Nigerian Dream – Nigerian Patriot

29. The Greatest Nigerian Football Moments: A Patriot’s Daydream.

Daydreaming is a function of Greatness
© 2019 Nigerian Patriot

History has proven time and time again that football has an unrivaled unifying effect on the Nigerian nation. Our national passion for football is nearly infinite. Our great country is one of several countries in the world counted in the archives of the game for leaving some of the pleasantly unforgettable moments in the memories of Football history.

Agreeably, such moments may be few and far between, but for the period the electrifying euphoria of victorious achievement lasts, any observer can attest to the pleasure of genuine happiness amongst citizens who have absolutely forgotten their ‘strong’ differences and ‘fierce’ contentions. At such moments, every single citizen is proudly Nigerian. The joy within the Nigerian nation at such moments is completely unimaginable to a person who has never witnessed it. It is a deep expression of the delightful side of a united Nigerian spirit.

For the sake of brevity, this summary post will highlight two such outstanding moments and the undying Lessons of great value.

Dammam Miracle: 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship Saudi Arabia

The quarter final game between the Nigerian and Russian under-20 football teams was an exciting thriller. Nigeria made one of the greatest comebacks in Football history.

In summary, the Russian team was 4 goals up with 30 minutes left in the game. Nigeria had not registered a single goal. It seemed a hopeless situation. Every Nigerian watching the game had given up in abject dejection. With 29 minutes left on the clock, the goals started coming from a Nigerian side that ought to have been intimidated into submission. Nigeria scored a second goal with 15 minutes left of playtime, and a third in the 83^rd minute. An equalizer shortly followed in the 84^th minute of the game. It was an unbelievable moment. The entire Nigerian nation and indeed the world were in rapt awe at the breathtaking performance by full time. Nigeria went ahead to win the game on penalties.

The miraculous comeback from abject defeat to victory created a show-stopping moment back home in Nigeria. A great lesson on the Nigerian strengths of united Hope, faithful Determination and a strong collective Action was filed in the archives of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (aka FIFA) for Nigerians to always remember.

Atlanta Olympics 1996: Semi Finals Soccer (Brazil vs Nigeria)

This was another football performance of stellar distinction for our great country. The Nigerian team was rightly classed the underdog in a game against one of the best teams of the tournament. With 30 minutes to the end of the game, the scoreboard was 3-1 in favor of Brazil. A goal from the Brazilian side had been disallowed, it would have been 4 goals against Nigeria. The game was a dusted wrap for the intimidating Brazilian team studded with young stars.

Yet from an overwhelming point of disadvantage, the Nigerian team started the chase in the 78^th minute of the game. With 12 minutes left on the clock, the score line was 3-2 in favor of Brazil. The equalizing goal came at the 90^th minute of the game. Nigeria would seal the game and steal the show with a golden goal in extra time. It was an exhilarating surprise victory and the Nigerian nation was ecstatic in jubilation.

The International Olympic Committee (aka IOC) filed another important yet entertaining lesson in the archives of Olympic history on the Nigerian strengths of united Hope, faithful Determination and collective Action for Nigerians to always remember.

Ironically, the Nigerian Team had been tagged the ‘Dream Team’ by Nigerians prior to the tournament. A dream that had just come true, indeed.

Underlying Lessons

For most of us, the highlighted achievement in the paragraphs above could have been summed up by an average mind as one of the victorious achievements of Nigerian football. The deeper underlying lessons of the virtues of success which made victory possible at such challenging moments of extreme pressure are never in view or ever remembered. These lessons would have provided the inspirational conviction required to make the entire Nigerian nation realize that nothing is impossible for our country if we could collectively display the right attitude of Hope, Determination and Action on any issue.

These lessons would have also made us to realize that we are a nation of potential Champions, and most importantly, it would have opened our eyes to realize that the esteemed status of Champions is buried beneath the principles of Success and not Wishful Thinking.

It is such similar remarkable motivational feats and the kinetic effect of the memories thereafter that fired up the morale of the Citizens of progressive Countries in the world to continue to aspire for Greatness. Out of this greatness the Citizens are able to devote more Love and Respect for their Country and each other. This is one of the reasons behind special days which may be declared national public holidays in honor of such memorable moments. This united understanding and action of immortalizing such moments is not limited to the football arena.

