EVERY moment there are always big issues requiring one comment or the other. Last week many revelations on some national questions became available to me as a result of two books I read. The one on classical development showed me that from the beginning we missed our way and that explains the movement round a vicious circle that has become our style since independence; our strategies for national developments do not tally with our cultural experiences so there are conflicts of philosophy and that accounts for the atmosphere of instability that always hovers above the nation.
Our political parties lack souls and it was from this thesis I came to understand why a component of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in my local government, Ukwa West Local Government Area in Abia State struggled strenuously to domesticate democratic principles with their demand for cows, assorted cartons of wine, kola-nuts and specified sum of money running into hundreds of thousands from aspirants, who desired to run for public office. So when we talk of ineffective leadership and stagnated development, we can see how we began to mix it through poor leadership recruitment and non-definition on what should be clear national ideals and goals.
On the economic front, a good friend of mine and one time economic correspondent who later rose to become the Managing Director of Champion Newspaper Limited, Ugo Onuoha, just last week asked me a very vital question. He said: “Ralph, you are so much concerned about the immediate transformation of our nation, but have you stopped to ask the fundamental question whether our nation has ever had an economy? You have big name and money men, but what actually do they produce?”
His questions were food for thought indeed. These and more are serious issues that should demand all our attention, yet there is something I have learnt about life, to solve the big things, one must have an eye for what the bible calls little foxes. Little oil stain has power to destroy the beauty of a new, sparkling white garment. If our nation for instance has its manufacturing sector doing well and the traffic situation in many of our cities and highways remain as chaotic as they have always been, the atmosphere would be hostile to both habitation and investment especially for the class with money to spend, the same would be the case if we have political stability and good political programmes but the civil servants in one obscure office deliberately elongate the time and process for business registration.
Such little acts can be repulsive and repugnant to massive flow of economic activities. Societies that must make progress their leaders must have an ideal for those things they call small issues.
Love is one of them; it is one of the intangible factors vital for the proper development of any society. It has been underrated in our hemisphere because we are unthinking people, who have elected to work by sight. So, for us, any other thing outside the realm of the physical does not exist. This is the point where we miss the important issues. I recall that in a recent article on this page, I did a discourse entitled “Bad spirit, terrific people.”
The intention then was to show that historical lessons have proved that every society would need majority of her members to carry good spirit if congenial kind of progress is to be made; if the atmosphere is that of corrupted spirituality, kidnapping, rape, fierce political struggles, assassinations and stealing of public funds would become like a culture and acceptable norm among the people.
Today the nation is full of vices and they are threatening to swallow us up, and it came to that point because we refused to sow the seed of love. In accordance with natural law, we are reaping what we sowed.
Today is the climax on what is now popularly known as Valentine Season, when if things were properly done men and women should extend hand of love and fellowship to each other; I said if properly done but from what I see things are not being properly done in this instance. The orphanages and the dislocated are not the focus, rather we are giving emphasis to the amorous and hedonistic sides on what should be a very serious tool in the hand of man for improving his wellbeing and transforming the society. The young ones whose main occupation should be to change things for their own benefit appear to be the worst culprits. In the two weeks preceding today I have heard a number of young but unemployed girls and boys make various telephone calls to express varied weird desires.
Some of the girls wanted their boyfriends to take them to Dubai or Obudu Cattle Ranch and the boys in turn demanded a visit for the weekend. What they would do is left to the imagination. Part of the problem is that increasingly we are having a new generation that don’t know the necessity of sitting down and worrying about new developmental options; this could be very agonizing for the few who know how nations could be developed.
The truth is, as currently is, our nation is a hate-filled one but I must admit it was not like this before and shortly after independence. There was a time one’s car could break down in a totally strange environment and the local people would be struggling among themselves to offer the best assistance and shelter, but that is not so today any longer. Today, it is a case of hate and wickedness in every facet of our life: at the police station, on the road, in the court, the market places, homes, religious centres, government and governors, simply everywhere.
Some of us who know about the making of a nation knew we were living on borrowed time; that it was only a matter of time and the full weight of hate would descend on us just as it is now. Nigeria is not a creation, it is an imposition and when we had time to make it into a creation we turned a blind eye. This nation has no ideals to which all of us subscribe and no effort has been made to create the Nigerian we want; we must do all these before we can have a love driven nation. The mode of economic pursuit also determines the level of love. Crass capitalism promotes selfishness which has its basis on hate. The hate situation is worse when the economic space is closed and the few values available are not authoritatively allocated on the platform of merit (national hate level was increased by discriminatory policies by federal and state governments against citizens).
Love can be restored; we can reintroduce civics, indoctrinate the citizenry, make citizens to own Nigeria and make them travel across ethnic lines. Many citizens know Europe better than they know their nation. We should establish a national institute where those who want to lead should go to learn the art of patriotism and Nigerian languages.
The nation must provide for its citizens, employment and social security for the idle are very important. Besides, the government should do away with discriminatory policies and utterances.
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