17 Feb 2009 |
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Community Intelligence as it Affects Political and Social Governance in Africa: Nigeria as a prototype by Dr. Muideen Owolabi Bakare, M.B.B.S, FMCPsych
(Consultant Psychiatrist)Child and Adolescent Unit
Introduction Political and social governance in Africa is at the level of decadence. African leaders are not only corrupt but they also deprive the populace of basic social amenities because of self gratification they seek by all means at the expense of the general community. Instinct for communal identity and community development is now lacking in Africa as its leaders siphon its resources and divert it abroad in private businesses and ventures. Present political and social situation in Africa really appear gloomy. Then, controversy was generated by the comment of the Nobel Prize winner, Dr. James Watson on Africa situation: “I am inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa because all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the tests say not really” (Times online, 2007). The question arises of whether Dr. Watson was referring to individual intelligence as measured by the various psychometric approaches or ‘community intelligence’ as would be defined later in this article. The Concept of Intelligence Human Race and Intelligence Intelligence is the gospel that Darwin’s theory of evolution preached. The concept behind Darwin’s theory of evolution had been based on evolving superior intelligence and progressive increase in size of cerebral cortex in different species ( Darwin, 1872). Darwin’s theory of evolution had been used in the past as a platform for racial prejudice, for example in the eugenic movement of Nazi Germany that saw a large number of Jews eliminated, Adolf Hitler was quoted to have said, “A stronger race will supplant the weaker, since the drive for life in its final form will decimate every ridiculous fetter of the so-called 'humaneness' of individuals, in order to make place for the true 'humaneness of nature,' which destroys the weak to make place for the strong" (Doughnut, 2007). The long ranging controversy on the issue of Race and Intelligence (Andor, 1966, Smedley and Smedley, 2005, Rushton and Jensen, 2005) is obviously a precarious topic to explore. Defining Intelligence According to American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force Report (1996), Intelligence is difficult to define and varies from individual to individual and from time to time and none of the Psychometric measures of individual intelligence commands universal acceptance: “Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought. Although these individual differences can be substantial, they are never entirely consistent: a given person’s intellectual performance will vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. Concepts of "intelligence" are attempts to clarify and organize this complex set of phenomena. Although considerable clarity has been achieved in some areas, no such conceptualization has yet answered all the important questions and none commands universal assent. Indeed, when two dozen prominent theorists were asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen somewhat different definitions” (Neisser et al, 1996). Individual Intelligence and Community Intelligence Giving a personal definition; “Intelligence is the tool for survival and self preservation”. There should be a way to differentiate between individual survival and preservation and community survival and preservation. This calls for further expatiation on the concept of Individual Intelligence and Community Intelligence. Individual Intelligence: This is a function of nature (gene) and nurture (environment). It has the objective of individual survival and preservation. It is often measured by various psychometric approaches. Community Intelligence: This is aimed at benefiting the largest number of people living in a community; it has the objective of achieving the ends of community survival and preservation. Community Intelligence is largely a function of social structure and values of that particular community directed at a common goal of community survival and preservation. It sure has some relationship with individual intelligence, but not of direct proportionality. Community Intelligence, as referred to here can not be objectively assessed using any psychometric approach. It can only be assessed by the level of political and social development of that community. Community Intelligence and the Present Day Africa Going by the present decadence of political and social governance in Africa compared to the thriving political and social governance in America and European nations of the West, it might be concluded that the Community Intelligence of Black African nations is lower compared to that of America and European nations of the West. Then, the pertinent question is, why the lower community intelligence in Black African nations? Pre-colonial Africa Africa of pre-colonial era existed in smaller communities of different Empires often consisted of people who had common identity, common goals and common social values. The common identity obliged the then African leaders to put at utmost importance social welfare provision to the generality of the people living in their community. Though, resources may be limited then and social and technological development brought by civilization may be lacking. The then limited resources were fairly distributed among the people. If anything went wrong in terms of social welfare and comfort of the people, the leaders and the community would look back and retrace their steps to remedy the situation, either by social restructuring or appeasing to the gods of the land which was their belief. The aim of a better community was the guiding principle for the then African leaders. The gods and nature would judge them if they went contrary to the values and goals of their community. These acted like checks and balances for the then African leaders’ actions. Social decadence and corruption were not wide spread as it is in Africa of today. Examples are found in the political and social structure of the then Sokoto Caliphate and Oyo Empire, both in the present day Nigeria in Africa (Wikipedia, Free Encyclopedia, 2007). Post-colonial Africa Post-colonial Africa gave birth to syncretism of social values and that of culture and religion. African culture and way of life are changing and gradually undergoing transition. Colonization came Africa’s way and infuse African traditional beliefs and values with foreign beliefs and values. Along with colonization came the concept of civilization. Political and social structures of African societies changed over the night. The former checks and balances that guide the pre-colonial African leaders in being fair to their community was replaced by the western judicial system which is strange to the culture and perceived as prone to easy manipulation. Simpson (1980), discussing the syncretism