The Mindset – The Blame Game
Every Nigerian seems to know the socio-political problems facing Nigeria. Some will even tell you how to fix them. This writer is also guilty, if that is what it is. In any case, one thing is certain - Nigeria’s socio-political problems have so far defied solutions. Many Nigerians, however, believe the problems are solvable. Like in most fields, e.g. medicine, engineering, etc., incorrect diagnosis usually produce a lengthy period of recovery or cure. That sounds like the Nigerian situation. You tend to apply genuine treatment, but for the wrong defect. The mindset here is that the country has lacked good leadership. Ninety nine percent of Nigerians will swear that given good leadership, Nigeria’s problems are half solved. The remaining one percent thinks it is by active citizenship by the majority of the governed. It is, once again, the question of the chicken and the egg – which comes first. Philosophers have not been able to solve that either.
The argument for not wanting to challenge the military was adequate at the time. ‘You don’t argue with a man carrying a gun or sword.’ The sword, however, has been sleeping in the scabbard for the past 7 years – the military is back in the barracks. The situation is not getting better. Is it then possible to try something else? Let us move the spotlight away from the officials or our leaders, for a moment and shine it on the public. What degree of angelic attribute is the public?
Individually, Nigerians are not different from other people in the world. The Nigerian react to the erosion of his wealth, just like anybody else. He puts on his trousers, one leg at a time, like everybody else. The Nigerian appear to be a wonderful person, but he seems not to gel in a group in Nigeria. Outside Nigeria, he is ok. A group is made up of two or more. Moral codes are developed in any activity in which people interact as in a group. A moral code is simply a series of agreements to which a person has subscribed to, to guarantee the survival of that group. Later these moral codes could be codified into laws or embedded into the constitution or rules and regulations.
When people get together, they often draw up a list of what is legal or moral (these are things that contribute to survival) and what they consider as illegal or immoral (these are things that are destructive of survival). Moral codes or the law is, therefore, a survival characteristic. It may not necessarily mean a unifying issue, but the survival of the group or nation depends on it.
Philosophers, from the 6th century B.C., have tried to tackle the subject of human conduct and ethics. The followers of Pythagoras (Greek mathematician and philosopher of the sixth century B.C.) tried to use mathematical theories in this regard. Later Socrates (470-399 B.C.) and his student, Plato (427-347 B.C.), also tried. Much later, Aristotle also lent his own theory. However, down the ages, philosophers have concluded that 20% of a group will readily break the moral codes of the group. These are people with antisocial tendencies. These are people I will refer to as lunatics in this writing. Three percent of them are considered dangerous and are incurable.
If these observations are true, it means this is true of any group of any size. This will be true of a family, a company, an organisation, a nation and even a race. If every nation has it, then what is the difference between civilised society that many Nigerians wish for and uncivilised society? It would not be stupid to postulate that the difference lies in the activities of the remaining 80% that does not readily break the moral codes of the group. The word readily is the keyword, because within this group, there are those that would sometimes break the moral codes of the group but they do not readily break it.
There is a law of nature common to all mankind, which time can never annul nor destroy that the majority will always rule. Before you carry your gauntlet or cock your gun to shoot this down, please hear me out. Erroneously, people have always thought majority to mean physical vote, but it is not - because physical vote is deceptive. What it means is the wish of the majority. If the majority wishes something, it happens. This is, of course, different from saying something and wishing the opposite. You cannot say that you want an angel to be your leader when you are still a robber.
Anyway, since the antisocial personalities are only 20% of the population (minority) and less that 3% are even considered dangerous, with a little effort and restraint, the eighty percent that does not readily break the moral codes could better the state of society. Anytime this group is sucked into the activities of the lunatics, its members swell the ranks of the lunatics. Before long, antisocial behaviours become the majority and what you get is what obtains in Nigeria presently.
In Nigeria of today, the legal or political process of the country is often allowed by the 80% that does not readily break the moral codes, to favour the antisocial personalities in positions of trust. The result has never contradicted the observations of philosophers, because all the civilising organisations of Nigeria have become suppressed and these have led to a barbarism of criminality and economic duress. The latest wave of political assassinations is the direct products of the society failing in its duties.
