Nigeria Cannot Afford to Cry When They Sneeze!

Nigerians have to recognize the germane element of goodwill in serving visitors water, kola or fura. This goodwill is founded on kindness and enabled by rectitude, customary traditions of Nigeria's various ethnic groups. The social expectations therein guide positive adaptations that rationalize the place of our traditions in the context of modern Nigeria. These adaptations should also be anchored in the paradigm of impressing upon visitors our positive social attitudes about life and existence. Altruistically, every human heritage, no matter the clime, intends just that. But the current contamination by whimsical values, prostituted by modern decadence, is inconsistent with our human values.

 

                                                                   

The Nigerian Renewal

 

There are genuine concerns by reasonable Nigerians, who fear not only for Nigeria's posterity in the global arena, but also her eternal security. After all, failed states are created by the impact of pervasive corruption of traditional social values. The Chief, Christopher Kolade, an exemplar of the Nigerian private sector business veteran says in a recent comment "...indigenous and traditional safeguards against poverty...'' have "...significantly and steadily eroded by greed for preferential access to communal resources."  Those entrusted with our collective values, posterity and security behave more like rent collectors; they see every thing through selfish pecuniary gains. Otherwise our indigenous cultural ethos would rectify the anomalies of today's Nigeria.

 

Accordingly our social trustees must exhibit personal and corporate social accountability, instituting statutes and rules that prescribe standards and practices. Such standards will guide social contracts through methods strengthened with discipline, and may satisfy our collective yearning for rectitude. The precipitated value indices sustained, evolved and innovated will protect social interests and rights from the social buccaneers. This should be set against the current celebration of shameless selfish kleptomania, slothfulness, waywardness and social corporate and personal irresponsibility, which have filled many Nigerians with much indignation. To the extent that those blind to the realities of the loss of rectitude and the attendant social hurt, have failed to see how the destruction of social productivity, due to lack of integrity, has caused collective loss and bewilderment. Nigeria needs a thorough social renewal paradigm.

 

Accordingly the metaphor of traditional goodwill within the Nigerian embodiment, like charity, should begin at home. We have to do our homework in order not to impress on outsiders that we know, "How to Rob a Bank" and be interactively abused, ala CNN and BBC's unfair portrayals. Let us cool western media's insatiable lust for image trashing with the cooling waters, elevating kola bites or energizing fura gulps from the rectitude of our traditional values.

                  

A 60 Minutes TV documentary report, "This African Character,"(C) Minaj Broadcast International (2003), is revealing.  Friday Ude, Victor Aluma, Akachi Ugo, Professor Nwagbo Eze, and Chief Segun Olusola of the Restoration Group, University of Lagos, Veon Konsult International and African Refugees Foundation (AREF) respectively, were my interviewees on different occasions. Their expressions were similar to impressions from the CNN or BBC, but refreshing with examples of the efficacy of Nigerian traditional values.

 

However Psychologist, Professor Nwagbo Eze was critical of our immediate ancestors for believing in the "goodwill" of white colonialists, thus manifesting lack of conceptual thought process. Instead of taking advantage of the cultural intelligence exchanges, they relied on spoon feeding and failed to see beyond the pretences of colonial missionaries, military men, and politicians.

 

Traditional rulers in modern Nigeria are known to align themselves to Nigerian politicians, to the point of insanity. This reminds one of Lyndon La Rouche's rabid criticism of American President George Bush's neglect and decapitation of the American Industrial Complex by focusing on Iraq for mundane gains. The Founder/Editor of Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) borders on a shallow perception of realities against conception.

 

It portends that Nigerians must look beyond the so-called existing beliefs about American truth, which is all about discriminatory incapacitation of other peoples' cultural capacities. Therefore we should not be blindly passionate, when shamed by the gangling media power of the West. We must, in pursuit of integrity, learn to avoid those decadent lifestyles that only America, nay the West, has imposed upon global sensibilities, even by force of arms. Otherwise we are simply exhibiting what La Rouche calls "A Systemic Problem of Mental Illness"; which he perceives as anti- conception. I agree with him; that concept will emancipate us from cultural contamination within the framework of a Traditional Cultural Paradigm.

