, get ready for private school buses that call at 6.00am, otherwise report by however means to school at 7.20am.The situation is worse for kids in the city of Lagos where the need to beat urban traffic rush-hours is very high. Most children are further subjected to extra hours of lessons after school at 2.00pm, only to be released with loads of homework. On many occasions children who leave home for school at 6.30am get back by 3.30pm. With hardly enough time to eat, do school assignments and take afternoon naps, these children hardly had time for plays before dinners. In Nigeria, kids of ages between 3 and 12 spend averages of 9 hours a day and 45 hours a week to and from schools, and additional hours doing home assignments and domestic jobs, whereas their peers in developed countries spend about half that duration and have more time for leisure.
Any remaining spare time left after school work or street hustle is further stolen, when kids who usually are fascinated by gadgets, are exposed to household electronics like phones, tablets and gaming consoles. Electronic games may create a sense of leisure, but the difference with human interactions is that kids doing games interface mostly with machines or with programme structured in ways that entrap a child’s pysch directionally, according to the game’s programming, in ways that may not encourage independent thinking. Moreso, attraction to such gadgets displaces kids’ attention from important television and radio programmes. The prevalent tight, academic schedules for some Nigerian kids, though intended for academic excellence, encroaches on childhood leisure time needed to achieve an all-round childhood development, and could make children to resent formal education altogether. Besides, academic excellence or economic pursuit, is not all there is to living a well-nurtured life.
Children’s leisure time, defined as time left over after sleeping, eating, personal hygiene and attending school or day-care, is very crucial to childhood development. Sociologists recommend that children should have at least 40 per ceny of the day as leisure. According to Berry Brazelton, a former pediatrician at Harvard Medical School, “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about him or herself.” Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, and in the process build self-confidence and self-control. Play is one of the important ways in which young children gain essential knowledge and skills. Leisure time enhances learning as fun enables children to learn at their own level and pace. Young children naturally explore and learn many skills by making cognitive connections from events that catch their attention.
Unstructured plays help children developed their cognitive, physical and communication skills that make them acquire social qualities necessary in navigating relationships in adult life. Plays enable children assess how others feel and learn perspectives as well as empathy through observing differences in facial expressions, body language and even tone of voice, which helps them copy how to express themselves to others, and therefore develop socially acceptable behavours that build relationships. In cooperative activities, children willingly take things in turn and may delegate roles. Children can also share the glory of winnings through competitive games, which is all great for working together in task sharing. Aside encouraging parents to ensure adequate leisure time for their kids at home, schools should make plays and exercises an integral part of the educational curriculum. The educational curriculum set by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) includes specific training durations and break periods, as well as sporting activities, as part of the school system.
Due to poor government funding, sports in public schools have declined, while most private schools lack sporting infrastructure or even play grounds. These make recreational activities and sports implementation almost impossible in schools. Also, the increasing rate of urbanisation in Nigerian communities is gradually eroding ancient playgrounds, while established urban centres have lost community playgrounds. With tightening apartment spaces now being the norm in most urban residential areas, many kids are forced to wriggle within burglary-proof enclosures. Nigerian governments and the relevant agencies should ensure that existing child labour protection laws, educational and urban development codes are implemented in the country, to enable proper nurturing of children as the future stakeholders of our society. Private schools, especially, should be supervised to ensure they follow the educational curriculum standards set by NERDC.
In a bid to impress parents and draw more patronage as better option than public schools, private schools, most of whom operate in cramped environments, have continued to set high regiments of training schedules beyond the capacity of most kids, and even encourage enrollment of pre-school age kids who can not sit still to listen for an extended periods of time. Schools, from creche to secondary levels, without playgrounds and recreational facilities should not be allowed to operate, and should be made to understand and implement appropriate curriculum and training durations. Many Nigerian kids, whether from rich or poor families, appear to have been set-up inadvertently, in the same leisure denial that affects their parents. All work and no play could lead to some messed-up kids who grow up not understanding social cues, and being unemotional and self-centered, manifest later as obsessive-compulsive adults.
By: Joseph Nwankwo
We thank God who is above all human contrivance and arrogance. Congratulations, Your Excellency Amaopusenibo Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara. Your victory takes us back to the Bible as a living document of a God that rules in the affairs of all His creation. In a manner of speaking, welcome back from your first war with Phillistines, Your Excellency! Yes, first example is David and Goliath! And like David, Your Excellency stands over Goliath in victory. But that is not enough. Our real enemy is that Your Excellency is Governor of a State with a wretched economy. Indigenes of Your State are today reduced to battalions of beggars waiting for who will hire their loyalty on the usual “pay-as-you-go” basis.
Your Excellency, it brings us to another Bible- based parallel. Conscientious Rivers indigenes above 50, should identify with and commit our all to this second parallel. It is to liberate the economy and people of Rivers people from 23 years enslavement and poverty, for us to regain our dignity and pride. When the economy of Egypt was drifting into a disaster zone, even Pharaoh did not know it. He also did not know what to do. But God sent a Joseph to build the economy into a fortress of good fortune that overcame the economic and social disaster Egypt did not know was ahead. Your Excellency for 23 years, Rivers State has been ruled without any logical, credible and consistent PLAN of how to overcome mass poverty from our dehydrated local economies.
Your Excellency, Rivers State cannot survive one month without Federal allocation! So called IGR only about 10 per cent of Federal allocation.It is also not based on what we produce but on tax from other people’s productivity that pass through our State. Pharaoh did not know what to do in the case of Egypt. May it please God to position another Joseph in Governor Siminalayi Joseph Fubara to heal Rivers State and build an economy that all Africa will come to access in order to chart a new course out of worsening economic hardship that is caused by near zero investment in productivity and endemic reckless looting. They are the twin chambers nursing a corporate cancer unfolding across Nigeria and Africa. The hard work begins today, Your Excellency.
We need an economic blueprint that will enrich every Rivers senatorial district from investment to grow productivity and to enrich every Rivers person from career-based productive labour, just as Pharaoh was enriched by Joseph’s economic Blueprint. Let Rivers State stop the trend of waiting the lives of young Rivers people recruited by Phillistines into cultism, thuggery and easy money, as a career. These Phillistines believe they have only lost one phase of many legal battles and battles by other means. But from comments in the public media, their eyes are fixed on 4-years of war and more! Your Excellency, we the people will not let you forget what you owe us. We have to make unbelievers see that your leadership is different and that we are uprooting the old order of an unproductive Feudal System. That system makes a few persons and their cronies to monopolise our collective wealth, while the majority are left in misery. Let’s put an end to enslavement by cabals and mass poverty in Rivers State. That is when the Phillistines will surrender.
By: Amaopusenibo Brown