The Nation Newspaper

Tag: attitude

  • Your positive attitude can save Nigeria

    Your positive attitude can save Nigeria

    Do you sometimes think Nigeria is a failed state? You are not alone but I have good news for you. There is hope and the hope is you! It’s bad enough that Nigeria is perceived and rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Frankly what I can’t fathom is the perception that Nigeria is not just a corrupt nation but a ‘corrupting nation’(Hmm…the virus of corruption is fast infecting even the righteous in the land). God!!! how many are the remnants in the land who stand for truth and refuse to compromise their chaste values regardless of the pain of standing alone? I see the bad egg syndrome as an analogy for corruption. Do you know the reason why eggs go bad? Recently, I conducted a field survey to find out and it will amaze you to know that the major reason why some eggs go bad or are more prone to rottenness is that the quality of feed given to the mother hen was poor, in other words if the quality of the feed given to the mother hen was poor then the quality of the eggs the hen hatches will invariably be poor. The bad egg syndrome, is a mental state likened to a rotten egg, just like the bad egg, it is offensive and could be as a result of poor feeding. The quality of your decisions or actions are directly related to what you feed your mind with and the company you keep. Truth be told, you are what you feed your mind! The offshoot of a corrupt mind is a corrupt value system which leads to corrupt behaviours.

    The opinion of Bobby Udoh, the author of ‘Nation Building’ is an eye opener ‘It is not the efforts of government (alone) that builds a great nation but rather the thoughts, words and actions of the people….whatever progress we seek to make in our democratic dispensation will be interrupted by the deterioration of the quality of the Nigerian, and this is where the political leadership originates from. We are fast becoming a people with no values-style(perception) and little or no substance(reality).’ I agree absolutely with Bobby. Recently I watched a Nigerian comedy (video) which reflected our eroding moral values.  A head teacher of a school negotiated with a photographer(for passport photographs) a sum of N100 per student. She later called the class teacher and told her to collect N150 from each student. The class teacher got back to class and instructed her students to collect N200 each from their parents. A student got home and she told her mum, N350, mum went to her husband and demanded N500 …what a generation of fraudsters! It’s really pathetic but all hope is not lost.

    I salute the courage of exemplary leaders like the late Dora Akunyili whose life showcased honesty and personal integrity.  When the name Dora Akunyili is mentioned in Nigeria and all other parts of the world it is remembered for good. Late Prof. Akunyili can never be counted among the corrupt instead her name will be forever carved in gold in the hall of fame of the noble men and women.

    Have you ever wondered how Prof. Akunyili rose to the top and became the director of NAFDAC? Record shows that back in 1998 while serving as the South-east Zonal secretary of the Petroleum Trust Fund(PTF) under the leadership of Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, she took ill and was given a scary diagnosis in a medical facility in Nigeria which necessitated her going to the United States for treatment. The PTF gave her the medical expenses, but upon arriving in the US, she was told that she was misdiagnosed and that she would be all right without treatment. Her exceptional virtues were evidenced when she returned to Nigeria and refunded the medical expenses($12000) to the agency. The story got out and the then president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo heard about it, in 2001 he appointed Dora as Director General of National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control(NAFDAC). There are still citizens of this country who have not yet soiled their integrity and I count myself as one however, we have fought as individuals for far too long, we need to step forward and form a strong coalition not proliferation of new breed political parties.

    • Continued online

  • Niggers with attitude

    •Humans living like cattle and preys of the wild) 

    We live to a devastating stereotype. Like stray ducks, we waddle against the walls of institutionalized pigeonholes as the ram thrashes in its soul at the descent of the butcher’s knife. But we are no ducks neither are we cattle. We are humans, living like livestock and preys of the wild, because we think it’s shrewd and fashionable to do so.

    Freedom has a thousand charms to show, that slaves, however contented, never know, writes Cowper. The tragedy is in the details. And the details are all around us. In our past glories and defeat, infinite quirks and measured sobriety. It is in our fabled heritage and defunct humanity, colourful history and grand inadequacies.