of traditional African culture and modern civilization brought about by colonization as it affects moral values among the Yoruba of Nigeria, quoted one scholar to have said; “There has been a remarkable change in moral values all over the land. Western influence has not been altogether beneficial to the people: the Yoruba have been taught too many things! The Pax Britannica makes it possible for a daylight burglar to escape his well-merited punishment if he and his lawyer are sufficiently clever about it – the Judge is so bound by the paradox of objective justice that even though he knows in his heart of hearts that the accused before him has committed the crime for which he is arraigned, yet he will let him go scot-free if the law is on his side. Christianity, by a miscarriage of purpose makes its own contribution to the detrimental changes in moral values. Somehow, it has replaced the old fear of the divinities with the relieving but harmful notion of a God who is a sentimental Old Man, ever ready to forgive perhaps even more than man is prone to sin, the God in whom ‘goodness and severity’ have been put asunder. So also does Islam unwittingly create the erroneous impression that the fulfillment of the obligatory duties and act of penance by good works are sufficient for the purpose of winning heaven. The result of all these is that our ‘enlightened products’ of the two ‘fashionable’ religions can now steal without any twinge or moral compunction those articles of food placed for sale at crossroads and by roadsides, which used to be quite safe. They can now cheerfully appropriate other persons’ property; they can break covenants or promises made on oath with brazen indifference. All these they feel free to do where those who had been brought up in the old ways and wisdom still shake and tremble at the mere thought of such things”. Colonization and the subsequent civilization had made Africans to lose their identity, lose their former communal life and place them at a situation whereby they need to rediscover themselves. Though, colonization and civilization had brought some benefits to Africa in terms of improved resources and technological development. These benefits had not been fairly distributed because of the discordance brought about by change in the traditional political and social structure. The community identity had been lost, common goals and objectives are not well defined again, this is signified by the gradual fading away of extended family system in Africa. The community intelligence of the people gradually diminishes and was overridden by the individual intelligence. Instead of the idea of communal survival, the idea of individual survival became rather prominent. Nearly every African now realized that there should be a greener pasture somewhere outside their immediate environment or community. African mentality changed to that of; ‘it is less stressful to migrate into an already built structure than to start building a new structure’. African leaders today are less concerned about the social welfare of their people and communities; they are only concerned with enriching their pocket from the community resources and investing same abroad outside their community. The former African society that had been psychologically ‘agrarian and domesticated’ now become psychologically ‘nomadic’ with its people looking for greener pasture abroad outside their community, instead of cultivating the green grass. A sign of declining community intelligence with overriding selfish individual intelligence. The Way Forward To move forward in Africa in the area of political and social governance, there is need to improve or increase the community intelligence of Africans. If community intelligence is a function of social structure and values of which is not presently well defined in Africa because of the present syncretism, how then can the community intelligence of Africans be improved? The Natural Adaptation The process would take a natural course of adaptation to the changed social values and structures. It is very difficult for Africa at this stage to retrieve its original identity before colonization. A new social and political structure/values introduced by colonization would gradually be digested into African consciousness and over more than two generations, this would be well absorbed and there would be a re-birth of Africa. A new identity would be assumed and new common community goals would be re-established. Then, Africa would be librated and be at par with European nations and America in the area of social and political governance and development. Catalyzing the Natural Adaptation The process of the natural adaptation can be sped up by right orientation. This can be done by providing appropriate information and educating the African children. A good source of information for African children would be in the History of Africa. This should be emphasized in the educational curriculum because without the past, there would be no present and without the present, there would be no future. A man that lives the present without carefully reflecting and exploring his past has not yet discovered himself. The aim is for Africans to re-discover themselves in relation to their communities. Education directed at improving the lost self esteem of growing up African children can not be overemphasized. All these will aid and speed up the process of the natural adaptation. References: Andor, L.E ed. (1966): Aptitudes and Abilities of the Black Man in Sub-Saharan Africa: 1784 – 1963: An Annotated Bibliography. Johannesburg: National Institute for Personnel Research. Darwin, C (1872): The Origin of Species; 6th Edition, London, Down Beckenham, Kent. Doughnut, D (2007): Watson’s Apology; the brites.org Neisser, U, Boodoo, G, Bouchard, T.J (Jr) et al (1996): Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns (a report of a task force convened by the American Psychological Association in 1995): American Psychologists, Vol.51, No.2; 77 – 101. Rushton, J.P and Jensen, A.R (2005): Thirty Years of Research on Race Differences in Cognitive Ability: Psychology, Public Policy and Law, Vol.11, No.2; 235 – 294. Simpson, G.E (1980): Yoruba religion and medicine in Ibadan: Ibadan University Press; University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Pg146. Smedley, A and Smedley, B.D (2005): Race as Biology is Fiction, Racism as a Social Problem is Real: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives on the Social Construction of Race: American Psychologist, Vol.60, No.1; 16 – 26. Times Online (2007): Black people ‘less intelligent’ scientist claims (James Watson): www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2677098.ece (October 17, 2007). Wikipedia, Free Encyclopedia (2007): Sokoto Caliphate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sokoto_caliphate Wikipedia, Free Encyclopedia (2007): Oyo Empire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/oyo_empire
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