SEEING THE PROBLEMS IN A NEW LIGHT... By Dotun George

Today, it has become obvious that Nigeria, a country of great potentials, is in dire straits and one wonders what pushed us into such a state of decline within a short period. Is it our founding fathers? Is it the politicians? Is it the handiwork of external forces that never wanted this country to be a formidable global player? Is it some supernatural forces beyond our control? What is it that has made us unable to exploit our natural gifts, resources and potentials to the extent that we have swam in an ocean of fresh water for decades and yet came out dirty and thirsty?


To me, the best way to view our problem is for all of us to see it in a new light. The problem with Nigeria should be seen in the prism of social, cultural and political milieu. It is not isolated to a particular timeline. It is a process. It is like a chip embedded in our national experience and cannot be unplugged until we realize that we are carrying an invisible baggage.
It is too simplistic to point to today’s oil glut or foreign exchange scarcity as our problem. Of course, there are many other countries that had gone through recession. America did. United Kingdom did. But, while the bad times lasted, the citizens of those countries never saw it that they had existential problems. They just said, “We are in a recession; we shall get out of it!”


Nigeria’s problem is caused by all of us. On an individual level, we all have Nigeria-killer microchips embedded in us. For some, it is the ethnic bias or religious bigotry. And for others, it is pure greed. In all, the individual comes first in consideration before the nation.
The danger is that it is so deeply hidden that we are each like a terrorist sleeper cell, to be activated once we are in that critical moment in which we would be useful to Nigeria. The worst part of it all is that the forces of evil have a way of bringing kindred spirits together to fulfill an evil agenda. At that moment, any other dissenting voice could be effectively silenced by this ‘axis of evil’. This is why, in some other saner climes, in as much as there are bad eggs they are not as powerful as to silence the patriotic voice of the majority. And because impunity is low, the spirit of the nation always finds a voice.


One of the way to silence evil and terminate its effects in the life of a man is to confront it, expose it and deal with it. Evil triumph when good people and men of purpose keep mute and ignore it. We all know one or two problems militating against the society we are born into and the nation we belong to, we can redefine the problem and provide 21st century solution to it. The significant and peculiar problems we face and encounter cannot be solved at the same level we were when those problems were created. It will require a new level of thinking to resolve it. This what we need to do at the leadership level, followership level and at institutional level.