For a starter, we need a different approach. As it’s generally known, Nigeria’s socio-political problems have defied solutions and my opinion is that we might have been trying to cure a wrongly diagnosed disease. I humbly suggest that maybe it is not the bad guys that are the problems. Maybe it is the supposedly "good guys" that are the problems. We seem to have focussed on bad leadership; bad police force; bad politician; antisocial personalities, etc. Each of these groups has its own 20% that will readily break the moral code of its group. Could we for once, focus on our inability to identify and isolate the bad guys? After all, citizenry is a participatory process.
Every society has its share of the bad guys and the ratio in Nigeria could not be the worst. There is nothing unique about the bad guys in Nigeria. They do what bad guys do everywhere and that is to try to prevent the rest of us from moving on. It is, the good guys in Nigeria that are unique. They cannot rein in the antisocial personalities within and they even join them. The most effective weapon, which indeed is a small effort, is to restrain from copying or joining the bad guys. We can beat them, please, don’t join them! That way, we don't swell the ranks of the bad guys. That way - we set out to cut the work of the overloaded police force. This is what obtains in most of the societies that we admire and wish for. Remember, the bad guy goes home to sleep and snore, whilst you go home to regret what you have done and face insomnia. Nothing hurts a man more than to having acted below his own personal standard. The bad guy has not acted below his own standard. Can those that do not readily break the moral codes in the Nigerian society say the same?
A simple illustration is what obtains on our roads. Traffic jam is a common phenomenon these days in most cities and towns around the world. When that happens, drivers queue up decently behind the vehicle in front of them and wait for the police to sort it out. You would be surprised that even in a country like the UK, the bad guy (twenty percent that will readily break their moral codes) would pull out and form another, illegal, lane, just as it is common in Nigeria. The difference, however, is that the good guys (the 80% that would not readily break the moral codes of their society) in the UK will never join the bad guys on his illegal lane and the bad guy will be alone on that lane. In Nigeria, the "good guys,” as you all know, will follow the bad guy, thereby, swelling his ranks.
In a situation like that, the police in Britain would appear more effective because he is only dealing with a fraction of the problems (Twenty percent of the problem) – since the 80% that will not readily break the moral code of society has exercised restraint and helped the situation. Meanwhile, the police in Nigeria are being overwhelmed with a multiplicity of the problems (hundred percent almost), because those that do not readily break the moral codes of society are swelling the ranks of the lunatics, who naturally, readily, break the moral codes of society. These “good guys” will never initiate the process of breaking the law but unnaturally follow to break the law because “everybody else is doing it.” This is like living a lie, because they are naturally not bad people. The good news, however, is that they are still curable.
If I may, I would suggest that those who think they are not natural lunatics should exercise restraints and not join in the bandwagon just because they think, “everybody is doing it.” It is not everybody that is doing it in any case; only the bad guys are doing it. When people break the moral code of a group it is considered as an overt act and when they conceal it, it is regarded as withholding. At least the bad guy does not live a lie. He may be guilty of an overt act, but he does not withhold it. It shows that even thieves have honours. It appears that the bad people are the only sincere people in Nigeria. They are what they are.
Another vocabulary that is chic in Nigeria, in recent times, is “selective prosecution.” Since the advent of Ribadu’s EFCC, it has become fashionable. I suppose well meaning Nigerians should back EFCC, whether selective or not. To cure cancer, good cells are sometimes hurt. Let us overwhelmingly back EFCC, so that when we ask for the prosecution of even the president there will be no excuse. Even me think, Obasanjo was selective when he exposed the governor of Plateau State for money laundering, but in retrospect I now believe that Nigeria missed an opportunity. When the president presented video evidence, supplied by London Metropolitan Police that indicted the governor of Plateau State, to its people – they said it was selective - after all, he was not the only one. Are all of us now Ali Babas? Nigerians do pray fervently for a pope or chief imam to be the next president, yet we are all, in our own little ways, robbers. No miracle will make a thief to be the leader of bishops or imams, except the bishops or imams are themselves, thieves.
Mr. Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick is author of The Devil Must Be Laughing. UK
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Posted by Robot| 10.09.2006 21:31