Nation Building - A Task For All!

In discussing Nigeria, sometimes it is difficult and sometimes nauseating because most often than not, what we dissipate our energy on are empheral and irrelevant. The core issues that we should be discussing are often relegated to the background, and often treated as non-existence.

To me the Nigeria problems are multi-faceted and deep rooted but not unsumountable. What is required to solving them is the political will to solve them plus the concerted effort of all the citizenry. The root of our problems to me therefore lies with our values systems. The question is what creates value?

Lie in the heart of value creation are education, exposure and experience. Our education which comes from formal and informal learning plays significant role in what we accept as the norm, and thrives that drive our actions and inactions. In other words, what we learn from the four wall of classrooms, religious settings, and interaction with fellow man from the home to the streets are germane to the constitution and formation of our values.

Same is through of our exposure. The elders in my part of the world are wont of saying 'if a child has not been to another man's farm, he or she will regards his father's farm as the biggest in the world,'. Thus what we come to regards as values are equally limited by our exposure to other ways of life, learn from traveling, reading, watching movies, among others.  It needs be noted that a man's value can and also influenced what he reads, places he visits and movies he watches. Men of learning however deliberately goes beyond the comfort of their acquired values to learn new things.

Experience, they say is the best teacher. Nature and life has a way of teaching man new things. Thus lessons learned from painful or fruitful realities to a large extent also determines the premium we place on life and humanity as a whole.

Where are my going in all these? Solving Nigeria myriads problem demands a more systematic approach which may not be achieved with our present state of mental and intellectual laziness. It will call for thorough and deep thinking deliberately targeted at resolving all our seemly interactable socio-economic and political maladies.

The present debate which is rooted in inter-personal, inter-party, ethnic and religious rivalries cannot beget to us the desirable future. The question is who will bear the cart? To expect the present political and economic elites to solve the problems could be likened to a drawning man in the midst of the Sea with a life boat in front of him, yet decide to hang his fate to a miraculous man who will come from nonewhere to save him. Your guess is as good as mine.

The current political and economic narratives must change. That is no doubt the trending song. The question however is whether we are discussing the real issues. For instance, is our present political and economic realities and woes solely the product of the men in power today? The answer is Crystal clear, it is no. Are the current occupier of the offices doing enough to mitigate them? It is also a capital NO! Can they do more? Perhaps if willing, given more time and with concerted effort from all of us.

It is good we get our PVC and vote out the seemly incompetent leaders. It is equally attractive that we get more fresh minds to do the needed jobs. Beyond this however, we need strong institutions to make the needed change. Our past experience has shown that strong men effort in building a nation without strong institutions is mostly limited to their time and tenure in offices. If you doubt me- where is the Ribadu's EFCC? Where is the Akunyili's NAFDAC? Where is Soludo's Commercial Banks? Where is the impact of OBJ's Paris Club loan refund?

Sound policies build on strong institutions will survive time and space; while policies built on strong men will crumble with the sound of time. In the days of Gadaffi, Libya was almost a paradise on Earth for her citizens; today, where is Libya?

As we move to 2019; while emphasis must be to search for men of character and comptence; we must never forget to examine people with right ideaologies and ideas to effect real structural changes in our political, economic and social lexicons. The debate on true federalism, full employment, education and health must occupies the front burner rather than primordial attachment to ethnic stocks, religious and political affiliations. To limit our debates to these later issues is to embark on socio-economic, and political sucides that will not only have boomerang effects on the present generation but also on the future ones.

We have dwelled so much on itty-bitty issues, now is the time to consider the main issues. Our questions should be what are our problems? How can we solve them? Who has the best solution to them with the least cost and resources? Nigeria deserves the best, and we should endeavour to give her the best. Change is desirable but real change without substance is wasteless, uncalled for and needless. Suffice to say, if we can't get better option to the present alternative, then, let's make the present alternative work by being on their throats; though that will appear embarrassing if in a country of about 200 million, getting less than 100,000 competent men and women at the most to occupy the various political position from local to Federal proved impossible.

Finally, I must emphasize that nation building, good governance and accountable leadership do not end with casting votes. It is a process which must be monitored and followed before, during and after Election. The tendency for us recluse to our homes and comfort zones after Election has to stop if we hope to change Nigeria for the best.

God bless  Nigeria!

God bless Africa!!

God bless Humanity!!!