Nigeria is among the countries of the world where the colour green plays a very important role. From the simple landscape to the exotic and untapped resources of the great nation, the colour green is not missing. Nigeria’s flag is a rectangular strip that is divided into three equal parts. The major colours are in green. This represents the county’s land and agricultural potential, while the white colour represents peace and unity.
The Nigeria’s Coat of Arms is presented on another platform that dignifies the green colour. The two great horses rest upon a base known as “Cactus spectabilis” – a wild flower that grows in many parts of the county. Green is a colour that represents life. It is a colour of a growing grass, or the leaves of most plants. The choice of the green colour for Nigeria is not an error. When you take a good look on the nation itself, there is a clear indication that God had greatness in mind while allowing a nation like Nigeria to exist. Though the country had experienced so many troubles, yet God is interested in the affairs of Nigeria.
Going green means living with eternity in view in whatever one does. This is exactly what our Founding Fathers did. They lived their lives so well that they were able to divide everything by “FOREVER”; the world couldn’t confuse or distract them. They actually had a single eye on the life that knows no end – they were looking for a city that had foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. They were headed for heaven, to be at home with the Saviour that bought them with the price of His blood. They actually matched the word “GREEN” with “ETERNITY” – the eternal past and the unending future – forever backward, and forever forward. They understood that the glory of heaven is eternal and so decided to fashion a glorious country for us.
Their philosophy and lifestyle should challenge us to see beyond the horizon – beyond the present time into eternity; weigh things carefully and ask piercing question to unmask the options and appearances that are abundant in a world gone topsy-turvy. Before we do things today, do we ask ourselves whether those things are worth it, or whether they have eternal values? The things we do today have a way of affecting our eternal destinies. Nigeria is a country that is built on godly principles. Principles that are not suggesting the abandonment of social responsibility or acts of kindness as we see it today. Every little act of kindness is infinitely precious in the sight of God, because He will reward, with eternal benefits, the giving of a cup of water to one of His own, and bless the one who does any good work to the least of His brethren! The old, worn-out cliche is that someone could be so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly use. Earthly-minded people are the ones that are of no earthly use to the kingdom of God.
To truly go green and remain what we are made to be, we must try to find the real value of our existence as a people in a great nation under one God. To find the real value of anything – any object, pursuit, relationship, possession, investment or anything else, we must divide it by “FOREVER”. If you would accurately estimate an apparent “tragedy”, weigh it on eternity’s scale. I read something like this somewhere where it is stated that No tragedy is so great or unbearable if it has not adversely affected the eternal welfare of its object. Do you know that the many pleasures and treasures that we seek today which seem attractive, lose their worth the moment we do a simple arithmetic with them? Why then do we believe in green but toil with rusty iron? Going green at 50 requires a simple arithmetic – divide it by eternity, and endless forever! Discover also that money which has led so many of us astray, may seem like the ultimate until you weigh it on the balances of eternity. Also, sex and hedonism may dazzle, but only until they are divided by forever.
The principle of life demands that we take a retrospective look at our individual lives whether we are truly green as we are made to believe. We might have been deceived by accident of nature. Or does going green require the ugly incidences that take place in the land today? Where does kidnappings come from, armed robbery, bombing, illegal detentions, extra-judicial killings, mudslinging, and ethnic bias? Surely, these are not part of our green nature! These are distractions carefully engineered to rob us of our portion in the land of our inheritance. But in the midst of all these, it is gladdening to know that our land is still virgin. The leaves are still green, and there is life going on in every part of the nation. Nigerians should not give up; going green is a task that must be accomplished. Let us put all hands on deck to build up this emerging world power! God wants Nigeria to move out of a life of lack and even of sufficiency into a life of super-abundance. To achieve this, God quickly points each and every one of us to His unchanging word – the Bible. In the Bible, we understand the awesome entity and its benefits to us. The colour GREEN is among the best things God handed over to man at creation. With the colour doing wonders in the Nigerian nature today, God has put something special in our hearts and hands. And so, our future depends on our ability to recognize and utilize what we have.
This knowledge of a clean and a GREEN nation is the answer Nigeria has for her so many needs in life. It is the ticket out of poverty – the passport into prosperity. Because the colour green does not mean acquisition but creativity, your true prosperity will come if you are not bent on acquiring wealth instead of creating wealth. As we celebrate 50th Independence Anniversary, my prayer for Nigeria and Nigerians is that they should learn today how to tap into the knowledge of God and release their creativity. To be truly great, Nigeria and indeed Nigerians must look GREEN as the country’s colour depicts – always ready at all times to divide everything they do by “FOREVER” to determine its real value or worth. This is the hidden treasures that we have not realized we carried inside of us. Let us make out time to preserve and maximize this: going GREEN with NIGERIA @ 50 is only possible when we look beyond time (the present) into eternity!