 

La Rouche posits that "...conception arising from devotion to truth at all times reveals the workings of insanity..." But truth by mere perception in Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," visits sanctions, even death on individuals. Therefore hindsight in dialectics of social facts, should suffice for evaluation, understanding and assessment in the realm of conceptual universal principles. La Rouche proves that this is the basis of truth, more so with the Eternal Providence of creation.

 

Many Nigerians have no doubt assessed truth in the novel, to the extent that their perception has been informed by the concept of universal principles of human relations. Perhaps our traditional rulers are still being guided by selfishness, shamelessness and self-destructive inclinations ala the inhumanity in the West contaminating other peoples' values. They also have the cheek, calling them bad names to hang them!

 

Today Nigerians are visibly possessed with insane excitement about physical appearances rather than intrinsic human values. La Rouche's position confirms that so called social facts only satisfy mundane standards. Beyond this concept we will challenge established customs, enable discovery of principles  "...we either had not known...knew...could have...simply ignored..." but we must begin to shape our thoughts as a people. We must recognize that life is not just history, but a transformation in Creation, in accordance with the true knowledge of the difference between man and beast. More so, the leaders and thieving politicians, statesmen and ethnic jingoist. Life is supported by the realm of powers that ignore perception and embraces conceptual visioning.

 

Whenever people are denied that power ((via cultural contamination, mis-education, colonial, military and settlement (Ghana -Must-Go) mentalities)), individuals, groups, communities and social systems are polluted. People are marginalized, deprived, depraved and induced to crises, as in the Niger Delta and recent Onitsha mob riots, among others. Nigeria must urgently cultivate a climate of renewal and restore national dignity. Pat Utomi's views in the MBI documentary 2003, promoted conceptual visioning as the strongly recommended basis.

 

Assuming he is Nigeria's President with some cabinet members: Nwagbo Eze (critical voice), Victor Aluma, Victor Onoviran and Akachi Ugo (technocrats), Friday Ude (youths) and Segun Olusola (cultural reference), Utomi exemplifies Nigerian Restoration. They surmised we must recognize the function of individual mental creative processes to change Nigeria, and improve how we are perceived in some beneficial way.

 

Olusola believed in positive ethnic attributes, while Utomi encouraged fine-tuning. Akachi's view is to promote Nigerian excellence abroad, showing that Nigeria can achieve in conceptual social culture found a means in Utomi's vision in Internet usage amongst Nigerians.

 

Nwagbo blamed the failure to develop enormous natural and human resources on selfishness, and Utomi's corroboration, resulting in Nigeria's failure to assert global hope in her as a black power.  And according to CNN and BBC broadcasts, the global population might really be disappointed that the "Heart of Africa Project" is mere noise.

 

Aluma illuminated dark grievances to expose modernizing influences and value corruption as the culprits. This corroborates President Obasanjo's May 29, 2006 position that our valuable primordial values are being contaminated by modern insanity. This, Pat Utomi saw in undue reliance on indices of military rule and mentality, and the impact of the civil war. These Onoviran thoughts promoted the encouragement of bad leadership even by Nigerian masses.

 

Utomi summarized his idea of visionary renaissance with leaders and people thinking for the common good, building on potential wealth, positive work ethics, removal of immediate gratification and improvement of the political and economic spheres. "This African Character" script, read in part, described our collective yearning thus, "In Nigeria every celebration of the Independence Day anniversary (October 1, since 1960) is usually a time to compare the previous years. It is also a day of hope in the next October 1, hoping that it brings better days.  The Nigerian hopes always, because there is something to hope for. For example, hope in turning the nations enormous potential into wealth.  There are times when that hope is low and times when it is high. This depends on the political and economic situation on every October 1. Therefore the individual Nigerian again relies on the fortunes of the land to hope for a better tomorrow.

 

Moreover the same bad or good political and economic situations affect personal principles, and cultural standards.... you can always understand the Nigerian and Nigeria, when you hear either speak."

 

[president] Leader Restoration Group's vision, spoken then, must now meet the requirements of civilized reasoning, secured on morality and sharpened by global appreciation. It must nurture Nigerian heroes of tomorrow, inspired by deeds of past heroes. It must embrace personal and corporate accountability. On the whole, the outlook of Nigerian life must be that of inalienable duty towards African triumph globally.