Conclusion

This Post is in honor of the Nigerian Patriots who left an entertaining historic insight on the unstoppable nature of the collective boldness of the Nigerian spirit. Their feat remains a hopeful reminder that one day someday, 200 million Nigerian citizens will be tagged on a single team, playing to restore our noble Nation back to Greatness. This is the reason reliving the joy of the greatest Nigerian football moments is a Patriot’s Daydream.

Arise O Compatriots…

28. Patriotism: A Rainbow Of Hope For The Nigerian Dream

Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
President John F Kennedy, 35th American President: 20th January, 1961

There is no denying the fact that our great Nigerian nation is currently bedeviled by a myriad of complex challenges. These issues did not befall our noble nation overnight, but have taken decades of inaction on our part to snowball into their currently petrifying status. Unlike the proverbial stitch which should have been applied on time; the current tear in the fabric of our wellbeing as a nation seems to require way more than nine stitches and this is due to our earlier collective neglect for corrective action.

The overwhelming nature of our national plight is understandable considering the fact that through the years our attempts at reversing the trend has not yielded any positive result.

It is also understandable that the morale index of most Nigerian citizens is at its lowest with regards to believing in the possibility of a positive change let alone making that belief become a reality. For most Nigerians, there might seem to be no solution of logic which the painful experiences of our current quagmire. However, a resounding answer to the prospect of giving up with changing the trend of our currently mind boggling circumstance is a firm no!

This defiant response of positive energy includes but is not limited to all the reasons behind the untapped potential of human resource within our great nation which was once and could still become one of the greatest nations in Africa.

We should all be reminded that other nations which may have found themselves in a similar or worse predicament, were able to make a persistent and remarkable recovery albeit slowly. Illustrations of this fact are left to the imagination of the reader, but can be found within the African continent and beyond. Therefore it can be safe to state that the possibility of a positive recovery of the fortunes of the Nigerian nation is not wishful thinking. The pertinent question would be a plausible first step which would create the foundation for subsequent steps in the right direction.

A response of hope to this current challenge of national magnitude strongly appears to rest in reawakening the spirit of Patriotism in every Nigerian Citizen of discerning age.

Patriotism can simply be defined as ‘A person’s selfless Love for their own Country, and a willingness to sacrifice for it’. Bearing in mind that a country is an abstract concept on its own which is molded by the strength of character of its citizens, the definition above can be rephrased for further clarity to mean ‘A person’s selfless love for their own Compatriots and a willingness to sacrifice for them’.

Our Neighbors, our Coworkers, our Landlords, our Tenants, our Pastors and Imams, our Bankers, and everyone within our personal horizon of interaction are our Compatriots as long as they are Nigerians. In addition, the trader we patronize at the market, the tireless bus conductor and his driver, the traffic warden sweating it out in the scorching sun, the kids we may not know playing around the corner, the less privileged persons and those citizens with special needs, the politicians, and a whole list which may not accommodate the mention of this paragraph, and who may be beyond our personal horizon of interaction are also our Compatriots as long as they are Nigerians.

A person who can display the selfless character of patriotic love toward fellow Nigerians mentioned in the paragraph above is called a Nigerian Patriot.

Patriotism is an inherent ‘God given’ attribute of character deposited within the DNA of every single human from birth therefore it is safe to assume that this noble character has simply been dormant rather than non-existent in a majority of Nigerians through the years.

Regardless our reasons for suppressing the Patriot in us, it is a fact that the Nigerian Patriot lives within the soul of every single Nigerian citizen.

Given a chance, the selfless love of the Patriot in each of us can make a huge difference in our daily interactions and endeavors with each other. If we could collectively unleash this positive phenomenon resting within us, it would greatly assist us with a different insight of life which goes beyond the horizon of a Religious, Tribal, and Political divide. These three negative attributes have greatly impeded our efforts at national development.

The spirit of Patriotism is the only attribute of character that can tag every Nigerian citizen on a single team and neutralize the current divisions across board. It is a certain fact that the massive strength of a single Nigerian team with over 200 million teammates can overcome any mountain of challenge.

