Beautifully written as always.

Call me a Romantic, but basing the foundations of a state on a trade is boring! There has to be “more”, “The American Dream”, “Wiping out the century of humiliation” or the more famous French trio. “Trade” isn’t the reason I can wrangle a mini-discount from the Igbo trader at Oyinbo. Ties of language, mythic heroes and an other to struggle against. You know, the heart rending stuff, I may be wrong but I don’t know of any rousing hymns to the beauty of trade.

Accept that battle of the indigenous languages against English is futile and contributory to our divisions or conversely swallow our pride and endure a lot of Economic hurt in making Hausa the lingua franca.

Make sports our new religion, its already half way there (only the EPL competes with church on Sundays), sports (for now at-least) is not only the best ladder of social mobility but is arguably the only thing that brings the nation, from the Sultan in Sokoto to the morning crier in Lagos to their feet. Rebuild the system to make us a nation of winners.

My fellow Historians may a bit tiring to read with their Marxist denunciations and anti imperialism (except when its those “good guys” from Songhai with the right shade), but thanks to them there already exists in the national consciousness, an other. Perhaps it was just me, but I’m genuinely frightened any time I realise how much of my existence relies on the genius and good-will of the marauding imperialists of the West. Surely we can all agree on I don’t know a Nigerian Mars landing not being a bad thing?

All that said maybe after close to a century of the excitement of ongoing plots to dip the koran in the sea, ruin proper stew (or is it soup?)for everyone and dominate the west and North (Mu Ha Ha) we need boring old trade.