|
On Perception.... By Adamu Tilde
Generally speaking, Man cannot exist in isolation, he has to be part of a whole. And God, in His infinite wisdom; created us with a unique and distinctive capacity to think and decipher on many things. Perception is one of it. Despite the inexplicit definition and established boundary on which perception is built, it is however believed and assumed to be guided by deeper reflections on the existing realities that surrounded the making of a person-- History, Identity, Culture, Worldview, Values, Yearnings, Aspirations and Virtues etc.
It is on this regard that I intend to make a solid and candid reflection on which I often build my perception on certain happenings in my domain. And this is not a self-defense neither a consolation nor a call for anyone to change his perception on myself and my views. It is a broad -based approach to which I, as a person-kwith an exclusive right to think and observe the way I like, minding no any perception at which any person build his relationship with me. However, despite the broad nature in which I premised my perception of my views, I However, nonetheless, bear in mind the feelings in which I may subject my co-tenants in this temporary World. This notwithstanding, I will not compromise at the detriment of my cherished principles.
I am overwhelmed and fascinated and often at ease with the School of thought of Herbert Spencer which sees circumstances and conditions as more the problem of system efficiency than just the operators of the system. This, unlike the school of thought by Tom Carlyle or George E., who may insist that the system operators are the ultimate! Tom Carlyle believes there are heroes who can "magically" turn things around overnight. It is to this extent that I expend more energy on analysing the system that pays way to the present brouhaha that we are into rather than discrediting every effort put forward by our leaders or impeaching their characters for something that I perceived it to be wrong. And equally this is the reason why I stressed so much to find out why the North is the way it is and why its elites behave the way they do rather than blaming and insulting them.
Yes, in certain exceptional situations, I take recourse in the school as claimed by Majid Khadduri of the merger of the two positions by Spencer and Carlyle. This school says that for a good output a system must be okay as much as its operators. In this I say let’s build a good working system first in theory and in practice then, the issue of the operators will come. Also in building the system all pointers in nature must be considered from the very scratch. This is why even in the issue of marriage (another system), you consider your basic feelings first before reasoning through the nuances of other things leading to more serious steps towards commitment. There are other many indicators when the question is of building a legal, economic or political system where trivial things as whether and climate can make or mar a seemingly comprehensive system not mention culture and spiritual tendencies. It is to this extent that I find it very difficult to criticise or ridicule my leaders hence those leaders were/are not operating in a vacuum, rather they are part of the system that is generally poor in foundation and suffered a very long period of mismanagement.
Thus, like I espoused in one of my essays "Criminal Tenencies in Single Story" that: "The postulation that the problem of Nigeria is leadership ignores the deep structural constraints on human action and psychology. It is pre-critical to ignore the complex ways in which social structures mediate, modify, condition and constrain human choices. Leadership works within institutional, historical, cultural and economic contexts which place limits on what human agents can and cannot do. This notion of structural determination of leadership means that a leader has inevitably to work within and exist in a system and a political logic whose proper system, laws and operation his or her leadership cannot, by definition, dominate absolutely. The leader despite having a certain measure of freedom has inevitably to be governed by the system within which he or she exists. And although men and women make their own history, they clearly do not make it as an act of will, or in their own freely-chose circumstances, but under structural constraints of the accumulated past and inherited traditions. Nigerian leaders cannot be miraculous changed men or women of their country but the changed men or women of their country’s changed circumstance."
Building on the above premise in which my view and perception of system thinking and operations is consolidated, I find it hard and difficult to assume and believe that by mere changing of the persona that is at the helm of affairs in any society will instantly change the predicament that the occupiers of that society found themselves in. Nay, we first of all build a workable system then accompany it with strong stewardship. And that's why if we can recover from our selective amnesia and dust our history books, we can vividly see where strong and dedicated men fell/still falling when confronted with a duty of leadership.
Suffice to have a quick glance at Umaru Yaradua's stewardship. He en-circled himself with the best team that a leader can boast of yet he achieved very little, at leastin global standard. Take a look at how Prof Adenike Grange lost it to the system. prof Dora Akunyili at her information portfolio. Prof. Jega in his INEC. Shekarau in Kano. Comr. Balarabe Musa in Kaduna. And host of many good people of this great Nation that fall victims to the System failure not in their own making. |