    It’s what separates our mistakes from what we term fate; what symbolizes our mental inferiorities and political expediencies. But necessity, like William Pitt the Younger would say, is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants and the creed of slaves. Slaves like the Nigerian nigger.

    A 27-minute video among other things, distinguishes a select few of Nigeria’s pioneer statesmen from the gangs of glorified eejits – if I may insult poor eejits by comparing them to the country’s ruling class – that currently occupy the country’s corridors of power. The video is of the July 1961 visit of Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to the United States of America (USA).

    Great thanks to Farooq Kperogi, a Nigerian scholar resident in the USA; after he stumbled on the video on the website of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, he promptly shared it with friends on Facebook. The video is intense with charm and instructive with lessons in manhood, desirable pride, poise and refinement epitomized by the league of extraordinary statesmen that served Nigeria at independence.

    Between July 25 and 28, Kperogi, enthused and it could be confirmed in the video, the late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and a modest entourage of about 10 key government officials visited the United States on the invitation of the late President John F. Kennedy during which Tafawa Balewa visited major historical landmarks in representative parts of the United States and addressed a special joint session of the United States Congress that was convened in his honour.

    Only a select few, as Kperogi noted, “are accorded the honour of addressing a joint session of the United States Congress. Certainly no Nigerian head of state has been accorded this honour since Tafawa Balewa.”

    According to the website of the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, since 1874 when the King of Hawaii first addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, there have been only 112 such privileges granted to foreign leaders and dignitaries.

    The video delightful; Balewa’s enchanting address to the joint session was persistently “punctuated” by thunderous, standing ovation. In all the cities he visited with entourage, Americans waved at them hospitably, and U.S. government officials bowed very respectfully when they shook hands with the Nigerian Prime Minister. Thus was the depth of respect the pioneer Nigerian leader inspired in 1960s America.

    Men like Balewa and his contemporaries at the period including late Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe to mention a few, personified the infectious grandeur, unimpeachable character, progressiveness, patriotism, depth and self-assurance that remains the prime requirements of statesmanship that Nigeria and the African continent deserves. These men, despite their shortcomings, were no Nigerian niggers. The same can hardly be said of incumbent Nigerian leadership and citizenry.

    If you separate President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo from the herd, a greater segment of the incumbent leadership could be likened to men gifted with the mentality of the hyena and the sensibility of the guinea fowl. Their lust for unearned riches, acclaim and Western approval illustrates their ignorance and awfully preadolescent mind. It reiterates a very shrill cry for help that’s at once self-seeking, infantile and regressive.

    It is what makes Nigerian public officers pilfer and deplete the nation’s treasury in order to finance reckless trips abroad, to learn Western-European governance styles. It is what makes them lobby and pay for interviews with foreign cub reporters even as they avoid Nigerian reporters.

    During such interviews, they assume the poise of inveterate boobs by their utterances and demeanour, which are tailored to glorify disturbing plots and agenda of foreign newshounds and their sponsor nations.

    The citizenry is guilty of same ridiculousness as indicated by widely broadcast documentaries on Niger Delta militancy; the insidiously “professional” and manipulative ‘This is Lagos’ and ‘Law and Disorder in Lagos’ documentaries which glorifies shanties and street urchins as the essence of Lagos.

    Such media fare reveals contemptible plots and derogatory news agenda, to the delight and pitiful acquiescence of the news subjects.

    I am yet to see a Nigerian journalist travel to the United Kingdom or the US for instance, to enjoy similar courtesies and exhibition of idiocy from the countries’ leadership and citizenry. It’s even more worrisome to note that the incumbent Nigerian leadership has never enjoyed and will never enjoy the kind of respect accorded late Balewa, Awolowo and their ilk.

    The kind of inferiority complex projected by the ruling class and passed down to generations of Nigerian youth affirms the western belief that we are not as mentally proficient as they are. Consequently, they see us as irredeemably ignorant, inept, corrupt and susceptible to inexplicable violence and inferiority complex. Unfortunately, the average Nigerian’s sociability and prodigal nature manifests to further serve as evidence of a collective inferiority of a crude race that recognizes and accepts its intolerable limitations.

