Nigerians feel pride and despair on 56th Independence

Abuja, Nigeria - The lights are off and a few hundred people sit in the darkness of an auditorium facing a glowing stage. The Nigerian poet, Dike Chukwumerije recites a series of poems describing Nigeria's tumultuous history.
Chukwumerije's poems convey nostalgia and a longing for the Nigeria he experienced in his childhood. They illustrate a sense of loss in indigenous, cultural pride, a sense that Nigeria - which at 180 million, is Africa's most populous nation, has lost its direction on the road to nation-building since its independence from the United Kingdom on October 1, 1960.

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He laments the rise of religious extremism and the destruction of Nigeria's natural environment in places like the oil-rich Niger Delta region where the excavation of crude oil and spillages have left the mangrove swamps in a perpetual state of degradation.
"Bring back the trees, bring back the river, bring back the clean and peaceful delta.
Bring back the night, the full-mooned night and the stories we told by candlelight …

Who brought us to this place of tears ... before the proof of faith was riches?
Bring back Islam before jihadists, before the proof of faith was murder.
Bring back our love for one another.
When neighbours checked on each other's children not plotted how to kidnap them …

No matter how fast your internet is, you can't replace this heritage …
Bring back that old morality that drew its pride from who we were and not from what we wore.

Bring back the days of heroes past ...
How did it ever come to this?
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The event took place in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on the eve on Nigeria's 56 years of independence.
Today, on Nigeria's independence day, Nigerians reflect on what this day means to them.