A Tale of October 1 in Two Lands

KAYODE KOMOLAFE

0805 500 1974

The Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Peoples Republic of China share the same National Day, October 1.

Perhaps, one other thing that Nigeria shares with China is a relatively large population. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa while until it was recently overtaken by India, China was the most populated country in the world. China with a population of 1.425 billion is now second to India with a population of 1.428 billion.

On October 1, the Chinese people celebrated their National Day with a high degree of pomp. According to the China Global Television Network, colourful activities were staged in many places in the country. Chinese aboard the world’s highest and longest plateau railroad, the Qinghai-Xizang railway, sang praises of their nation. Remarkably, parents took their children on “patriotic tours of museums, memorials and former revolutionary sites.” One of such sites is the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum located in the eastern Jiangxi Province. For the first time, two neighbouring cities, Shenzhen and Hong Kong SAR, joined hand to organise a drone light show to commemorate the day.

In China, October 1 of every year marks the beginning of the “Golden Week,” a 7-day holiday featuring state-organised festivities such as fireworks, sports events, cultural shows and concerts.

The Chinese engage in these activities not because China is a paradise. Indeed China has multi-dimensional problems. There are sustained pressures for political reforms. China, as one of the greatest polluters in the world, faces immense ecological dangers. Despite its celebrated economic expansion, gross inequality is still a huge social challenge. The vast country is certainly not an Eldorado of unlimited prosperity.

Yet, October 1 is not a day of lamentation in China; it is a celebration amidst reflection on the past and making a prognosis about the future.

For China, the significance of October 1 is far from receding in the nation’s collective memory. The people and their leaders still remember that on October 1, 1949 the great Chinese revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao) declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China. Without hesitation, the Chinese honour the memories of Chairman Mao and other great nationalists and revolutionaries in their history. For instance, some western observers are still puzzled that despite the right-wing prejudiced vilification of Mao’s legacy, the Chinese people and their leaders have a more judicious view of their history. They are more conscious than foreigners of the errors of their founding fathers. But in their estimation, these errors have not erased the heroism of Mao and others from the pages of history. This is the same way Thomas Jefferson remains an American hero despite owning over 600 slaves. The Chinese are wise to deploy useful ideas from their past in China’s development journey. This is in spite of the dark spots of their history.

That is the tale of October 1 in one land.

The foregoing could be contrasted with the perpetual “low-key celebration” in another land. This was case during the 63rd independence anniversary in Nigeria on the same October 1. For many years, the negative refrain has been that of “no cause for celebration” because of the mounting socio-economic problems in the land. Emeritus professor of communication, Olatunji Dare, captured the attitude of Nigerians towards October 1 in his last Tuesday column in THE NATION. In a piece entitled “Countdown to October 1,” the eminent professor summed things up as follows: “It is that time of year again when Nigerians, contemplating their country’s troubled past and uncertain future, engage in an orgy of collective self-flagellation tinged with self-pity, if not self-loathing; when an anniversary that should be an occasion for rejoicing and renewal breeds, instead, resentment and recrimination.

“It is the time we rue the road not taken as well as the road actually followed; an occasion that stirs up wrenching lamentations about what might have been if the right people had taken charge and pursued the right policies.

“For every ten persons who dismiss the occasion as unworthy of celebration, there is at least one person who regards it a great achievement worth remarking in and of itself that Nigeria has not gone the way of former Yugoslavia or the former Soviet Union.”