    That we are very accommodating and hospitable like Akin Akindele rightly notes shouldn’t make us “bend over backwards to impress any white or yellow man more than we would any other ordinary person.” But the import of such admonition is lost on us; mediocre and highly incompetent foreigners come to Nigeria and are immediately regarded as ‘expatriates.’

    Yet many brainy and exceedingly talented Nigerians are treated with contempt and suspicion at home and abroad. Abroad, they are despised for being talented and Nigerian, based on blinkered generalisations about the average Nigerian’s presumed fraudulence and deviousness. At home they are despised for being different and capable of evolving the process that would lead to that progressive and prosperous socio-economic system that we seek.

    If we are to be judged by indigenous mores of morality or what Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, deems the human measure of all things, we shan’t fare excellently well, not by a smidgen. We have fared diffidently for too long; that is why local and international ‘idiots as fragile as clay toys’ have evolved into outsized heroes and gods, on our watch. To the rest of the world, we are just a bunch of contemptible niggers; still.

    It’s about time we rejected the nigger stereotype. It’s about time we de-institutionalised corruption, tribalism and greed. Neither restructuring nor true federalism would rid us of woe. And no highfalutin solution could work under the leadership and citizenship of unrepentant bigots and self-aggrandizing characters like you and me.

    We should simply try being humane.

  • Graduands tasked on good attitude

    IF nothing else, pupils of Grace High School, Gbagada, Lagos State, would always remember the importance of good attitude in their journey into the next phase of life.

    This is because virtually all the elders invited to address them at their graduation urged them to maintain good attitude in all their endeavours.

    First female Vice Chancellor in Nigeria, Prof Grace Alele-Williams, who gave the opening address, counseled that of all they learnt in school, the morals and character trainings were the most important.

    She said: “When you study your academics, you may remember some and forget some. But the character, skills and morals you learnt are the most important things henceforth and they take you forward or backward in life. Always remember who you are and never forget God.”

    Delivering the keynote address, Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs Ronke Soyombo, also tasked the pupils to have the best attitudes to secure their dream jobs.

    She said: “I am asking a favour of the students. Always have the best attitude in life. It takes you high in life. Every employer is looking for people with the right standard and attitude. Your academic excellence is secondary.”

    Mrs Soyombo, who rated the school as one of the best in Lagos, both in academics and infrastructure, charged its management to continue to be focused, committed and dedicated to reach greater goals in life.

    Meanwhile, the School Administrator, Mr Roland Cilliers, described the 2016 class ast the most challenging so far, saying they mirrored traits he exhibited at their age.

    He said: “This set has been the most challenging so far. God put me here as principal of this school as punishment so that I can meet  the present graduating set, because I was just like them when I was their age, if not worse. Never forget that even though I may have given you a hard time, I never stopped loving and caring for each of you. As much as you think I have been harsh on you and not letting you do as you please, I say sorry, live with it. The next step you are about to take is very important. Think very carefully about it.”

    Cilliers advised them to work towards building a good legacy that they can be proud of and set new goals and ambitions.

    The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of merit awards to Mrs Soyombo, Prof Alele-Williams, Prof Lawrence Oginni; and the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Mr Olufemi Oyeleye.

    Graduands rewarded include the valedictorian, Taiwo Babatunde; Academic Star, Emmanual Emejuru who bagged about 11 academic awards; and Ekenechukwu Ikeora for exemplary conduct.

  • Health workers sensitised on positive attitude to work

    Health workers have been admonished on the need to have a positive attitude to work and care of patients their watch-word to strengthen health care delivery system.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Hospitals Management Board, Mrs. Modupe Olurin, a pharmacist,  stated this at a two-day capacity building workshop for principal officers in the secondary health care sector in Ijebu – Ode.

    Olurin said the various cadres in the health care system must have a positive attitude to their work and work harmoniously so that patients at the centre obtain maximum benefit.

