NIGERIA: A COUNTRY IN MORAL RETROGRESSION
December 20, 2021 | News
A quintessential display of high discipline by the iconic Chief Awolowo I recently read on one of the social media platforms got me really nostalgic; and inspired this article. The western region Premier's daughter was disciplined by her senior prefect in school.
-By Zik Gbemre
NIGERIA: A COUNTRY IN MORAL RETROGRESSION
Nigeria is embarrassingly notable for being a country in moral retrogression with a history of a decent past and an ugly present.
Nigeria was once peopled with men and women of character, chaste, honest and disciplined; with leadership and governance quality of global standards.
Nigeria is now a laughing stock in the comity of nations: no infrastructural development, zero leadership, no science, no research, no technology, no progress.
A quintessential display of high discipline by the iconic Chief Awolowo I recently read on one of the social media platforms got me really nostalgic; and inspired this article. The western region Premier's daughter was disciplined by her senior prefect in school. Knowing who her father was, she left for home, thinking on hearing of the situation, he was going to call for the prefect's head and possibly drag the heavens down upon the school.
The Premier took her back the following day, asked to see the senior prefect, gave her an executive handshake and thanked her for the courage to discipline his daughter. That was when we still had a country.
And I must add that the impressive attitude of the Premier was helped by the fact that institutions at the time earned the confidence and trust of the Nigerian people because of their sincerity and transparency. In schools, disciplinary measures were administered in good fate. There was no vindictiveness, no hurt, and no evil intended. They were all correctional and done with modesty and love. And for this, people trusted the system. You could be home rest assured that your kids were in safe hands, and that no one would intentionally hurt them. Those were the good old days.
In present times, school children are punished severely for the slightest offences or even no offences at all. Most are victims of oppression, maleficence and transferred aggression. They are flogged for purchasing books from outside the school rather than patronizing the school book stores; they are whipped for delaying to pay fees as if they were financially responsible for themselves; they are bullied to death by seniors while teachers turn the other way. There is just so much retrogression in our society.
Nigeria now lags behind countries she started the race of nationhood with: Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea are now out of sight, developmentally. Dubai - an Islamic State and Israel - a Judeo-Christian State now blaze the trail in science, research and technology, while Nigeria which purports to be more religious wallow deep in the abyss of endemic underdevelopment.
This brings to mind the equally lesson-laden story of the experience of a BBC photo journalist who had flown from the United Kingdom for an interview with then Nigeria's Prime Minister Sir Tafawa Balewa. On arrival at the State House, Lagos, he was told that the Prime Minister was not available for the interview as he had gone on his mandatory annual leave.
The journalist in his curiosity demanded to know to which choice location in any country of the world he went for the vacation. "To his village" was the humbling reply he got.
Still in his curiosity and with directives from the State House, the photo journalist set immediately on his way for the village. Reaching there, he could hardly notice any sign that a "big man" of such a high status of "prime minister of the most populous black nation in the world" was around. The journalist stopped to speak to a man using his donkey to carry sugarcane from the opposite direction. He was shocked to be told that the man (a farmer) had just left the Prime Minister who was just sitting with his children in the veranda enjoying sugar cane.
There were no ear-deafening sirens, no retinue of escorts, no goggle-wearing, broad-chested body guards and no convoy of exquisite SUV cars around him. That was the simplicity, frugality and accountability that defined leadership at the time.
It was such frugal management of resources and careful and accountable utilization of public assets that was responsible for the speedy economic advancement of the country in the first half decade after independence. Nigeria was at the time considered a potentially great nation and indeed deservedly "a giant of Africa" and leader of the black race. Both within and outside Africa, Nigeria was respected and courted by all. Sixty years after, the country has not only retrogressed, it has completely lost direction and focus.
It is apparent that a revolutionary turn in orientation, value systems and attitudinal approach to things is imminently demanded for things to turn around in Nigeria.
Zik Gbemre.
December 20, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
-By Zik Gbemre
NIGERIA: A COUNTRY IN MORAL RETROGRESSION
Nigeria is embarrassingly notable for being a country in moral retrogression with a history of a decent past and an ugly present.
Nigeria was once peopled with men and women of character, chaste, honest and disciplined; with leadership and governance quality of global standards.
Nigeria is now a laughing stock in the comity of nations: no infrastructural development, zero leadership, no science, no research, no technology, no progress.
A quintessential display of high discipline by the iconic Chief Awolowo I recently read on one of the social media platforms got me really nostalgic; and inspired this article. The western region Premier's daughter was disciplined by her senior prefect in school. Knowing who her father was, she left for home, thinking on hearing of the situation, he was going to call for the prefect's head and possibly drag the heavens down upon the school.
The Premier took her back the following day, asked to see the senior prefect, gave her an executive handshake and thanked her for the courage to discipline his daughter. That was when we still had a country.
And I must add that the impressive attitude of the Premier was helped by the fact that institutions at the time earned the confidence and trust of the Nigerian people because of their sincerity and transparency. In schools, disciplinary measures were administered in good fate. There was no vindictiveness, no hurt, and no evil intended. They were all correctional and done with modesty and love. And for this, people trusted the system. You could be home rest assured that your kids were in safe hands, and that no one would intentionally hurt them. Those were the good old days.
In present times, school children are punished severely for the slightest offences or even no offences at all. Most are victims of oppression, maleficence and transferred aggression. They are flogged for purchasing books from outside the school rather than patronizing the school book stores; they are whipped for delaying to pay fees as if they were financially responsible for themselves; they are bullied to death by seniors while teachers turn the other way. There is just so much retrogression in our society.
Nigeria now lags behind countries she started the race of nationhood with: Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea are now out of sight, developmentally. Dubai - an Islamic State and Israel - a Judeo-Christian State now blaze the trail in science, research and technology, while Nigeria which purports to be more religious wallow deep in the abyss of endemic underdevelopment.
This brings to mind the equally lesson-laden story of the experience of a BBC photo journalist who had flown from the United Kingdom for an interview with then Nigeria's Prime Minister Sir Tafawa Balewa. On arrival at the State House, Lagos, he was told that the Prime Minister was not available for the interview as he had gone on his mandatory annual leave.
The journalist in his curiosity demanded to know to which choice location in any country of the world he went for the vacation. "To his village" was the humbling reply he got.
Still in his curiosity and with directives from the State House, the photo journalist set immediately on his way for the village. Reaching there, he could hardly notice any sign that a "big man" of such a high status of "prime minister of the most populous black nation in the world" was around. The journalist stopped to speak to a man using his donkey to carry sugarcane from the opposite direction. He was shocked to be told that the man (a farmer) had just left the Prime Minister who was just sitting with his children in the veranda enjoying sugar cane.
There were no ear-deafening sirens, no retinue of escorts, no goggle-wearing, broad-chested body guards and no convoy of exquisite SUV cars around him. That was the simplicity, frugality and accountability that defined leadership at the time.
It was such frugal management of resources and careful and accountable utilization of public assets that was responsible for the speedy economic advancement of the country in the first half decade after independence. Nigeria was at the time considered a potentially great nation and indeed deservedly "a giant of Africa" and leader of the black race. Both within and outside Africa, Nigeria was respected and courted by all. Sixty years after, the country has not only retrogressed, it has completely lost direction and focus.
It is apparent that a revolutionary turn in orientation, value systems and attitudinal approach to things is imminently demanded for things to turn around in Nigeria.
Zik Gbemre.
December 20, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes