Nationalism; The enemy that eats Africans from within

Smoke from the United Nations compound rises in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, November 25, 2019. [AP Photo]

According to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, nationalism is the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity, and the actions that the members of a nation take when seeking to achieve (or sustain) self-determination.

Such kind of attitude that guides one's actions towards a nation is the enemy that has for years eaten us, Africans, from within. Did you that Africa is richest continent in the world in natural resources ranging from arable land, water, oil, natural gas, minerals, forests and wildlife? The irony is, Africa is the poorest despite all these natural riches.

We, the sons and daughters of Africa, should never fail to appreciate Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, for founding twitter and finally launching it in July 2006. Today, we have twitter space meetings that brings together millions of Africans, from across the continent and the globe. It is from these meetings that one can realise just how much nationalism has shattered the dreams of Africa and impoverish the continent despite our 'riches'

Supporting one's nation to realise its glory is the most patriotic thing one can ever do. It brings the inner joy of being part and parcel of development in your nation. However, this should never come at the expense of another nation. Pan-Africanism demands that we grow as a continent. Political boundaries, that we have today, were never designed by our ancestors. They are simply an outcome of 1884/85 Berlin Conference, also known as Congo Conference or West Africa Conference.

Nationalism, today, has made our governments close borders on each other. We arrest and auction each other's animals when they cross imaginary national borders for pasture. We burn alive, innocent chicks! We allow agricultural goodies destroy at our borders because nationalism has made us not able to see eye to eye.

Today, we have we have introduced paid for VISA on each other based on national differences. Having VISA is okay for various reasons such as security, but why should an African pay to visit another African nation? Is it not the same as moving from one room to the other within a house?

Why should we, just watch, when our brothers are fighting each other, kill each other and even destroy their infrastructures? Look at the Ethiopia-Tigray conflicts that we are happy it has ended, look at the Democratic Republic of Congo crisis, look at the Libya crisis, etcetera. All these happens under our watch. We have embraced the cliche, "Everyone for themselves and God for us all"

We don't need a mediator to end the wars in our continent or an expert from outside to teach us on to exploit our natural resources. All we need is to look each other in the eye and remind ourselves that nationalism was just a creation of imaginary lines, let us use such lines to help with governance issues but not otherwise. We are one people.

As we usher in 2023, let us bury the hatchet and open a new chapter as Africans.

-Writer is a teacher