    Justifying the need for the workshop, Olurin said: “It is very important for the managers of the various health facilities to partake in a meeting like this and share experiences, exchange ideas with the aim of fine tuning the basic administrative processes with a view to achieving an efficient health care delivery system at the secondary level”.

    One of the resource persons from Pharmaccess/Safe Health, Dr. Modupe Oludipe, who spoke on Quality Assurance and Improvement in Health Care Delivery, emphasised the need for the public to be enlightened patronising the Primary Health Centres for consultation to reduce the crowd at the secondary health facilities.

    She added that quality of any health facility could be determined through factors, such as accessibility,timeliness, affordability and technical competence of the attendants.

    The Director of Health Services, Dr. Nafiu Aigoro, advised all the heads of health facilities across the state to make use of what they have been taught to acquire and maintain positive results at their centers.

    The Programme with the theme “Strengthening the Health care delivery system” had in attendance Heads of facilities, Zonal Account Officers and Directors in the Hospitals Management Board.

  • Health workers’ attitude to patients

    Health workers’ attitude to patients

    SIR: Oluchi was still alive by the time she was being rushed to the medical centre of the school but the doctors and nurses refused to attend to her  until they saw her identity card and confirmed that she was a student. They refused to attend to her and that was how the girl died there. The most shocking part was that when I got there, Oluchi wasn’t even placed on a bed; they wrapped her body and placed it on the floor. I told the doctor that it is wrong for them to have done that because sometimes the person could still be alive at that point.

    Those were the words of Nkem, the elder sister to Oluchi Anekwe, the girl who was electrocuted by a high-tension wire at the University of Lagos last week.

    It is so disheartening how this promising young lad’s dreams of graduating with a first class honour (a rare feat among students), dream of being a chartered accountant among others which has been brought to an abrupt end as a result of her inability to provide an identity card.

    My question is even if she is not a student of the institution can’t her life be saved first?

    Bluntly speaking, she isn’t the only one to have died as a result of this pitiless act exhibited by health-care workers, across the nation; a lot of emergency patients in dire need of urgent medical attention have been known to be denied treatment based on their inability to either produce a police report or other requirements. if

    I am yet to read or hear anywhere in other parts of the world where a patient in dire need of medical attention is allowed to die for his/her inability to provide an identity card or a police report as done in this country.

    For God sake, it’s human lives we are talking about here. Hands cannot just be folded, watching this sadistic act continue. Let whosoever that has made this cruel law that has allowed our health-care workers close their eyes on dying patients in urgent need of treatment have it reviewed. This to a large extent will help reduce the high rate at which lives are lost in the country; as attending to these patients will help boost their chances of survival.

    It is high time everything needed is put in place to save the lives of Nigerians, since no one knows who the next dying patient in dire need of urgent medical attention may be. It may be you, me or your close ones.

     

    • Solomon Odeniyi

    Ondo.

  • Attitude to work

    This is a column that promises to discuss, mould and shape societal values.

    It seeks to protect the interests of consumers, citizens and other broader relevant topics, such as decadence of educational systems, unemployable job seekers, trading ethics et al under the column: ‘TRUE VALUE 360’. It is an interactive column as suggestions, complaints; daily experiences are welcome.

    This week’s edition is Attitude to work.

    The attitude of our people to work is below international standard. Workers seek any opportunity to shirk their duties and responsibilities, yet want their pay without earning it. This is possible because of the past Nigerian problem of unaccountability and lack of or improper enforcement of law. But I say CHANGE is here. No matter how mockers or charlatans decide to misuse the word Change.

    Unaccountable means: Impossible to account for, free from accountability, not responsible.

    Who and who have been unaccountable in our clime? Which set of people have the wrong attitude to work? That an employee who gets to work late, sleeps on the table and who is absent at work for no tangible reason?

    That public servant who lays bad examples to subordinates by turning the office to private entertainment centre during working hours; that public servant who does not know anything about work load and target etc. and does nothing day in, day out.

    Wrong attitude to work persists because these personnel are allowed to get away with laxity. The same people go abroad and obey all the rules because they will not keep their jobs if they misbehave and in the long run, they will starve or get thrown out of their apartments for non-payment.

