Start Paying Attention

Start Paying Attention

Deola Ndanusa

If Wole Soyinka in one of his many pontifications declared his age group a wasted "generation", then what can we call ourselves, a "castrated generation", and by who? We may find the answer in our almost senile and physically finished leaders from the 60's era and their anointed sons and daughters who seem to have a lock on governance in Nigeria. Today, there is a dominant mindset amongst many talented youths who are leaving the country in droves – we appear in a hopeless situation and there seems nothing we can do to change the situation. Unlike the relatives of these so called leaders of Nigeria leaders that have Nigeria to pillage.

That attitude, a defeatist world view is what I have decided to focus on; it persists and is responsible for what is driving us into acts of desperation like fraud, prostitution and corruption. We seem to have stopped paying attention a long time ago to our birth right and we have let our circumstance, created by some selfish cabals in the country breed pessimism, and ultimately this has the potential of stripping us all of a sense of ourselves in the end, if we don't hasten to claim the future for the next generation.

Something beautiful happened on September, 1999 when Obasanjo was sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and 6-years later we still don't have a clue about what to do with democracy - and our right to choose – we finally won a semblance of it back, after long and tortuous years of military rule that had caused systemic destruction of our social, economic and value system. And we are still debating on what to do with this freedom of choice. What is instructive about this date is not the man that was sponsored by entrenched interests – it was the fact that we finally had a voice without the threat of the jackboot or guns of the military, surprisingly we are still shaking like wet chickens and still running around like the military is in power.

We have since forgotten the principle behind June 12 and Abiola, a former beneficiary of the military largesse that eventually sped the process of the military demise, before Abacha finally caused his death and that of the military in the bosom of his Indian prostitutes. For some of us, we still think this issue is about north / south dichotomy, unfortunately those were the tales that were handed out while some selected few, benefited and ruined the country. We seem to have bought into most of the excuses why the country hasn't moved forward, and it is still the same old knowledge and the same recycled leaders being peddled for our inability to fashion a decent economic and political system.

It is still amazing to think what the north has to do with not having the basic things of life, like education, health care services, electricity and good roads and communication services. And why we seem not to be focused on common issues like seeing our kids grow up without their lives being cut off by cultists or armed robbers, seeing them get a good education and living happily married lives. Those are the common themes in all humanity. Not the political jargons that has become the pastime of visionless and not so intelligent political elites. We all see Nigeria from the culture of our ethnicity while the world has evolved and is celebrating civilizations based on multicultural and "melting pot" paradigms.

Isn't it time we looked beyond this north/ south dichotomy before it annihilates us completely. The years of military promoted poverty – both mental and material, but isn't it time we took our destiny in our hands, instead of allowing the forces of divisiveness to hold us down and cow us into believing that only our personal and ethnic pursuits matter, and in the process relegating our social responsibilities to aged politicians who created the predicament that drove us out of the country. We seem not to have recognized a common theme that pervades most progressive societies, the idea we are all in this together. We have failed to re-enact the kind of civic engagement that was common during the years of the colonialists amongst Nigerian residents and students overseas.

It amazes me when Nigerians criticize and make ludicrous statements such as racism in their host countries and seek legal redress when they are discriminated against, but are unwillingly to show the same fervor when it comes to important national issues without ethnic colouration. Sometimes, I ask myself if the founders of our host communities were that complacent would we have societies to immigrate to in order to better ourselves. Their forefathers fought for the gains in these societies, and why don't we fight for the betterment of ours, especially now that we have a benchmark for comparing some of the systems in our country.

We now have youths joining all sorts of odious arguments coming out of the country, where people are crying marginalization and many are demanding resource control. Unfortunately, this cacophony of voices has drowned the real issues that we are less concerned with the real issues which are – justice, equity and fair play .I guess it is that easy to articulate without the redundant grammar of "offshore and onshore dichotomy", "derivation" and "true federalism". Most of these arguments are lost on a lot of us that are not politically savvy. They are all different words for separatism.

