Ever-growing!

I had intended to do something different today. My focus would have been on a discourse I would have titled “War against Ndigbo”; a war to totally diminish the Igbo nation, and which has been on from 1960, when our country became independent. It gained traction during eight years administration of under the General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) as president. Rather than show signs of abating under President Bola Tinubu, it has assumed another very dangerous dimension. It is a veiled assault yet recording huge casualties. It is both economic and ethnic. There are vicious efforts to decapitate a major ethnic group and push it into minority status that is of no consequence whatsoever. 

I thought it was important to take another critical look at the development because of its very obvious negative implications for the proper development of the country. But, as you can see the menu I chose to serve you is different. The earlier topic is crucial but I decided to wait a little longer to find out a few more things. Perhaps it would be served next week if no other event more serious happens in our country, where the trend of recent has  become one day, one terrible trouble. I will pay attention in today’s outing to this thinking that “we are ever growing country and so ever learning.” Another way our ineffective ruling class put it is this: “It is a learning process” and  when they say this, what they mean is that the society can wallow in mistakes and aberrations; it is nothing abnormal, it all fits in into the growing up period and learning process during which some mistakes and experiences are inevitable. Even orchestrated ones!

There is a baptismal name for this too. Those with very high educational attainment have since branded the ugly cycle of stupidity as the «nascent years». We all fear to call it by its right name or to describe it appropriately as «years the locusts, cankerworms and caterpillars have eaten.» Appropriate description would haunt us, especially the leadership class. It will adequately reflect their journey round infamy. The truth is that shying away from calling a spade by its name, finding it when it is misplaced has become a very difficult task. If we saw our challenges in the right perspective, perhaps our response and attitude might ble far different. We find it very convenient to hide under the false pretense that these are growing up and learning years. For those who may not know, it is important to see from this what half education could do to a people. This line of negative perception that has turned into excuse was picked from sociological studies which posit that both humans and society grow and in process of growth so many things happen before the point of final transformation. It is no false study or finding. Indeed, humans and their societies are organic, both exhude some forms of life or dynamism. To stay relevant both must continue to transform from one phase to the other else there will be problems. When motion is stalled, progress must stop. Stagnation and retrogression do no entity any good at all. 

Let›s make the analogy a bit clearer, a child that is four months old who is yet to start crawling when he ought to have starting doing so and has not past that stage by the 10th month would obviously become a big concern to parents and genuine lovers of the family. The state of the child will precipitate confusion, cause time and funds to be wasted moving around everywhere looking for solutions. If the situation runs into adulthood, complications would set in, disorientation and possible loss of faith would manifest, provoking otherwise good people to begin to think the unthinkable.

The same process applies to the development of a country. When the leadership over time fails to understand the mission for the time and consequently betrays it, such leadership will build up contradictions that eventually end up destroying the people and the country. Most conflicts in countries have their roots in this process. Distortion often would produce sweet feelings to those who introduce it but this way of doing things does great damage to rules and procedures; it leads to collapse of institutions, both public and private, closes spaces for self-actualization, leaving in place a Hobbesian state where competition will be very fierce, might would become right and acceptable, life would diminish and become very cheap, finally life expectancy would drop drastically, that is if there would be an atmosphere to even live, not to talk of doing anything meaningful.

Look at our country and tell us what you see. Is there no resemblance to the picture painted above? Many think the sordid state we have found ourselves today just happened. No. It is no happenstance. It didn›t just drop from another hemisphere. We invited it upon ourselves by our reckless acts over time. Both the leadership class and the docile followership. There is this thinking that we can sow weeds and reap rice in the end but things don’t work that way. If you sow corruption you reap corruption. Our leaders and some sections of the country who have taken adventure of “state seizure” had all along thought it was a game of war and bounties. For the greater part of our nationhood, it has been like war where a side that is “victorious” either by way of military coups or election, the winning party goes ahead to pillage, plunder and take away everything good for themselves.

Those pushing negative agenda over a long period forget something very vital: when leaders cause citizens to lose faith in their country dangerous gaps are created, their acts of misdirection create walls which turn out to provide homes to  rodents. When man and rodents live together, the consequence is left to the imagination. What is more, there would always retributive season when acts of perfidy mature to become monsters. Monsters are no pets, they are wild, usually very grown and mature elements looking for where to create havoc; they devour even those that nurture them. No boundaries. The zoo worker who is not very careful and professional will end up as a meal for any of the very wild animals caged in within the space. If truth be told our country is in bad shape. It is hellish.