    It is obvious that Nigeria and Nigerians are undergoing a re-orientation as it is obvious that lack of discipline and accountability to basic rules have pushed the economy to a groaning level.

    If a driver keeps coming late and the principal misses serious appointments, there is no justification for the driver to get paid. If he persists, he should be fired. A non-challant worker if allowed to get away with the attitude will contaminate other responsible personnel. He/she should be relieved of the duties.

    Same goes for public servants and political appointees who do not live up to their responsibilities.

    As long as we allow unaccountability, irresponsibility and impunity to thrive, the workforce and the various institutions will collapse.

    My take: There should be a confidential methodology where erring and lazy staff can be reported unanimously to an independent inspector or even the chief executive. And appropriate punishment should then be meted out.

  • Innovation, attitude affect ranking

    Innovation, attitude affect ranking

    The ranking of tertiary institutions will only get better if both administrators and workers adopt new innovations, former Registrar Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Mr Ayomide Ogunruku, has said.

    Ogunruku stated this while delivering the Second Registry Lecture of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto/Ijanikin (AOCOED), Lagos.

    He said Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is one way tertiary institutions could market themselves.

    To this end, he counselled that workers must be ICT-compliant if they must align their dreams with robust vision of their institutions.

    The lecture titled: “Effective administration of tertiary educational institutions in the 21st Century” was in honour of the immediate past Registrar of the college, Mr Bola Disu.

    Ogunruku said: “No one is in doubt that Nigeria’s TEI (Tertiary Education Institutions) are among the badly ranked in the world. The simple difference between the best and worst TEIs are not in the buildings or names, but in ways human beings in both places operate. One is therefore bold to say our TEIs will continue to be badly ranked so long as we are not ready to change in our perception, attitude and manner of doing things.

    “It is, therefore, imperative to use this medium to appeal to all managers of Nigeria’s TEIs not to be innovative in revenue generation alone, but also know how to priortise need and expenditures. No TEI is ranked on the number of official vehicles available therein, but on the basis on quality library and laboratory as well as the product.”

    As administrators, Ogunruku advised AOCOED workers to acquire laptops to further consolidate their knowledge of ICT.

    “With ICT, the mode of delivery of teaching has changed tremendously. In fact, with ICT, lecturers have ceased being the only source of information as students too can individually access up-to-date information via the internet that teachers might not have accessed,” Ogunruku said.

    He warned senior administrators against victimising subordinates, describing it as a grave sin.

    “As administrators, do not hoard information or sit down on people’s promotions and privileges, when you do that, a life is being denied,” he said.

    While lauding AOCOED, Ogunruku urged its management to move from paper to paperless mode of operation.

    He admonished management and workers to build the alumni associations into a brand that can also help in shooting the institution to the top. Ogunruku said achieving this begins from the way workers treat their students.  He noted that when they eventually became successful in future, they would love to associate with the AOCOED brand because of how they were treated.

    The Provost, AOCOED, Mr Wasiu Olalekan Bashorun, noted that Disu deserved a pat on the back, considering his creativity and innovativeness when he was in the saddle.

    He urged his successor, Mr Olumuyiwa Coker, to consolidate on his achievements.

  • ‘I’m tired of my wife’s attitude’

    A 43-year-old mechanic, Kamoru Bolaji, has prayed the Lagos Island Customary Court to dissolve his 16-year-old marriage to Monsurat because of her alleged repulsive attitude.

    He is accusing her of being unfriendly with neighbours, adding that they have rented two different houses because she fought with the landlords and tenants.

    “It got worse to the extent of raining curses on a tenant who mysteriously died just as my wife said, In fact the late Kola Olawuyi visited our house then to ascertain the truth behind the woman’s death but my wife ran away and I also dodged from being interviewed,” he said.

    The petitioner said he had always reported his wife’s case to her father but she refused to change.

    He said they stopped living as a couple in 2008 when things got worse.

    Bolaji pleaded with the court to stop his wife from visiting his shop to collect their children’s allowance because the last time she came, “something terrible” happened to him.

