35 Years of National Embarrassment: The Mistake on Nigeria’s Coat-of-Arms One of the most important national symbols we have in Nigeria is the coat- of-arms. It is a symbol of our national pride, unity and the authority of the state. It has a scandalous blunder on it that is a big embarrassment to the entire nation and all her citizens and intellectuals. Our national flower, the Costus Spectabilis is erroneously represented on the coat-of-arms in red petals. The flower actually has yellow petals and not red. Since 1978, we have used it as the official seal of authority and we have it all around us, yet we have either not been attentive enough to observe it or cared to ensure it is corrected. It shows that Nigeria is a careless brand, developed by careless people and managed by more careless, and mediocre minds. That our coat-of- arms has such an obvious blunder on it and we have been parading it that way before the whole world is an embarrassment of unquantifiable proportion. I am so ashamed of myself that such an important item could carry such an obvious failure on it and for about 35 years and still counting, and we have not bothered to correct it. My second issue with the coat-of-arms is with the eagle on it, which symbolises our strength as a nation. There is a common saying among philosophers and many cultures around the world that every good thing comes from the east. Ocean currents come from the east, the sea flows from east to west and the sun rises from the east. Sunrise represents a new beginning, hope and life. The sun lights the world, gives it strength and supports life. Our eagle, the representation of our strength, should have been facing the east, where the sun rises with potent force and life. But it is facing the west where it sees the sun only when it is a faded shadow of itself; when it is setting after the energy and life in it is spent. Little things of this nature count much more than the amount of importance we place on them. They say a lot about our character and indeed they affect our destiny. It shows we are a careless people with no regard for excellence. And there are several of these errors pervading the entirety of our identity as a people. The hope we have today lies in our ability to find out all anomalies associated with our character as a people and to correct them. Such an audit will be the beginning of an era that will bring us the true rebirth we crave for.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 15:08:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015