What is the thesis of Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe?

Achebe's thesis, if it can be so simplified, is that Nigeria can find itself again if it recognizes and dismisses the vestiges of colonialism.  The story takes place just a year after the end of the Nigerian war for independence.  Although lawlessness ensues in the aftermath of a discarded government, their is hope for the future.  Jonathon, the protagonist, is left with a good job and finds that his house is still standing.  Thieves - symbolic of the thieving colonizing forces - threaten his new home, but he survives, and his neighbors help him in his efforts to rebuild.  Achebe harkens back to the communal nature of pre-colonial Nigeria in an effort to call upon his fellow citizens to remember their culture and their roots, and to abandon the influence of European imperialism.