    The court’s President, Chief Awos Awosola, said since the respondent didn’t appear in court after series of summons, the union will be dissolved.

    Awosola ordered that the three children should be in the respondent’s custody.

    Bolaji is to deposit N10, 000 monthly for the children’s upkeep and be responsible for their education.

  • Want to attain greatness?…Attitude is the key

    Want to attain greatness?…Attitude is the key

    It is simply a triumph of a weary soul over adversaries! It is explosively motivational and comes handy to those willing to snap out of obscurity to prominence.

    Using himself as a case study, Augustine Igbuku, author of The Pusuit of Sterling Attitude chronicles his life from his dismal performance  at basic through to secondary school level, to becoming the best graduating student with Second Class Upper division from the University of Benin in 1980.

    The Pursuit of Sterling Attitude, presents man with the harsh reality that life is neither partial, nor has favourites; yet it leaves him with two things- adversity and opportunity, with attitude being the chief determinant of man’s choice of the two.

    Components of attitudes, according to the author comprise beliefs, feelings, values and dispositions. Man, the author argues, is though presented with a negative or positive attitude; yet the author pitches his tent with the former, because of its ability to infect others.

    “A positive attitude is contagious like common cold,” says the ten-chapter book. “It is a priceless possession for personal fulfillment and career success. Working with or near a person with positive attitude is an energising experience; they change the atmosphere, the place of work and make others feel more upbeat.”

    Chapter Two of the book urges readers to cultivate a new mentality particularly the ones capable of breaking existing norms, and enforcing the ‘i-can-do’ spirit. Readers are equally admonishes to work against ‘victim mentality’ that is, a failed individual who keeps pointing accusing fingers to those he believes are responsible for his predicament.  The distinction between the aforementioned and the other who succeeds, the book argues, is because the latter picked up the pieces of his life from that point, determining to break the odds.

    “The game changer is the mentality that ‘there is something and somewhere better than here, let me go after it’.  The mentality is a huge part of the attitude of champions.  Even if at the end they fall short of their original objective, they are no longer the same people. They have left where they used to be, learn new things and forged new associations, all of which are very relevant in the quest for success,” the book sermonises.

    God has bestowed in man the right to determine his attitude. Man’s anger with himself for not being where he supposed to be may not get him anywhere further. All he needs do therefore is to simply take responsibility for being while who he is, make a decision to change course, and navigate to a new realm.

    Chapter Three espouses ‘hope’, describing it as the ‘important fuel’ in anyone’s ride. In addition, the book recommends a good company, saying it is instrumental to making hope function.

    Once there is hope, the individual can shop for the best team that can challenge one and give one reasons to aspire higher. …And then with hope come integrity, disciple and visualisation: three qualities to prod man on in his quest for the zenith.

    “They (integrity, discipline and visualisation) are must haves,” the author argues.” “Life, at all levels, is full of tests; tests to see what stuff you are really made of. The named dynamics are what will determine how you fare with exams life will set for you.”

    Further the author warns against fraternising with pessimists; people who are ready to burn off one’s ideas.

    Chapter four contains warning against begging which the author feels could erode one’s integrity, making one become a nuisance to the society. To stave this off, the book advises individuals to acknowledge their strength and weakness see where errors have been made and how to tackle them, build self confidence, let go off feelings of victimisation and develop a ‘thank you’ culture as a means of appreciation.

    Attaining success in life does not come on a platter of gold.

    “Life will never hand you your desire on a plate,” warns the book adding, “you will have to rise and demand what you want and that which you feel is due. Sometimes, very vigorously! Few things come to those who passively sit and wait. Save with certain exception, anything that can pass you by, will! This means that you will not only need to be alert but that you will on occasion need to fight for what you want.”

    Even when it is still at a gestation stage, optimism already makes a business idea a success, says Chapter five of the book. Originality is another, as people naturally fall in love with non-pretenders despite their flaws.

    However, in what seems a comic relief the book deviates into a rather light aspect of life. So laughter can play a significant role in man’s expedition for success? The book responds in the affirmative.

