Saving Us From Ourselves -By Chibuike Mgbeahuruike

Chibuike Mgbeahuruike

A cursory look at this enterprise called Nigeria will show that it is a (potentially) great nation. However, nations grow when all hands are on deck working assiduously and serving the common cause with dedication, irrespective of whether one occupies the highest office in the land (say a President) or the lowest (say a shoe shiner). On the other hand, nations don’t achieve greatness when its people envy each other’s positions or engage in pull-him-down gimmicks. We have unfortunately seen some semblance of envy and greed coloured in the choice of language by persons or groups, all in a bid to discredit one another. This is as unacceptable as it is grossly uncalled for. While as it is legitimate for individuals or groups to seek or aspire to be anything or attain any position in this country, it is important that we first recognise, respect and appreciate all service-oriented positions irrespective of who occupies them, whether skilled or unskilled, based in the federal or state, local or ward levels.

The major thrust of this narrative is to expose how our national ethos can be made or marred following the growing abdication of parental and family roles and responsibilities to children (supposed leaders of tomorrow). For us to understand the level of indictment on parents and the damages so far perpetrated, let us take time to reflect on the reality and inherent dangers posed by globalisation, information and communications technology, environmental factors, the current wave of extreme career demands and pursuits, ironically in the name of providing for the family and the pressure that come with it.

Every career-minded individual represents a figure-head or father-figure in the home. For that reason, all children are vulnerable to the extent of the questionable attitude, bad example and negative influence exhibited by their parents or guardians. Life experience shows that a child spends his/her early days in the family unit where and when character moulding is of necessity, highly imperative, and far more practicable. Thus, by reason of parental influence alone, most professionals, politicians, legal and medical practitioners, engineers, farmers, pastors and even armed robbers have tended to produce offsprings exactly their ilk without knowing it. We have also seen interesting situations where wiser children know better than reflecting their badly behaved(ing) parents. In other words, some children are not motivated enough by the negative traits or ills that characterise the career part of their parents.

By and large, one cannot give what he does not have. This brings us to the question of legacy. What legacy are we parents leaving behind for the children God has put under our care and tutelage? How safe is the society with the children we nurtured to become citizens tomorrow? Are we reassured that we have imbibed the right values and attitude on our children? To put it differently, can we as parents beat our chest confidently and claim that we have in all sincerity contributed positively to a peaceful, friendly and tolerable world by the kind of upbringing we give to our children?

It may be expedient to peep through some of the vices that now seem to be gaining momentum in our world of today – and sadly, creeping fast into the Nigeria space. Consider very elaborate wedding ceremonies (you can see many of them in Ovation magazine or Bisi Olatilo Show) and the high rate of divorces which have become very fashionable these days; consider growing religiosity and diminishing faith and godliness; consider growing animosity in our society and a sharp drop in acts of charity, love and tolerance among our people, escalating terrorism and its horrendous character of killing and maiming; check out common incidences of violence, drug peddling and abuse in high and low places; think about our reckless and unpatriotic politicking, corruption and poor government accountability at all levels; increasing sympathy for gay/lesbian attitudes and orientations; the very high patronage of pornography and nudity; as well as the practice of co-habitation in our large and small cities. Most disturbing is the increased intolerance for religious and ethnic orientations in the body polity as expressed in thoughtless hate speeches and innuendos. You can see the dangerous dimension in the social media such as Facebook and Twitter trails and platforms.

As politicians and their cronies in the private sector have continued to hold the Nigerian economy and the hapless Nigerian youths to the jugular, so will peace continue to elude them. Many have engaged in money laundering and foreign account holding activities using pseudo names, others use their positions to promote extremism, while some take pleasure in sewing seed of discord and hatred in the guise of religion and politics. Today, they think they are untouchable and feel they are safer having defrauded the people to acquire lavish mansions and estates across the globe in pursuit of ‘safe haven’ in secure democracies. There are also private individuals who have worked so hard to earn their wealth, but rather than thank God for a peaceful environment to conduct and grow their businesses and give back to society in appreciation, they decide to extend their tentacles to other peaceful climes not without acquiring the best of mansions for themselves and families. Their undoing is when they meddle into politics in very bad faith. My candid advice to all and sundry in these categories is simple – they cannot undermine peace at home and think they can find peace elsewhere abroad.