In conclusion, reawakening the spirit of Patriotism within the mind of the Nigerian citizen will not come with overnight success, but our sincere effort in this direction would definitely provide the foundation for the team work required for subsequent positive actions geared toward our positive national development.

On this truth and more, I rest my case on Patriotism as the Rainbow of hope for the Nigerian Dream.

Arise O Compatriots…

12. Patriot Alert 8: The Nearly Infinite Potentials Of The Nigerian Nation – A Tip Of The Iceberg.

This blog episode is a fact sheet built on information obtained from Wikipedia. It is a tip of the great potentials of our noble nation Nigeria. The intent is to encourage a collective read of the facts contained in the article on Nigeria which can be found on Wikipedia.

The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator.

History of activities within the demarcation known as Nigeria, dates as far back as before 1500

Land mass: 923,768 km²

Population estimate: 190,886,311

The population of Nigeria increased by 57 million from 1990 to 2008. This is a 60% growth rate in less than two decades. According to the United Nations, Nigeria has been undergoing explosive population growth and has one of the highest growth and fertility rates in the world. By their projections, Nigeria is one of eight countries expected to account collectively for half of the world’s total population increase in 2005–2050. By 2100 the UN estimates that the Nigerian population will be between 505 million and 1.03 billion people (middle estimate: 730 million).In 1950, Nigeria had only 33 million people

Languages: over 250 different languages

There are 521 languages that have been spoken in Nigeria; nine of them are now extinct

Cultural variety: Diverse

Nigeria has the third-largest youth population in the world, after India and China, with more than 90 million of its population under age 18.

Agriculture used to be the principal foreign exchange earner of Nigeria

In 2005 Nigeria had the highest rate of deforestation in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). That year, 12.2%, the equivalent of 11,089,000 hectares had been forested in the country. Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forest every year equal to an average annual deforestation rate of 2.38%. Between the years 1990 and 2005, in total Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forest cover, or around 6,145,000 hectares.

Tourism opportunities in the country can be found in all regions.

Nigerian citizens have authored many influential works of post-colonial literature in the English language. Nigeria’s best-known writers are Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate in Literature, and Chinua Achebe, best known for the novel Things Fall Apart (1958) and his controversial critique of Joseph Conrad.

Other Nigerian writers and poets who are well known internationally include John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Helon Habila, T. M. Aluko, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Daniel O. Fagunwa, Femi Osofisan and Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed in 1995 by the military regime.

Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily in 2003.

Critically acclaimed writers of a younger generation include Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Chris Abani, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Helen Oyeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Kachi A. Ozumba, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, and Chika Unigwe.

Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves

Nigeria has a total of 159 oil fields and 1,481 wells in operation according to the Department of Petroleum Resources

Nigeria has one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world, major emerging market operators (like MTN, 9mobile, Airtel and Globacom) basing their largest and most profitable centres in the country

Nigeria also has a wide array of underexploited mineral resources which include natural gas, coal, bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc. Despite huge deposits of these natural resources, the mining industry in Nigeria is still in its infancy

In conclusion, it is evident that there is no justifiable reason (given the numerous opportunities open to our dear country) for the deplorable state of our Nation.

It would be rational for anyone to erroneously believe that collectively, we are indeed a very strange people; to have so much at our disposal, yet remain perpetually trapped in the abyss of underdevelopment.

My fellow countrymen, the profound reality of our mistakes are the simple reason for the currently precarious situation in Nigeria and there is every need for all of us to collectively act differently.

I am certain that if we were to replace the Nigerian population with those of any progressive nation, Nigeria would easily rank among the most developed nations on earth. Our problems are human oriented; pure and simple.

There is every need for a change in our character, and it must begin with the mind of each and every single citizen. We need to rest assured that our children and coming generations will hold us accountable in the future for our casual approach to the pertinent issues of today which go way beyond amassing untold wealth to the glory of our individual family names. We ought to have realized that this attitude cannot build a nation of any meaningful relevance.

Hopefully the strength of the message behind this post would wake up the dormant patriotic spirit of action that still lives in the heart of every single citizen that defines our great country Nigeria.

Arise O Compatriots…