As far as I am concerned we are in this Nigerian boat together sink or swim and we all have a responsibility to make the union work and aggressively tame whatever ethnic demons that cloud our sense of objectivity. What explains the political refugee status under which some exiled Nigerians live? Or to be blunt, what explains the economic refugee status under which most of us live whether you are a permanent resident or have acquired citizenship in your host country. The willingness of your host country to play by the rules of justice , equity and fair play – that is why you can go to sleep and won't have to worry about dreams of religious riots, the future of your kids, retirement benefits, armed robbery , overt ethnicity, good education, light , water ,adequate telecommunication and unemployment. A reason skinheads or KKK are not terrifying you in your dreams.

The most effective tool for change is participatory democracy, and I am not campaigning that we all become politicians, but that we pay more attention to the issues that affect us. And those issues run deep in all humanity, justice, fairness and equity. No political leader can give me my human rights (remember Fela that said an animal cannot dash us our human rights) – it is given and should never be negotiated. We don't need an Obasanjo to go round the world campaigning for debt forgiveness before we know that we indeed deserve one and also demand the repatriation of the stolen wealth of the country from past military leaders and politicians. Neither should we swim in the self delusion that it is only the likes of Obasanjo as some people are want to believe that can make a difference or make things happen. We are all stakeholders and we do have a part to play in all these. The fact that Babaginda can still nurture the crazed idea of wanting to rule the country again is dumbfounding and shows how crude our system is and it urgently needs some refinement It is sad how meaningless the millions of bachelor, masters and doctorate degrees, being paraded by Nigerians. It hasn't served our best interests yet as a nation. It has only fortified us to argue and discriminate against ourselves while we laud our degrees over the less educated. The folks that leave the country in search of careers as footballers in Europe are less discriminating and have shown more sense of patriotism on football pitches and outside our shores than the other folks who come overseas as professionals and academics. If education is meant to open up the territory of our minds, how has it impacted on our advocacy for a decent system, devoid of ethnic and religious affiliations? We continue to kill the morale needed to empower our people, and the less fortunate to make informed choices when we argue over crude instincts.

It is an indictment on our intellectuals when rock stars start to chart a part forward for our country, and when they are the people championing change in Africa. And all we do is to come to western societies and "sponge" of the system, let us not forget the fact that if the blacks that suffered slavery in these societies did not fight for their own emancipation alongside decent white folks, we won't be able to bring our skills here to fill the quotas that were reserved for these descendants of slaves and take benefit of legislations that were meant to entrench fairness, equity and justice.

We as youths can do better by paying more attention to national affairs, demanding information on how the federal assets are being privatized, and pushing for bills through our legislators that encourage best practices, encouraging televised commissions of public enquiries and pushing for change internationally. After all, demanding for what is right is a universal right.

The reason why we have been denied our future and so much injustice has gone unchecked is because we as youths have abandoned our rights to be heard. The real gift of democracy is in our ability to influence and determine policy. The politicians should be answerable and nothing is impossible if we set our minds on it – The same God that created Obasanjo and Babaginda created us to multiply and have dominion over the earth – we equally have a claim on Nigeria irrespective of ethnicity or religion. God handed over that gift to us long time ago and democracy is only here to help nurture and promote our abilities.

That brings readily to mind a story of an old sage that was forwarded to me sometime back, and it should resonate with most of us. It has been posted here without any modifications - There was this old man who lived in a cottage at the outskirts of a village. He was reputed to be a very wise .In fact, as the story went, he always had an answer to any question, and he had never been wrong! In the same village lived this bright- eyed twelve – year old we were told who was determined to break this record – he would pose a question that he was sure the old man would fail to answer correctly. And he had just the right question. Walking up to the cottage, he hails the old man. To which the wise man responds, "What question can I answer for you today young soul? And to which our friend, with his two hands clasped behind his back replies, "O wise one, in my hands behind me I have a sparrow.

Tell me, is it dead or alive?" His plan was this : if the old man answered " dead "he would let the little bird free, and if the old man answered "alive " he would break the little bird's neck .any answer the old man gave , he would be wrong !! The old man leans back on his chair squints his eyes, and stares into space without answering. As the seconds go by, the little boy is thrilled that the old wise one has been stumped! Finally, the wise man clears his throat and speaks, "O young soul, the destiny of the sparrow …….is in your hands " I bet our future is in our hands and it is time we started paying attention to our future!

DEOLA NDANUSA , ONTARIO - CANADA