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Beyond what our leaders are doing right or doing wrong, I strongly believe that there is something every Nigerian, or almost every Nigerian, needs to change. For too long, we have complained about others. Perhaps we should turn the searchlight on ourselves just a little. And every one of us needs to do this without pretence. If we have done it before, let us do it again and again until the result becomes obvious to all.
It is true that all our leaders, without exception, have performed below expectation. Yes, even the ones that did well still performed much below public expectation. It is just that some did terribly badly while others did a little badly. Whether they were military or civilian, they all did little or nothing to improve the lot of the people. And the society is, today, the worse for it. The great majority of Nigerians are wallowing in abject poverty. The prayer of some right now is that if the society cannot get better, it should not, for the sake of our children and posterity, get worse.
But who are our leaders? They are people who, at one time or the other, have been one of us. They did not jump down suddenly from the sky to lord it over us. They are our parents, brothers, sisters, uncles and cousins. They are our friends. Many of them, at some point, felt the same pains we felt and are still feeling. They too complained about bad leadership like the rest of us. Some were activists or social crusaders in a bid to change what they perceived was wrong. Some actually sought leadership positions because they genuinely wanted to make a difference. I am not disputing the fact that some sought such positions for selfish motives, but at least there have been a few who were disgruntled by the prevailing circumstances and so wanted to right some wrongs. The irony is that they have all ended up the same way. They have either left the society the same way they met it or have made it worse.
This points to the fact that our problem is not just a leadership problem: there is something about us as a people we need to change. We may not all have it in the same measure, but we have it all the same. I am grieved every time a Nigerian employer hires ten fellow Nigerians for fifty kobo and refuses to pay their wages for six months, preferring instead to celebrate with fun and funfair the birthday of his grandmother who died over a decade ago. My heart bleeds every time a bus driver holds everyone to ransom by parking right in the middle of the road because he does not want the bus driver behind him to overtake him and pick the passengers in front. I feel terrible every time I ask a vulcaniser to check the pressure of the tyres of my car and I have to keep an eye on him and the tool he is using to be sure what I get is an accurate report. And this happens everyday in the market, on the road, at home and even in the school.
The problem is that each of us seems to be gifted in the art of outsmarting the other person. And we seem to really enjoy it, especially when it is working to our advantage. And it has so much become part of us that when there is no one to outsmart, we just outsmart ourselves. This is what those in politics and leadership positions have used over the years to full advantage and the rest of us have been cleanly left gasping for breath. We marvel at the magnitude of greed they display in governance, yet we do not seem to be any better at our individual levels. The market woman will sell the same product to ten people at different prices, with some paying as much as twice what the others are paying. And we do not call it deception or greed; it is smartness. That is why we all open our eyes well well even in broad daylight. This unfortunately has engendered distrust, even amongst us. We have conditioned ourselves to the fact that the things we buy as new may or may not work. And when they turn out to be fake, the dealer is not called dubious or castigated or given a dose of the law. We only feel terrible that we have been outsmarted. Next time, we tell ourselves, we will more careful.
Does it not amaze you that, as smart as we seem to be, we are hardly able to do anything about our leaders, no matter how disgruntled we are with them? It is because they know all our tricks and more. Remember, they rose from our ranks. So they fine-tune the tricks when they get there and use them against us. What is more, they have the backing of the law, whether real or imagined, to ensure that the tricks always work for them. Whenever all that seems to be failing, they mix it with some dose of religion. Naturally, that mixture always sets us against one another and we forget the real issues.
Sometimes, I try to convince myself that we have not always been like this. I try to convince myself that we have been boxed into this corner by the harsh economic situation. I try to convince myself that under normal circumstances the average Nigerian is not too smart or intelligent for himself. The sad thing is that this is how things have been all my life as an adult. It is true that my grandmother told me that when they were growing up they could leave their ware by the roadside and go to sleep. Customers would simply take what they wanted to buy and leave the money in the same place. Nobody was afraid that someone would pick up anything without paying for it. Nobody was afraid that someone else would pick up the money that did not belong to him. Nobody would put her ware on another person’s spot just because it would attract more customers there. Everybody was, in a way, his brother’s keeper. It was sweet, uncomplicated communal life. But now? Nobody cares what happens to the next person. We are all involved in the race for survival, so it is everyone for himself and God for us all. We trample on whoever or whatever to get what we want. In the process, many hearts and lives are broken beyond remedy.
It is true we cannot return to the pre-medieval era. But the button of our consciences can be switched back on. And this is not just about our leaders, it is about everyone of us. The moment we fail to do what we know is the right thing to do, we have become part of the national problem. So we need to ask ourselves, every time we are tempted to take undue advantage of others, how it will affect their feelings. We need to ask ourselves how it will affect their lives and situations. Is it going to leave them better or bitter? Is it going to lift their status a little higher or push them deeper into despondency? If we treat each other right, the government will not have any choice but to treat us right.
And who says the change we need at the top cannot be engendered by us? We need a culture of selfless service in every sphere of life, so let us be the change we desire. Once we initiate it at our own level, with time the topmost public leadership positions in the land will be occupied by people who are not motivated by greed but by the desire to genuinely serve. As long as we are scheming to outsmart one another, we can never bring the change we need, and we can never be truly united to fight against our dubious leaders who, for too long, have successfully plotted to outsmart us. I rest my case!
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Posted by Robot| 27.03.2007 13:11