To commensurate with Nigeria our Beloved @56 , I decided to take you down memory lane as well as hold your hands as we look hopefully at the positivity and opportunities that lie ahead.

My Nigerian Story;

Nigeria we hail thee

our dear own native land,

though tribe and tongue may differ,

in brotherhood we stand,

Nigerians are all proud to serve our sovereign motherland,

our flag shall be a symbol that truth and justice reign,

in peace or battle honoured, and this we count as gain,

to hand on to our children a banner without stain,

oh God of all creation grant this our request,

help us build a nation, where no man is oppressed,

and so with peace and plenty, Nigeria may be blessed!

National Anthem- 1960-’78

Caught up in recent happenings in the nation as well as the mannerism of the peoples around, it majorly depicts hopelessness but a few hopefuls amongst them; as difficult as it may be or sound, being honest; I was able to gather hope in the prayer lines above- our first national anthem ever, just immediately after independence i.e. the signing of the declaration of independence and emergence of a new sovereign nation.

Today we celebrate the great lady at 56 as well as her status as a Republic (01/10/63); people are murmuring already that she is soon clocking the age of retirement (60 and above), but then lets look beyond whats on the news, lets consider the wealth and richness of this great Lady that daily reports never captures, She is no doubt definitely going through challenges like any human will and is, but the existence of hope keeps her moving, encouraged by her abundance in human and natural resources, diversity in cultures and languages- home to 7% of the total languages spoken on earth, she houses the longest ancient earthworks in the world- the Benin Walls; probably the largest man made structure on earth; against all odds, she is as peaceful and beautiful as the Jos plateau Indigo bird and colourful as the Anambra wax-bill- a small bird of beautiful colors found only in southern Nigeria, no where else on earth; how about the awesome fact that in her bossom lies the second largest delta on the planet- The famous Niger Delta which has one of the largest mangrove forests in the world- she is indeed a relevant stake in the history and existence of earth and the world at large.

As insignificant these may seem to some, it sure gives hope that indeed good things can and still come out of Nigeria; our glory is not lost!… whatever we are going through is only a phase; we all go through phases, She needs us now than ever before; let us look beyond her challenges and flaws, embrace her, stand by her, pray for her, and love her… we have no other to call our own- if we don’t take care of her, who will?

One Great Nation- United in diversity!

God bless Nigeria…God bless the human race!

With love;

‘Kachi… #iamagracemademan

#kachispeaks