Normal economic indices working out very successfully elsewhere have failed to work here. Political systems that have produced great nations, we have made nonsense of in our case. We have a country but far greater majority of the population aren›t very sure if truly what they have is a country or something totally different. Yes entities can be in name and not in substance. Suddenly, we are seeing our leaders claim they have become ‹born again› and now talking about collaboration. «Nigeria first› has become the new slogan. They now regale us with their song of new resolve to work beyond political party lines. Is that what the country really needs to get out of the valley or something far more than coalescing of party distinctions into a unit. Working for what specific challenges is the issue. Nigerians want to see details of a New Deal. Not a dance on the periphery, capable of breeding distractions and leaving them more confused. 

I was in a gathering few day ago and someone was talking about “healing process” and his key prescription was that everybody should have a rethink for the sake of the country. I quickly interjected and told him mistakes are not corrected only by realization or awareness of how bad situations have turned out. Coming to knowledge about the state of things vital as it is should serve to ignite the real process for proper national healing and rebirth. The point being canvassed is this: there is process to reversing wrongs and wilful mistakes. Without this process taking place, no genuine rebirth or better still renaissance can take place. Whatever is done outside the process would be like a whitewash – like the case of the sepulcher that is beautiful outside but habouring dead bones inside. Those who whose reckless acts over time led to the downturn must first be willing to give up some of the advantages picked up unduly. Restitution. Very important. 

I told my friend that recreating a people and space is mainly about restitution, fairness, justice, equity and vision. It is sheer tomfoolery to hold tight to undue gains and then desire to secure peace. I add vision where it is and the import is clear: apart from specifying destination and pathway to it, it is very important in the making of a nation that everyone involved  be very certain what is inside the venture for all for each and everyone . Running a blind race won’t help anyone in this instance.

I will use two very recent cases to bring home the point I am trying to make and we conclude. The JAMBSOMA GATE, talking about the girl said to have falsified results and the institution drew the long knife, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The clash showed how by the unnationalistic acts of a small group our entity has been held up from growing.

There was nothing like JAMB until the military regime created it. Before then tertiary institutions had autonomy; they recruited their staff, built up their institutions and admitted students they wanted. The practice world over is that higher education is a universal thing, knowledge should be sought from anywhere and that it is best done under an atmosphere of unfettered freedom. It was working until supremacists decided to abridge the process with introduction of JAMB to centrally clear all issues surrounding admissions in the country.

With it came differential cut off marks for the different states. Some were required to score as high as 300 marks over 400 while others just had to score as low as 80 to gain admissions, even into many professional courses. JAMB, irrespective of what its creators put forward as its core objectives, was an instrument to hold back the educational advantaged states to allow the educationally backward states to meet up. Instead of affirmative actions, scholarships, more educational institutions and special incentives some chose this obnoxious method to fatally hurt the psyche of young citizens with delicate pregnable minds.

We hit a young child with bareface discrimination and still expect that child to grow up and love his country. JAMB as a clearing house for admission is anachronistic and a clear aberration that should never be tolerated for one day. That it has become a money earning agency for government in a country struggling to improve her literacy is simply unthinkable. Mmesoma Ejikeme’s forgery is symptomatic of examples set by the leadership class. A president in this blessed country couldn’t find his elementary school certificate, he had no secondary or tertiary certificate yet he made the presidency of a sophisticated country such as ours. Sheep must give birth to sheep, not goat.

Our challenge is that we are yet to agree if we want a country called Nigeria. That would led to the vital question of what kind country and citizens to populate it. When we do we will see that everybody will be accountable. The leader that is ill equipped won’t even get to power because he won’t be able to forge results. The electoral process would be very credible. We  will insist on core values to govern conduct,  whether public or private and of course public service too. Rich values would make us hate deviant behaviors of all kinds. Forgeries, sycophancy, double speak and inordinate scheming would become what they should be: evil. Sanctions would be available, regarded and promptly applied without extraneous consideration of any nature. Everyone would be made to take responsibility for their omissions and commissions.

Head of departments responsible for dereliction of duty would have to pay a price. Ghost workers will vanish, bandits and religious jihadists stoking fires in territories far from their natural areas, destroying property and killing innocent people won›t vanish leaving our numerous security set-ups to throw their arms in the air, claiming they can›t establish a trace. When we begin to do right things, foundation of a country would be in place which would produce a united entity, which eventually will grow to become a nation respected worldwide. At that point we won’t have need to make a song out of patriotism. Citizens would see the need to defend what is theirs. It will just come naturally. Simple matter.