There comes a point in a man’s life when usual enjoyments in the West no longer satisfy him, for his soul burns for something more. He vacations in the most exotic places, eats at the fanciest restaurants, sees beautiful things, experiences foreign advancements and achievements abroad, enjoys a pleasant life with access to everything he needs…but he is still filled with a great unquenchable longing that none of these seem to satisfy.
Day and night this longing presses for something more. The great burning and longing for nation-building at home.
The desire to collaborate and build something original at home, using his own indigenous abilities, for the progress and development of his own people. He senses that no matter how much he enjoys overseas, he will always feel like an outsider because the structure and progress of the foreign environment will never feel like a personal original achievement from his own spirit and those of his people. He does not wish merely to be a neat spoke in a pre-designed wheel, but he wishes to creatively fashion his own indigenous wheel, design the spokes, and set the direction for its national motion! Thus, to nation-build!
Across the world, there are many Africans who feel this irrepressible burning and restlessness deep within, which does not permit them to be comfortable with the mundane but urges them onward in search of a higher cause to give their innate abilities.
The burning cannot be explained or understood with earthly words if you do not feel it. It would be as inexplicable to the outsider as members of Pharoah’s court who could not understand why Moses, despite access to all the abundance of Pharaoh’s Palace in Egypt, would feel the burning need to go into the wilderness in search of something different. Yet this is not a question of a saviour complex, but simply the sincere desire to partake (no matter how little) in the process of nation-building and helping to redirect the trajectory of the African future.
For those who feel the call, I say… may the burning intensify! Its searing is a northern star guiding us to the goal. May all who feel this burn be similarly attracted so that, through the union of similar sparks by committed actions, it will burst into a collective flame whose transformative fire will rebirth Africa like a phoenix resurrecting from its own ashes.
So may the burning intensify and unite fellow builders of the African future for the higher cause of nation-building. It is high-time for serious action.
~Dr. Ikenna Q. Ezealah
Nation Upbuilding 