In this October 1 season, the question often glibly asked is this: “what is there to celebrate about the Nigeria?” This is quickly followed by a litany of woes. It is as if the day is specially set aside for a competition among sharp-tongued critics to talk down on Nigeria. Hence, October 1 has been turned into a day of lamentation about unfulfilled expectations of the nation. It is almost forgotten now that it is actually a day to celebrate Nigeria’s freedom from the shackles of colonial rule. It is specifically an occasion to reflect on the challenges of nation-building. October 1 is a day to remember those who fought for freedom and their dreams of building a great nation. It is a gross historical misnomer to say that Nigeria got her independence “on a platter of gold.” Fighters for freedom were brutalised, imprisoned and persecuted. For the great inspirations embodied in it, the story should be told and retold of the enormous sacrifice and nationalism of the youths of the colonial era who made the anti-colonial struggle in many theatres their respective careers. The story should be told for the great inspirations embodied in it. For instance, some members of the Zikist Movement were in their teens and twenties when they made history. The movement was named after the nationalist leader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. The Zikists operated in very difficult terrains. Without tools, their various activities and voices constituted a dynamo in the anti-colonial struggle. At a point the young men even became impatient with the more pragmatic approach of their eponymous hero and inspirer, Azikiwe, who they simply called Zik. Today’s youths who yearn for progress should be familiar with the nationalist exploits of the Mokwugo Okoyes, Anthony Enahoros, Raji Abdallahs, Za’adu Zungurs, Kola Baloguns etc.

It was , therefore, fitting that President Bola Tinubu devoted the first few paragraphs of his October 1 message to the real purpose of the occasion as he acknowledged the heroism of the founding fathers. He also appropriately stressed the “bonds of intangibles” which should join Nigerians together despite their differences. These bonds, according to the President are those of “peace,” “progress” and “prosperity” with “justice” as the bedrock of all things concerning Nigeria. Really, as some commentators have rightly observed, the National Day message from the President should be in a class of its own. It is not necessarily another opportunity to give an account of stewardship or to articulate policies in the various sectors and departments of national life. The ministers and heads of agencies and departments are expected to be doing policy articulation all the time. They should be explaining the policies to the public. It is an imperative of accountability to do so every time. The National Day message should be deliberately made that of hope. Such a message should be imbued with what constitute national values, virtues and goals. Useful values that could be inherited from the past should be reinvigorated and promoted for the generation waiting to take the mantle of leadership in the various sectors.

To summon the Chinese example again, the trajectory of the development of China is still largely modulated by its specific history, culture and the intangibles of values and virtues. Two American scholars, Christopher Marquis and Kunyuan Qiao, drew attention to this trend in a recent book entitled “Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise.” The kernel of the empirical findings of the authors is that China’s universally acclaimed economic success is shaped by values and virtues inherent in the communist legacy of Chairman Mao. In their views, “a spectre of Mao” still hovers in Chinese institutions. In other words if you want do business in China you may need to study Mao on discipline, respect for the party and institutions, subordinating private interest to national interest, preference for the collective purpose etc. In short, the Chinese patriotism and nationalism cannot be ignored in their business behaviours. Those who approach China by first denigrating its past may not fully understand the system. The Chinese leadership, of course, detests this approach which they label as “historical nihilism.”

These are some of the values the Chinese celebrate on October 1 so that the succeeding generations of leaders would learn from the legacy of their forbears.

For clarity, criticisms of the government in power are legitimate. In fact, it is a patriotic duty to criticise those in power. This should, however, be distinguished from hate speech, which is destructive. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once put it: “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”

Churchill made a lot of criticisms of the government of his country, but he did so with a lot of logic. He was prime minister twice. First, he was in the saddle during World War II, from 1941to 1945, and secondly from 1951 to 1955. On another occasion while he was out of power Churchill said: “When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.” Churchill seemed to have made a fine philosophical distinction between patriotism (love for one’s nation) and nationalism (loyalty to the country). Both virtues are essential elements for nation-building. And historically patriotism is an older virtue than nationalism, which arose in the West only 18th Century.

The point at issue is that the National Day is not an occasion to denigrate the nation in the name of criticising those in power.

The National Day is an occasion for soul-lifting messages even amidst deep reflection. It should not be reduced to a moment for recounting only the woes of the nation.

Above all, Afropessimism, the unscientific proposition that the black man is doomed on the path to human progress, should have no place in a season when freedom from colonial bondage should be celebrated. The tone of the season should be that of optimism despite the challenges of development.

The Nigerian variety of Afropessimism is particularly toxic. In the world of the pessimists, Nigeria has made no progress at all since October 1, 1960. That is, of course, empirically false. Progress has been made; but it is definitely far from being enough given the missed historical opportunities. At least, one indisputable gain of independence is that of freedom and national dignity. Those who lived under the indignities of colonial Nigeria would probably appreciate better the historical significance of October 1.