Subdued by poverty!

By

Kabiru Tsakuwa

tsakuwa2000@yahoo.com

 

 

That Nigeria is blessed in every material particular is an understatement. That its vast potentials have so far remained untapped is simply stating the most obvious fact. But is Nigeria and Nigerians cursed or under some supernatural spells? If not, what is responsible for the country having to contend with so many troubles, setbacks, failures and in inability to institutionalize some basic rudiments of civilize conducts as obtained in many other countries? Something that many of its contemporaries have over the years taken for granted!

 

In an attempt to proffer solutions to the myriads of problems of Nigeria, many commentators and intellectuals have produced volumes upon volumes of scholarly treatises as to the root caused of our lingering quagmire among which are: poverty of imaginations among our leaders and their inability to provide functional leadership which is the bedrock for any meaningful development. Others have blamed endemic corruption and the cancerous desire to get-rich-quick syndrome which afflicts cross sections of all the strata of Nigerian societies as the main culprits.

 

What people failed to understand however is: leaders are part and parcels of every society. Their mannerism and idiosyncrasies often reflect the psychology of the people around them. They can not differ substantially from the societies which produced them or even contemplate bringing about changes without instant and vehement resistance.

 

But if we can take time to ponder awhile, we can easily discover that many countries have a rallying point, a kind of national values that united the diapering ethnic entities into formidable front which served as a bulwark against executive highhandedness. Such developed and/or developing countries have one thing or the other in common; they either fear the consequences of law taking its rightful course without fear or favour or in the alternative subconsciously have the fear of God Almighty or in some weird instances, have believes in some other deities (daguts) which governed their day-to-day conducts. Many ‘isms’ such as: nationalism, socialism, Islamism, Arabism and what have you; have continued to serve effectively as rallying points for many of such lucky nations.

 

In the case of Nigeria however, it simply lacks any ideological frame work. Forget the fact that in theory-not practice, it ironically believed in God almighty. It didn’t believed in any ism; except may be ‘corruptism’ upon which to rally the masses and begin the process of nation building. What Nigerians seems to have in common is the over-abundance of destructive tendencies for corruptions and quick recoil to primitive sentiments in order to gain cheap political points thereby truncating meaningful attempts at national rebirth.

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to that, vast majority of poor Nigerians are thoroughly subdued by poverty to even think of any other thing other than their stomach. And those who are supposed to be their vanguard by virtue of their education and privileged position, are too docile and too fearful for their dear lives to even contemplate peaceful and/or bloody revolutionary changes! But positive changes as being envisaged by the latter day peace advocates have never happened on a flatter of gold any where on the planet earth, without some honest commitments and costly sacrifices. We truly lack heroes to blaze the trail for total emancipations from the shackles of internal neo-colonialism!

 

This geographical expression therefore may not endure for so long. In fact it may capsize any time, because the foundation upon which it rested is shaking ceaselessly under the tremor of mis-governance!!