How are you? It has been an activity-packed past two weeks for me, culminating in a visit to Egypt for the Intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) 2023 and then earlier today, I was at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, to chair the annual Zik lectures, which is now in its 12th year.

Being part of this event gave me time to reflect on our founding fathers and their motivations for fighting for independence. We like to think that issues of tribalism and ethnicity started with our time and our brand of politics. But if you read Zik’s speeches, even from the 1940s, you would learn that he wasn’t picking the easier option in choosing a united Nigeria. He was choosing a more realistic option. And so, when people fan the flames of ethnicity or bigotry today or make comments such as, “We should split,” it is evident that they haven’t given much thought to what they are saying in real terms.

As Zik said about 60 years ago, “Each of our three regions is vastly different in many respects, but each has this in common: that, despite the variety of languages and customs or differences in climate, all form part of one country which has existed as a political and social entity for fifty years. That is why we believe that the political union of Nigeria is destined to be perpetual and indestructible.”