As long as the world remains a global village, where one resides these days matters but a little; there can indeed no longer be a hiding place for all anti-people politicians and perpetrators of evil. Come to think of it, no one can possibly plant bitter kola and want to reap banana? No, we can only reap what we sow and there is no two ways about it – sow peace reap peace, sow discord and reap discord in like and equal measure.

Rather than contribute sincerely to building the economy to a level it can be self-sustaining and serve the interest of the teeming youths by way of capacity development or economic empowerment, they would rather invest in private estates and lineage enterprises in a bid to forever safeguard their family’s wealth at the expense of our collective heritage. My elementary experience of politics shows that revolution thrives effectively among the peasants (the have-nots) who have absolutely nothing to their name or to live for. In the same vein, the elites or the haves strongly abhor revolution for fear of losing in one fell swoop, all they have greedily acquired at the expense of the people.

We recall that some years back, owning properties in the UK, the US and Canada and other stable democracies was more fashionable, but because Nigeria has remained largely peaceful after the hey-days of military in politics such properties no longer strictly serve as safe haven they were meant to, but merely to show class. Unfortunately, class is not so much of an issue in the West as it obtains here in the Third World. Today, Dubai has come into reckoning out of sheer planning and dedication to serve the public good by the servant leaders in that clime. I am sure it took leaders who were up-front, up-to-date and up to their jobs – thinking and working round the clock to achieve the feat that some of us now lust after with reckless abandon. Need I reiterate that everybody that is somebody in Nigeria is falling over one another in a bid to explore and holiday in Dubai, send their wards to school in Dubai, own a property in Dubai. But little do they know that by so doing, they are helping to build a foreign economy while exposing our local economy to the suffocating nightmare of huge capital flight.

Unfortunately, our somewhat hostile foreign hosts do not seem to appreciate Nigerian’s ‘greedy show of class’ when they invest heavily in different endeavours of their economies with their hard-earned resources and still lose precious lives alongside. Already, we are beginning to pay dearly for these needless adventures by way of avoidable deaths of some Nigerian youths. Or how does one explain the untimely death of such young Nigerians in Dubai, Ghana, Greece and a host of other countries in search of education, adventure and/or greener pastures.

Beyond this apparent hostility, the authorities in Dubai particularly appear more determined to teach Nigerians some bitter lessons on how not to show class outside their home land. Only recently, the latest Asian tiger came up with a new guideline that will henceforth ensure all non-nationals (property owners) indicate boldly and clearly their family names on the body of properties they purchase or own – this is obviously targeted at Nigerians. Never again will Nigerian governors, ministers, permanent secretaries, directors and the likes for instance buy palatial estates and homes in Dubai by proxy or on fictitious names as was common in the UK, US and other Western countries of the world.

While I am not envious of Nigerians who are scampering to buy properties abroad, my major concern is why people of such standing in a society that have been so tolerant and accommodating – seeing them through to the pinnacle of their studies and public service careers, and all they do is pay back with such criminal impunity. Their thinking apparently is, with a home secured abroad, they can resort to causing problem at home so that when the trouble begins they have a place of safety abroad to run to. This for me smirks of untainted wickedness coated in deep-rooted ignorance.

In conclusion, the reason most parents have failed and cannot call their children to order when it matters most – even in all their excesses and inadequacies is because they have not themselves been exemplary in their conduct over time. Those days when the responsibility of a child’s upbringing extended to neighbours and the entire community, it was possible for others to assist in child upbringing where the parents appear to be failing. But these days, what appears to be required to nurture a child is simply to amass enough money which has sadly replaced community’s involvement in child rearing – the damage has been most colossal and regretful and Nigeria remains at the receiving end. Imagine a disenchanted parent looking his ward straight in the eye and muttering ‘I work hard all day to provide more than enough resources to sponsor your quality education and a ‘private home’ abroad and all I get in return is “whatz up dad”, and the poor boy retorts, “let’s face it dad, you didn’t work hard for those fat dollar and pounds accounts? Forget it dad, I can recognise a hard working parent when I see one – dad we are merely enjoying the loot and perks of your (appointive) office period!”

The boy continues “dad, if you want me to graduate, pay more money into my dollar and pound sterling account and guarantee me a political appointment on return”. What choice has this sad parent than to play along to look like a proud parent before his friends, while as he is merely suffering a self-inflicted odium with no end in sight – but then, he has just succeeded in unleashing his ‘good-for-nothing son’ on the unsuspecting society without knowing it.

May God save us from ourselves!

Chibuike Mgbeahuruike is a social and political commentator and the Executive Director of Civic Space Initiative, CSI