Every man is by nature a thinking or philosophical being. However, he still needs to undergo rigorous, formal training in philosophy with a view to acquiring necessary techniques and skills for moving and shaking his complex socio-material world. The human world is characterized by numerous challenges, sensitivities, and opportunities which make philosophisation a task that must be done.
Unfortunately, the capacity for critical thinking and/or originality was debilitated by the country’s colonial encounters or entanglements, starting from the late 19th century. It is most worrying that we have failed to remove the colonial debris more than 60 years after independence. Not surprisingly, scrutinisation of opinions and/or assumptions that we accept about our universe is yet to occupy a conspicuous position in the scheme of things. Rigorous, continued questioning is the bedrock of robust human essence and by extension, progress. Therefore, Nigerians need to devote much more time and energy to general consistency or coherence in the body of data at their disposal. Producing satisfactory, coherent explanations from a body of data is a universal norm. Nigeria can only be an exception at its peril.
Nigeria will continue to wallow in abject material poverty so long as rational thoughts do not feature prominently in our vocabularies of popular discourse. In addition, political instability and poor governance will remain a devil to wrestle with. Philosophy has the capacity to liberate Nigerians from the bondage of ignorance as well as forces of institutional inertia in the socio-political system. It is a pity that despite the numerous degrees or certificates and intimidating international experiences of many Nigerians, the monster of blind faith/obedience and ethnic sentiments continues to stare us in the face.
Emotions are ontologically at variance with the power of the mind to think in a logical way. This underlines the reason why some very senior government officials dangerously pretend that all is well with Nigeria, despite the blood of innocent people that flows across the land on a daily basis. These reactionaries are always vilifying the few patriots in our midst for asking for sanity in our university education sector, and an end to unbridled insecurity as well as comatose local currency that is almost on a par today, with a roll of toilet paper.
As far as these officials are concerned, patriotism is tantamount to anarchism. Even a primary six pupil knows that mother Nigeria is experiencing a haemorrhage of dignity. In fact, the air we breathe in is laden with lies, deception, and fears of monumental dimensions. Nigeria has become a victim of unprovoked territorial, military aggression. Foreign terrorists working in collaboration with local accomplices are busy killing our soldiers, policemen, and civilians like free-range chickens.
If truth be told, the Nigerian political leadership with a special emphasis on the legislature and executive has failed the country. These lawmakers kept quiet for too long in the face of poor governance despite the fact, that oversight of finance including general policy and programmes is a component of their assignments. There are injustices everywhere. How can there be sustainable peace and progress in such a country? The leadership has become an illusion and a monumental deceit, thereby polluting the youth and by extension, the future of Nigeria. What do we expect from the youth who are unluckily products of this thoroughly contaminated social geography? Only a few Abaribes in the National Assembly are challenging their colleagues to call the executive to order. Such progressives were/are usually castigated and silenced by the reactionaries who are of course, in the majority. The Nigerian brand of politics is generally woven with threads of ethnic and religious emotions, thereby rubbishing it, of even basic intellectualism.
Thus, for example, it is a taboo to talk about impeaching any non-performing president contrary to what obtains in saner climes and cultures. Although belated, the 9th National Assembly had issued an ultimatum of six weeks (starting from July 26) to President Buhari to practically address the all-important subject of insecurity and ASUU strike among others or get the boot. Lawmakers are the real representatives of the Nigerian people. But unfortunately, they have abandoned us. It is now obvious that they too, are not safe, as the monsters otherwise known as terrorists, have started to go haywire especially within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Not surprisingly, “the powers that be” are also crying now. A stitch in time would have saved nine. According to a popular Yoruba adage: hunger will teach a mad man sense. The time for primordial sentiments is over. In addition, “the powers that be” need to forget about the obnoxious water resources bill. This is because there are fears of a hidden agenda behind it.
A good leadership listens and respects the feelings of the led. The political class must put a stop to the numerous challenges especially insecurity bedevilling Nigeria. That should be their first priority. For goodness sake, enough of insults to the people!
The Nigerian lawmakers must learn to unanimously condemn bad leadership, no matter whose ox is gored. But this would only be possible in an immorality and/or corruption-free parliament. They cannot have their cake and eat it. Again, the religious or ethnic background of a political leader is superficial. For how long are we going to allow ourselves to be fooled by some selfish politicians? Nigeria is in dire need of charismatic, broad-minded political leadership. The ordinary people want to be able to move freely from Abuja to Kaduna and as far afield as Zaria, without shit being kicked out of them.
About a week ago, Oluwatobiloba Amusan, a Nigerian young lady won the gold medal award for women 100-m hurdles in the US. Nobody was asking about the lady’s religion or ethnic background. We were all proud of her. I was shedding tears of joy while watching the new queen of track and field on the television. Succinctly put, this was a good illustration of rational way of thinking as opposed to primordial sentiments, reminiscent of the stone age culture. I feel like weeping whenever Nigerians especially the political elite, behave as if they have the challenge of intellectual poverty or sophisticated socio-political engineering deficit to grapple with.
Therefore, the next political leadership particularly at the centre must learn from the current messy situation in which we have found ourselves. That is to say, that any Nigerian who is intellectually and/or emotionally immature, has no business in modern-day politics. It seems to me, that the masses are now ready to fight for justice and liberty which have been stolen by the rapacious, reckless individuals occupying the leadership positions of our dear country. This non-violent, legally conceptualised revolution will be staged through the lens of protests and/or demonstrations that characterise every robust democracy. This is the pathway to freedom from internally engineered colonial aggression, which is capable of promoting uncommon political instability and miseries of material poverty on a huge scale.
- Prof Ogundele is of Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.