The Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Ecclesiastic Province, Dr. Anthony Obinna, has asked Nigerians to work towards sticking together and building a nation where everyone would feel safe and happy in the New Year.

Obinna, who said this in the message titled Nationizing Nigeria, made available to The Guardian, noted that as we look forward to the new year in the face of continuing bloodshed, inter-ethnic tension, uneasy public relationships, suspicious and subtle moves and maneuvers, it is necessary to consider true state of Nigeria as a nation and whether Nigerians genuinely want to be one nation.

According to him, “We generally answer in the affirmative that we are a nation. But our body language, our political, religious, ethnic, social and local preferences and intrusions often deny what is claimed. If Nigeria is to become a nation in the full sense of the term nation, then we have a duty, nay a mission, to nationise Nigerians and Nigeria in the family sense of giving birth to and caringly nurturing what has been delivered.

“To nationize ourselves as one Nigerian family would imply a grateful sense of belonging to this nation by most Nigerians even within our varied ethnic and religious allegiances; it would imply a patriotic sense of ownership over the Nigerian entity shown.”

He said that by 2016, Nigeria would have marked 102 years that the British amalgamated former Northern and Sounthern protectorates in a ‘cobbled’ manner, which, he noted, is synonymous with the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

He said: “The Nativity of Jesus Christ that was celebrated just a week ago speaks directly to Nigeria in a special way. By January 14 2016, Nigeria will mark the 102 anniversary of its amalgamation into one political entity from the multiple ethnic nationalities that the British colonial government forcefully cobbled into the northern and southern protectorates and then into one Nigeria.”