The State As A Community For The Realization Of The Highest Excellence Of Man -By Nkom Blessed Chata

The state being the highest of all human terrain as carefully postulated by Hegel consisting of different features that other human organizations do not have, it is to a larger extend the determinant of the end of a person in some aspects that are germane, expedient, and pertinent to him. It is against this backdrop that Aristotle opined that man is by nature a social being that is intended to live in a political society who cannot in any way claim to be independent of the human society unless he is a beast or a god since he claims been sufficient for himself. He however, said that it is only in the society that man can develop his potentialities as a human being which I strongly align with his ideology since it is evidently and practically shown in everyday life. However, the Nigerian political society which is one among the societies discussed by Aristotle that also exists to serve man’s needs, to provide the individual with the means and attain the goal of life which man cannot in any way possible be able to achieve by himself alone devoid of some societal influence.

Hmmm, this aspect of the state serves as a gadfly for me to interrogate the nature of the state in our country especially on whether Nigerian leaders being the custodians of the country and also the determinants of the nature of the state have done the needful with respect to the common good of their citizens which is at the peak of all the values of the state towards her citizens. How can the deadly issue of unemployment be reconciled with the ideal nature of the state, saddled with the responsibility of making available for her citizens the basic needs and potentialities which employment is one of them? How can the issue of insecurity be reconciled with the role of the state, controlled by her leaders with regards providing her citizens with proper security and protection?

How can the issue of the lack of educational facilities be reconciled with the role of the state towards the provision of these things? How can the day to day denial of the freedom of speech, be reconciled with the role of the government towards the protection of her citizens and their legitimate human right? How can the usual promulgation of laws that suit the Leaders, at the detriment of the lives of her citizens be reconciled with their role of enacting laws that should play equal functions to everyone in the society, regardless of one’s social status? How can the inhuman act of dividing the country into the classes of the haves and the haves not, the bourgeois and the bourgeoisies, the poor and the rich be reconciled with their constitutional role of displaying justice, equality, and equity in their day to day engagements with their citizens?

These and many more are questions that pose serious concerns for us in the country Nigeria.

NKOM BLESSED CHATA STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT VERITAS UNIVERSITY