    The author explains benefits of laughter to include: relaxing the body, boosting immune system, triggering release of endorphins, insulating the heart, improving mood, aiding respiration, and increasing personal satisfaction, among others.

    Chapter six captioned: ‘Negative energy banned’ educates individuals on conquering negative thoughts and creating pleasant future. Chapter seven speaks glowingly on gratitude as a sine qua non to building goodwill among men.

    An extraordinary llfe comes with a vision, which is believable, and clearly spelt out so much that whoever comes across it easily subscribes to it.

    Every successful leader is also armed with a mandate as well as the BEST (belief, effort, strategy and testing) acronym to aid man performing at the top of his game.

    “Every remarkable leader has been someone who was in complete control of themselves,” the author posits.

    He continued: “The absence of boundaries and barriers means that anything and everything goes. There is no faster way to corruption than compromising your moral. This requires that every persons that would ever lead they make up their mind before they get started; exactly what kind of legacy they want to leave behind. “

    The proceeding chapter shows how man must not only exhibits traits like tolerance, expertise, honesty, self-discipline, forgiveness and courage, but must infect others with them. The last chapter admonishes man to make hay while the sun shines.

    For the sake of fulfillment, author recommends a tripod-education, enterprise and endlessness, saying they are constituents upon which man’s lifetime is anchored.

    The book describes education (Age 0-30) as the phase where man’s foundation is laid, and attitudes formed. The second stage-enterprise (age 30-60) sees man becoming adventurous and indulging in habits learned at the first stage (be it good or bad). The third stage (60 upwards) however perfects man’s attitude to achieve results and leave a legacy.

    “It is at this point in your evolution that you must become a visionary and see things as they can be, rather than as they appear to be. You then give birth to something that extends beyond the boundaries of one’s lifetime. You reach within and bring out the reserves of strength, wisdom and foresight and set out to create something that will continue to grow and affect lives beyond your lifetime,” the author concludes.

  • ‘Niggers’ with attitude

     (Portrait of the Nigerian as a ‘black’ ant)

    We live to a devastating stereotype. Like fattened ducks, we waddle against the walls of institutionalized pigeonholes as the ram thrashes in its soul at the descent of the butcher’s jackknife. But we are no ducks neither are we cattle of any kind. We are humans, learning to live as livestock, because we think it’s shrewd and fashionable to do so.

    Freedom has a thousand charms to show, that slaves, however contented, never know, writes Cowper and quite truthfully too. The tragedy is in the details. And the details are all around us, in our past glories and defeat, infinite quirks and measured sobriety. It is in our fabled heritage and defunct humanity, colourful history and grand inadequacies. It’s what separates our foibles from what we term fate. And what symbolizes our mental inferiorities and political expediencies.

    But necessity, like William Pitt the Younger would say, is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants and the creed of slaves. Slaves like the Nigerian nigger.

    A 27-minute video among other things, distinguishes a select few of Nigeria’s pioneer statesmen from the gangs of glorified eejits – if I may insult poor eejits by comparing them to the country’s ruling class – that currently occupy the country’s corridors of power. The video is of the July 1961 visit of Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to the United States of America (USA).

    Great thanks to Farooq Kperogi, a Nigerian scholar resident in the USA; after he stumbled on the video on the website of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, he promptly shared it with friends on Facebook. The video is intense with charm and instructive with lessons in manhood, desirable pride, poise and refinement epitomized by the league of extraordinary statesmen that served Nigeria at independence.

    Between July 25 and 28, Kperogi, enthused and I confirmed in the video, the late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and a modest entourage of about 10 key government officials visited the United States on the invitation of the late President John F. Kennedy during which Tafawa Balewa visited major historical landmarks in representative parts of the United States and addressed a special joint session of the United States Congress that was convened in his honor.

    Only a select few, as Kperogi noted, “Are accorded the honour of addressing a joint session of the United States Congress. Certainly no Nigerian head of state has been accorded this honour since Tafawa Balewa.”

    According to the website of the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, since 1874 when the King of Hawaii first addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, there have been only 112 such privileges granted to foreign leaders and dignitaries.

