How Great Is Nigeria! By Udeme Akpan

How Great Is Nigeria! By Udeme Akpan

Arise o compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey… This is the first two lines of the National Anthem of my beloved country, Nigeria. Those words always brighten up my spirit whenever I voice it out or hear a beautiful harmonics of its song being played. I can still remember when I was a child battling with my pharynx in order to master and memorize each lines in its stanzas. Today, those words in the whole anthem planted seeds in my heart that have grown continually and built up patriotism in me which binds Nigerians all over the world.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a sovereign and democratic nation located in West Africa. She shares land borders with the republic of Benin in the West, chad and Cameroon in the East, and Niger in the North. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. This is Africa’s most populated country, as well as the 8th most populated in the world with a populated of over 160 million people. Nigeria is a developing country that struggled through the colonial era, got her independence in 1960 and later became a republic in 1963. All hail this great nation!

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How Great Is Nigeria! By Kenneth Okpomo

How Great Is Nigeria! By Kenneth Okpomo

Nigeria is a great country. This is a fact that cannot be disputed. In five main categories I shall discuss the distinctive attributes of this country with a view to capturing the real depths and dimensions of her greatness.

  • Geography

With a land area of 923, 768 sq. Km (and an arable land area of about 34,000, 000 hectares), Nigeria is certainly a big and fecund country. The country’s savanna, mangrove and rainforest vegetation is distinctively suitable for various kinds of commercial and livestock agriculture. Crops such as millet, sorghum, cowpea, soybean, groundnut, tomato, sesame, melon, bean, cashew, tomato, onions, etc, grow well in the northern belt where livestock such as cattle, ram and goat are commonly reared. In the southern belt, palm kernel, cassava, plantain, yam, cocoyam, potato, cocoa bean, rubber, plantain, okra, grow well while poultry bird, goat, rabbit, snail, pig, etc, are commonly breed. Assorted sea animals are plentiful in the country’s expansive rivers and water bodies.

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How Great Is Nigeria! By Mpamugo Chinedu Christian

How Great Is Nigeria! By Mpamugo Chinedu Christian

Good People, Great Nation

Besides in the setting of the slogan of the 2009 rebranding exercise and on a few other occasions, it is currently not common to see the word ‘great’ employed to describe Nigeria positively. The slogan itself is now scarsely heard, possibly more out of perceived inappropriateness than out of advancement beyond 2009. Indeed many headlines about the country today are those which, like a painter’s brush, successfully add successive layers of uncertainty and ugliness over her image. Unfortunately, Nigeria and Nigerians have become known for many unpleasant reasons. Widespread and deep-seated corruption, nepotism, misappropriation of public resources, insecurity of life and property especially due to militancy and terror, high unemployment and an unstable economy are realities which confront Nigeria. Adding to these bad governance at various levels, the weakness of basic infrastructure like education and health, poverty due to unequal distribution of wealth, continuous ethnic and religious tension and mistrust, and the surge in the level of crime, it is obvious that the concerns of well-meaning Nigerians are serious and sincere.

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How Great Is Nigeria! By Olatoyese Adesinmi

How Great Is Nigeria! By Olatoyese Adesinmi

Introduction

Nigeria is a country in West Africa situated on the Gulf of Guinea, has an estimated population of 190 million (United Nations estimate), approximate total land area of 924 Km² (357 sq. miles); borders Benin in the west, Niger in the north, Chad and Cameroon in the east. Nigeria has thirty-six (36) states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Nigeria is a great country, blessed with copious natural resources, resourceful people, natural and artificial landmarks and monuments, and has a lot of economic potentials.

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How Great Is Nigeria! By Said Saad Abubakar

How Great Is Nigeria! By Said Saad Abubakar

An outstanding joy and great excitement always filled my soul, I believe it’s a marvelous privilege being myself citizen of a great nation. A nation occupying a total land mass of 923,768 sq km, the most populated in all African countries and the eighth most populous country in the world, it’s impossible to feel lonely in such country. Rich cultural and artistic values are the significant quality of the nation of about 162.5million citizens (World Bank & Census Bureau) with diverse cultures and traditions. About 250 indigenous native languages have been identified with the Igbo, Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba dominating ranging to 70% of the population. Although, we are different but we still go hand in hand. These groups have preserved their artistic values and professions, till date, the southwestern Nigerians are well known with art and poetry, bead works and weaving, the southeastern are highly enterprising and industrious and very good in warm cultural display while the northerners are of great excellent in agriculture and commerce. It is a wonderful moment to witness the cultural display of these natives especially the warmth colorful display of different ethnic groups, I have the notion that you will grin with pleasure due to great excitement.

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How Great Is Nigeria! By Jonathan Mairiga

How Great Is Nigeria! By Jonathan Mairiga

All over the world, Nigeria as a country has caught the attention of nations and there seem to be a secret investigative panel set up to uncover the mystery behind her greatness. Nigerians are setting the pace and are becoming the standard by which others measure themselves. This is very factual. Nigeria in itself is one of the endowments of Africa. Certainly, no one can abdicate the position in which God Almighty has placed (Albert & Danjibo, 2012).

Nigeria my country is the largest single unit in Africa.  It is a West African country that borders the Chad republic and Niger on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the south, Benin republic on the west, and Cameroon on the east. With a population of over 174 million people, Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country, the largest black nation, as well as the 7th most populated in the entire world. This means for every seven Africans, one is a Nigerian and one out of every five persons of African origin is a Nigerian. It is not a number thing. Put it correctly; Nigeria is simply blessed and great.   You will never feel alone in a country with this kind of distinct population. Nigerians are all around the globe inscribing their names on the map of every continent (Isawa, 2000)

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How Great Is Nigeria! By Igbokwe Kingsley Chukwudi

How Great Is Nigeria! By Igbokwe Kingsley Chukwudi

The influence which a nation exerts, the respect which it enjoys, and the prestige accorded to it on the world scene, depend on two important factors: the size of its wealth and the calibre of its leadership.

 — Obafemi Awolowo

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea and has a total area of 923, 768 square kilometres. It shares land border with the Republic of Benin in the west, Niger and Chad in the north, and Cameroon in the east. Nigeria has 36 states and a Federal Capital Territory in Abuja. The country gained its independence from Britain in 1960 and the independence culminated in a full status republic in 1963. It is multi-cultural and ethnic diversified with some 250 ethnic groups and over 520 spoken languages. However, the nation has been plagued with some challenges that seem to undermine its existence and unity like Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group aligned with al-Qaeda, which built up its presence in the Northern region of the country with harsh implementation of Islamic law and has caused estimated deaths of 100,000 persons and two million displaced persons; militancy in the Southern part of the country that has wreaked havoc in the oil industry in pipeline vandalism and untold kidnaps which prompted the government to set up an Amnesty Programme in 2009 by former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the creation of Niger Delta Development Commission in 2000 by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo; the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu agitating for the independence of Biafra from Nigeria, etc. Despite these challenges, Nigeria has been able to maintain democracy for 18 years and since her independence, the nation with its diversity in culture, language, tradition etc. has proved among comity of nations to be indeed great. Therefore, in the words of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, “The greatness comes not when things go always good for you. But the greatness comes when you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes. Because only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” Hereunder are some of the points that show how great Nigeria is:

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