There is a consensus that Nigeria is at a crossroad.
Nigerians, and non-Nigerians alike, agree that the country is a far cry
from what it should be. They say the country is in coma and needs a shot
in the arm to rouse it to take its rightful place.
But veteran actor, Zack Amaefula Orjioke, popularly called Zack Orji, believes that all hope is not lost for Nigeria. He says the nation can take its rightful place in the comity of respected nations once again. The ever gorgeous and handsome actor says before any meaning transformation can take place, we must go back to the basics: the homefront. According to him, to pull Nigeria out of the brink requires good parental upbringing.
Enjoy the interview:
You’re fondly called Zack Oji. May we know your full name and what it means?
My full name is Zack Amaefula Orjioke. Most of us may not know the meanings of our English names, but we should know the meaning of our native names. I am sure that every parent has a reason for giving his or her child one name or another. Amaefula, my middle name, simply means ‘may my heritage not be lost’. Then, Orjioke means, ‘the giant iroko tree that provides shelter for others.’
How would you define a true Nigerian?
I wrote a song recently which I want to record, it is called Cradles of greatness. The first stanza of the song simply said:
“Oh, Nigeria thou cradle of our forefathers/We hail you, we love you, our dear native land/Though we differ in tribe and tongue, yet we are together/Standing tall and proud of our brotherhood/We love you cradle of greatness/Land of our freedom, land of dreams and opportunities/Symbol of our unity/The cradle of greatness, the land of our freedom/Land of dreams and opportunities/Symbol of our unity and our faith”.
For me, that is the true Nigerian. Nigeria is the cradle of greatness and the second stanza said, ‘we will serve you, we will carry you, we will fly your flag.’
It says a lot of things about how every Nigerian should feel about this country: ‘You (Nigeria) are our one big responsibility that everybody should shoulder.’
What do you think can be done to rekindle Nigerians patriotism, to make them begin to believe in and love Nigeria more than ever before?
The vehicle of conveyance is not as necessary as the conviction itself, because you must have a conviction about something before you can convince someone else. You must believe in yourself. You must believe in the potentials that are in you. That potential simply means a picture of what you can do, a picture of what is possible and it comes from what God has deposited in you.
Every one of us has a seed of greatness in him, and all of these things are tied geographically to the country where we are born. If you look at it spiritually, the Bible says, in creation God made everything. He prepared the ground before he eventually created man and he said, “Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness.”
When he had finished creating man and woman, he said, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth, have dominion over everything’. He made everything He has created available to man to have dominion over, to bring them to use for his own personal benefit. He also charged them to multiply after its own kind.
In doing that everybody was placed in a particular geographical enclave. That geographical enclave for us here is Nigeria and in that geographical enclave He has given you all that you need to be great. That is why I said Nigeria is the cradle of our greatness. It is the land of our dreams, opportunities, possibilities and destinies.
It simply means that wherever you are, you have a great responsibility towards this land in which God created you. Spiritually speaking, we all have a great responsibility towards this county called Nigeria that pleased God to raise us from. Now, if you look at it spiritually alone, we owe a great responsibility to this country because this is the place where our dreams and destinies will be fulfilled.
We all owe a great deal of responsibility to this country to make Her great. It starts from the home, from parenting, the upbringing. Everybody comes from a home
What part of the country did you hail from?
I am from Enugu state, but my mother is from Ogoja in Cross River state.
If you were not an Igbo man, which other tribe would you have preferred to come from?
I have never thought of such before.
Benue?
Well, we all are unique in our different ways. There are so many tribes, tongues and so many delicacies and all kinds of fashions. I tell you that Nigeria is a truly blessed country. When you talk about music; our music is as varied as you can imagine.
If I was not an Igboman I would not have mind coming from my mother’s place.
Why?
Because my mum came from Cross River. She was a special woman. We loved her, we fearedher and we respected her. And she inculcated a lot of values in us, starting from hard work, contentment with what you have, striving toward your goal, respect for other people and a strong belief in God.
She taught us to believe in the power of prayer and never to take no for an answer. She taught us never to be discouraged in spite of any kinds of odds. My mother was ready to sell even her wrapper to make sure that we went to school. My father passed away about 32 years ago and after that my mother had a lot of challenges, but by the grace of God, she was able to overcome them.
One unique thing I grew up seeing my parents do every day was prayer- every morning and night. Even at the time they were staunch catholic, they would pray warfare prayers as we know in Pentecostalism. They were always praying for the protection and wellbeing of their children. They will always ask for God’s wisdom, provisions and they depended on God wholly. We grew up seeing that every day; and it left an indelible mark in us. Like I always say, the greatest teaching that you can give a child is by the things you do. Those things will always stay. We use to have word competition with my father. He would open the dictionary and say the first person to get this word will receive a prize.