    Watching the video was as enchanting as it was delightful; Balewa’s address to the joint session was persistently “punctuated” by thunderous, standing ovation. In all the cities he and his entourage visited, Americans came out to wave at them hospitably, and U.S. government officials bowed very respectfully when they shook hands with the Nigerian Prime Minister. Thus was the depth of respect the pioneer Nigerian leader and nationalist inspired in 1960s America.

    Men like Balewa and his contemporaries at the period in the persons of the late Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe to mention a few, personified the infectious grandeur, unimpeachable character, progressiveness, patriotism, depth and self-assurance that remains the prime requirements of statesmanship that Nigeria and the African continent deserves. These men, despite their shortcomings, were no Nigerian niggers. The same can hardly be said of incumbent Nigerian leadership and citizenry.

    The Nigerian leadership today could be likened to men gifted with the mentality of the hyena and the sensibility of the guinea fowl. The same may be said of the Nigerian citizenry. Our lust for unearned riches, acclaim and the west’s approval illustrates the shallowness and weakness of the Nigerian adult’s ignorance and awfully preadolescent mind. It reiterates a very shrill cry for help that’s at once self-seeking, infantile and retrograde.

    It is what makes Nigerian leaders pilfer and deplete the nation’s treasury to embark on foolhardy trips abroad to learn western-european governance styles to be ineffectually applied back home. It is what makes Nigerian leaders throw their doors open to every visiting foreign cub reporter even as they deny seasoned journalists back home, similar opportunities. During such interviews, such characters persistently expose themselves to ridicule, presenting themselves as inveterate idiots by their comportment and utterances which are tailored to glorify the disturbing plots and agenda of the foreign newshounds.

    The citizenry is guilty of the same inanity as indicated by the widely broadcast documentaries on Niger Delta militancy, the insidiously “professional” and manipulative “This is Lagos” and “Law and Disorder in Lagos” documentaries on Lagos which glorifies the city’s shanty and street urchin (area boys) culture and malaise. Such media fare reveals contemptible plots to fulfill derogatory news agendas to the delight and pitiful acquiescence of the news subjects.

    I am yet to see a Nigerian journalist travel to the United Kingdom or the US for instance, to enjoy similar courtesies and stupidity from the countries’ leadership and citizenry. It’s even more worrisome to note that the incumbent Nigerian leadership has never enjoyed and will never enjoy the kind of respect accorded the late Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo and their ilk at independence. It is impossible for the average Nigerian to enjoy such courtesies and honor given the inexplicable greed, complacence, degeneracy, shallowness of thought and character characteristic of majority of the Nigerian people.

    The kind of inferiority complex projected by the ruling class and passed down to generations of Nigerian youth affirms the western belief that we are not as mentally proficient as they are. Consequently, they see us as irredeemably ignorant, inept, corrupt and susceptible to inexplicable violence and inferiority complex. Unfortunately, the average Nigerian’s sociability and prodigal nature manifests to further serve as evidence of a collective idiocy and inferiority complex of a crude race that recognizes and accepts its intolerable limitations.

    That we are very accommodating and hospitable like Akin Akindele rightly noted shouldn’t make us “bend over backwards to impress any white or yellow man more than we would any other ordinary person.” But the import of such admonition is lost on us; mediocre and highly incompetent foreigners come to Nigeria and are immediately regarded as ‘expatriates.’ Yet many brainy and exceedingly talented Nigerians are treated with contempt and suspicion at home and abroad. Abroad, they are despised for being Nigerians based on bigoted generalizations about the average Nigerian’s fraudulence and deadliness. At home they are despised for being different and capable of evolving the process that would lead to that progressive and prosperous socio-economic system that we seek.

    If we are to be judged by indigenous mores of morality or what Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, deems the human measure of all things, we shan’t fare excellently well, not by a smidgen. We have fared diffidently for too long; that is why local and international jesters as fragile as clay toys have evolved into outsized heroes and gods, on our watch. To the rest of the world, we are just a bunch of contemptible niggers; still.