integration. By national identity and or national integration, I mean
the process through which citizens of a country boasts individual and
collective sense of self, patriotism, belonging and longing for their
country. This process may include concerted efforts at discouraging
unhealthy ethnic and regional competition, building institutions,
depersonalizing the rule of law, and transforming the economic space.
In addition, they formulate and implement power-sharing formulas. And
then there are the symbolic but powerful effort at promoting and
investing in the national flag and national anthem, the promotion and
use of a national language, and a conscious effort at creating myths
and expelling primordial sentiments. Veritable constitution and
related documents also helps the process.
In place where these steps are not taken, the nation becomes
susceptible to continuous and prolonged instability, and perhaps,
disintegration. Nigeria, as many have averred, is a mere geographic
space: a space devoid of individual and/or collective sense of
belonging and nationhood; a space where people's first allegiance is
to their ethic and regional groups as opposed to the country. And so
it is that ninety-seven years after amalgamation and fifty years after
independence, ethnicity trumps patriotism. Ethnicity, like corruption
and corrupt practices, has a strong hold on the country. To be sure,
Nigeria, as with many other countries in and outside of the continent,
has its problems and challenges. In this instance, one of the problems
that have come to characterize Nigeria is the question of oneness, of
nationhood.
And while some problems and challenges are generational -- the
question of nationhood which has been niggling Nigeria since 1914 --
is cross-generational. For the pessimists, this problem may never be
resolved. The rational optimists considers it a mere challenge that
can be resolved if certain steps are taken. In the first two
paragraphs, I touched on some of the factors that help toward a sense
of belonging and nationhood. Another factor that should be considered
is the role and place of the boarding school. In other words, boarding
schools, if well administered, may be great instruments for bridging
our national chasm. Boarding schools are fertile grounds for acquiring
civic and patriotic attributes.
Except on rare occasions, many Nigerians discount their Nigerianness.
Many are suspicious of their neighbors to the north, the south, the
east and the west. Most of us act as if public service is a virtuous
avenue for theft, wastes and excesses. At the other end of the
spectrum is the Nigeria government that treats its citizens as if they
are the wretched of the earth: a people to be abused, used and raped.
And so it was that whatever gains that were made in the early years of
our independence evaporated two decades thereafter.
Recounting a personal experience may be germane here. I am an alumnus
of a boarding school: Government Secondary School Ilorin, Kwara State.
Three-plus decades after leaving, my boarding school experiences still
rest warmly in my heart. Everyone I knew who attended boarding school,
tells me that their experiences ranks amongst the best and most
satisfying experiences they've ever had. I should know. And I know. I
know because few experiences in the first four decades of my life have
come close to the enriching and wonderful times I had at GSS, Ilorin.
The lessons one learnt are still invaluable; the love and support one
got are incomparable. Within the boarding school setting, ethnic and
religious demarcations were almost non-existence. Your best friends
could be of different religious orientation, and are likely to be from
other ethnic groups.
As teenagers, we fought and argued; yet, we made up and basked in this
ocean of love that our environment provided. In many ways, we were
different; yet, we learnt how to tolerate our differences and in the
process accepted our diversity and then learnt from one another. The
boarding school setting taught us many of life's lessons --- including
how to cope with defeats and victories. You not only go through
school, the boarding culture passes through you. In the end,
therefore, it helps to sharpen your intellect, gave you the needed
street-education, and expanded your worldview. Something else: the
faculty and non-faculty staff, to my knowledge, did not encourage
excessive individualism. They never encouraged bigotry. And they
certainly never encouraged any of the troubles and grieves that have
come to characterize modern Nigeria.
I remember that on weekends or during breaks, one may be at the home
of a Muslim, a Christian, an Animist, or at the loving home of a
Gentile. We were Nigerians. Nigerians! No one ever asked what an Ijaw
lad was doing in and around the Emir's palace. Chief Cornelius
Adebayo, whose home I frequented, never asked what I was doing in his
house. Ilorin was that kind of a place, and my boarding school was
that kind of a place, too: accepting and welcoming. My school
environment aside, there were a number of things about the people and
the city one would never forget. Chief amongst these were the peaceful
coexistence of tradition and modernity, between Christians and
Muslims, between a time that once was and a time that is.
In one part of the town were ancient buildings; on the other side of
town were the contemporary ones. In some zones, both could be found
side by side. Either way, it was easy to move from one era to another,
from one mindset to another. It was a case of two worlds that never
collided, two ideologies that never competed. Under the Ilorin sky,
one learnt how to live in accord with every one else. One learnt the
big things and the small things. We went in as boys, but came out as
men. It was a time when being a Nigerian was just so joyous!
Nigeria has changed and so too have the educational culture and the
boarding school environment. And frankly, boarding schools may no
longer hold the same allure and mystic they held in earlier times
through the 1980s; still, they can and should be revived. It is even
likely that fewer schools now offered the boarding school option. This
too should change. There is a lot to be said for boarding schools. A
lot! It is an intuition that helps mold good and enviable character.
It allowed young minds the freedom to roam intellectually. The setting
allowed teenagers to argue, to fight, to negotiate, to protest, to
compete, to fail and to succeed. I all of these, was unity of purpose.
The structured life and living (not rigid) enabled boys and girls to
learn the art and science of responsibility, duty, honor, commitment
and sacrifice. It was an environment that allowed you to do, or to
imagine great things for yourself, for your brothers and for your
community. Boarding schools that are well managed -- the way
Government Secondary School Ilorin was -- are fertile grounds to learn
the very things that makes nations great. It is where students learn
the art of law and order and of crime and punishment. We didn't know
it then; but really, it was where we first became exposed to the idea
of Ubuntu -- that great African philosophy that, amongst other
lessons, teaches that we should live our lives in the service of our
community and for the common good of all. This is, perhaps, one of
the greatest lessons Nigerians are lacking.
• Sabella Abidde is on Facebook and can be reached at:
Sabidde@yahoo.com
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