But veteran actor, Zack Amaefula Orjioke, popularly called Zack Orji, believes that all hope is not lost for Nigeria. He says the nation can take its rightful place in the comity of respected nations once again. The ever gorgeous and handsome actor says before any meaning transformation can take place, we must go back to the basics: the homefront. According to him, to pull Nigeria out of the brink requires good parental upbringing.
Enjoy the interview:
You’re fondly called Zack Oji. May we know your full name and what it means?
My full name is Zack Amaefula Orjioke. Most of us may not know the meanings of our English names, but we should know the meaning of our native names. I am sure that every parent has a reason for giving his or her child one name or another. Amaefula, my middle name, simply means ‘may my heritage not be lost’. Then, Orjioke means, ‘the giant iroko tree that provides shelter for others.’
How would you define a true Nigerian?
I wrote a song recently which I want to record, it is called Cradles of greatness. The first stanza of the song simply said:
“Oh, Nigeria thou cradle of our forefathers/We hail you, we love you, our dear native land/Though we differ in tribe and tongue, yet we are together/Standing tall and proud of our brotherhood/We love you cradle of greatness/Land of our freedom, land of dreams and opportunities/Symbol of our unity/The cradle of greatness, the land of our freedom/Land of dreams and opportunities/Symbol of our unity and our faith”.
For me, that is the true Nigerian. Nigeria is the cradle of greatness and the second stanza said, ‘we will serve you, we will carry you, we will fly your flag.’
It says a lot of things about how every Nigerian should feel about this country: ‘You (Nigeria) are our one big responsibility that everybody should shoulder.’
What do you think can be done to rekindle Nigerians patriotism, to make them begin to believe in and love Nigeria more than ever before?
The vehicle of conveyance is not as necessary as the conviction itself, because you must have a conviction about something before you can convince someone else. You must believe in yourself. You must believe in the potentials that are in you. That potential simply means a picture of what you can do, a picture of what is possible and it comes from what God has deposited in you.
Every one of us has a seed of greatness in him, and all of these things are tied geographically to the country where we are born. If you look at it spiritually, the Bible says, in creation God made everything. He prepared the ground before he eventually created man and he said, “Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness.”
When he had finished creating man and woman, he said, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth, have dominion over everything’. He made everything He has created available to man to have dominion over, to bring them to use for his own personal benefit. He also charged them to multiply after its own kind.
In doing that everybody was placed in a particular geographical enclave. That geographical enclave for us here is Nigeria and in that geographical enclave He has given you all that you need to be great. That is why I said Nigeria is the cradle of our greatness. It is the land of our dreams, opportunities, possibilities and destinies.
It simply means that wherever you are, you have a great responsibility towards this land in which God created you. Spiritually speaking, we all have a great responsibility towards this county called Nigeria that pleased God to raise us from. Now, if you look at it spiritually alone, we owe a great responsibility to this country because this is the place where our dreams and destinies will be fulfilled.
We all owe a great deal of responsibility to this country to make Her great. It starts from the home, from parenting, the upbringing. Everybody comes from a home
What part of the country did you hail from?
I am from Enugu state, but my mother is from Ogoja in Cross River state.
If you were not an Igbo man, which other tribe would you have preferred to come from?
I have never thought of such before.
Benue?
Well, we all are unique in our different ways. There are so many tribes, tongues and so many delicacies and all kinds of fashions. I tell you that Nigeria is a truly blessed country. When you talk about music; our music is as varied as you can imagine.
If I was not an Igboman I would not have mind coming from my mother’s place.
Why?
Because my mum came from Cross River. She was a special woman. We loved her, we fearedher and we respected her. And she inculcated a lot of values in us, starting from hard work, contentment with what you have, striving toward your goal, respect for other people and a strong belief in God.
She taught us to believe in the power of prayer and never to take no for an answer. She taught us never to be discouraged in spite of any kinds of odds. My mother was ready to sell even her wrapper to make sure that we went to school. My father passed away about 32 years ago and after that my mother had a lot of challenges, but by the grace of God, she was able to overcome them.
One unique thing I grew up seeing my parents do every day was prayer- every morning and night. Even at the time they were staunch catholic, they would pray warfare prayers as we know in Pentecostalism. They were always praying for the protection and wellbeing of their children. They will always ask for God’s wisdom, provisions and they depended on God wholly. We grew up seeing that every day; and it left an indelible mark in us. Like I always say, the greatest teaching that you can give a child is by the things you do. Those things will always stay. We use to have word competition with my father. He would open the dictionary and say the first person to get this word will receive a prize.
No comments:
Post a Comment