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This was a paper first delivered at a conference on Nigerian Socio-Economic Development in Leeds, United Kingdom in August of 2008. The Conference was organized by the Nigerian Muslim Forum UK.
Today, I intend to do what people generally do not do. I just pray that you have the patience to follow me with an open mind. I intend to talk from both sides of my brain and my inner conscience, to address the problem at hand. By that I mean, the creative and divine, the academics and theology. I believe, to be sincere to ourselves and at the same time effectively ponder the problems, we have to address the issues from both parts that made us who we are as a creation, the body and the soul, the physical and the spiritual.
One of our main problems today, and this is global by the way, is we have been so carried away by the academic, scientific and technological developments of our times, as if in and of themselves they can free us from our daunting problems. We use knowledge in utter disregard of what is ethically and morally right. Instead of creatively applying such knowledge to solve problems, we get carried away by it.
The ethical and moral question are the domain of spiritual development, and the divine orders. And the world today has forcefully been made to tread the secular path primarily, leaving the sacred part that deals with spiritual development to the temples, churches and mosques. But if we want to look at ourselves comprehensively, we have no choice but to access both parts of us in this journey. The development of these two aspects helps to counterbalance our conduct as beings made up of a soul and a body.
The Academics, Science and Technology are the tools, and man is supposed to be the master of those tools, always directing them toward what is good and right. He moulds and shapes them in the direction that benefits everyone. Furthermore, with the right intention, through that application of knowledge in resolving his fellow human’s problems, he gains a reward that keeps reproducing itself (Sadaqatul Jariyah), blessings (Barakah) in his wealth, and probably professional development in the likes of promotions and recognitions if he is interested in that.
But that is not the general direction the application of such knowledge today takes. We have in existence today, a ‘disconnect’ situation between knowledge and its application for “true advancement” because such tools have been misused. I will give you a typical example. Nuclear energy could be used to supply uninterrupted electricity to millions for rapid socio-economic development; while at the same time it could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction to annihilate people; but unfortunately the world has preferred to mostly put it into use for the latter.
Satellites could be positively used to pry our globe for better production of food, water supply, location of natural resources including how much is available underground for effective planning, use and distribution. These services have the potential to eliminate hunger, diseases, neutralize tensions between nations up in struggle for control of meager resources, and provide alternatives for better use of such resources. But it can also be used to spy on nations providing spy reports and distributing it to nations of the world to start wars, and escalate those already in progress. The world has chosen the latter in most cases.
I hope you will forgive me then, if I venture off the normal track that conferences such as this usually dwell on, and pry into what I believe are our most serious problems. While doing so, we will try to asses them, and provide some recommendations.
Every nation has its unique set of prospects and problems. Nigeria is one of them. In order to address them effectively, we have to originate our own research, diagnostics, experiment with applicable solutions on a sample level, and then choose the most effective means of dealing with it. We must have the courage to implement those solutions no matter how bitter it may taste, or hard it may feel in the short term. If we truly want change to usher in prosperity and development on a mass level, we have to realize it may not be easy.
Many professionals, agencies and well intentioned citizens, have attempted what we are doing here today, but the problems remain. What then is the hindrance? Some of the major reasons behind the failure to make any impact in that direction could be categorized into three major areas (a) The commitment to solving the problems was lacking (b) those in whose hand the resources of the nation are, who enjoy the status quo, may not be willing to commit it to workable solutions that may ultimately shake that status quo; (c) and even if they do, those entrusted to implement the promising and well thought out recommendations, fall into the same past practices they were entrusted with funds to eradicate. The question then is: Do we have hope that Nigeria can really find its way back to solid ground?
It is not impossible, because we have seen countries that were like Nigeria years ago, revolutionalized their attitude towards nation building and community development and made great strides. Today they have become a force to reckon with worldwide. Nations of Asia are an example, such as Japan, and in most recent times, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The situation for Nigeria then is; are Nigerians and their government willing to; (a) commit to the solutions (b) ultimately sweat it through.
I assure you all that it will not be easy. Ask management professionals who have been working continually on designing and implementing changes in their organizations, a simpler entity, compared to a complex society like Nigeria. But as I say, it is NOT impossible and actually I am optimistic that with the right government dedicated to the good of all, we can launch and sustain such an undertaking, and make the most of it.
The Nigerian governing and administrative system has been handicapped by many problems. They are not insurmountable however. But because they have been so much entrenched it will take a mass campaign for an attitude change and a commitment from the people and their government to eradicate it. This is because as heinous and as reprehensible as these problems are, they have gradually become acceptable practices. And mind you, they have become acceptable practices not because people do not have what we call in Islam Fitra, the inborn compass designed by our Creator to point us to Him, and thereby internally alert us about the wrong and the right way (of God’s universal law). But because people chose to ignore that compass by forcefully neglecting it and violating God’s law, they have gradually reprogrammed their Fitra to their personal desires. What they collectively do today with their deliberately misguided values has contributed greatly to the abysmal condition we find ourselves today as a nation. People who ignore and violate their inborn compass end up wronging their own souls and jeopardizing others. With repeated violations, very soon they have formed a behavioral pattern hard to move away from. In Nigeria, it does not stop there however.
As people corrupt themselves and their souls; they force such practices onto others, including their subordinates, and ordinary Nigerians too. This is precisely where the adage that the best among the people in moral and ethical values should lead. And that appointing a corrupt leader spreads corruption in the whole land. A leader in every sense of the word is the person who gives directions as to what is to be done to his immediate staffs, who then pass it on down the ranks to those holding the lowest ranks. But what if he is a corrupt individual, with a corrupted soul, which ultimately gives him corrupted directives?
The subordinate is forced into a choice of either implementing his superior’s corrupt and ethically bankrupt practices on others, or being shown the door to unemployment. For clarity, moral issues are those that relate to a person’s personal character and behavior the ultimate source of guidance for it being divine orders from which his religious bearing emanates. Ethical issues on the other hand relate to his professional conduct, i.e. the laws of righteousness that enhances his job such as “saving lives’ for Doctors and “social responsibility” for the press (journalists). As experience shows over the years, a vast majority of subordinates will not make the right choice between following corrupt directives and keeping their employment
As for the ordinary citizens in the private sector, how does such corruption affect them? I will give you a typical example. Imagine an average farmer with a simple problem from a remote village; or else a poor Fulani herdsman rearing herds of cattle coming to the city to find solutions to some problems along the lines of his profession. Mind you these two groups form the economic breadbasket of the nation. Together they form one of the two most important alternatives to Oil in retaining the country’s socio-economic development base. Let us say, the person’s problem calls for interaction with his elected representatives or governmental official. He comes into town in need of help and support for a problem associated with his profession for which he cannot find the means to solving them at his village.
When he has to deal with government officials, he is first neglected and kept for hours in the waiting room, if not days. When and if he finally makes it to the official in charge, he is forced to pay bribe before he gains access to a service he is entitled to by right. What is wrong with this picture? Any public office is a trust; that is a reality. The person occupying the office has been entrusted to serve the people and bring them much good, but the opposite is happening - where the official not only oppresses them but forces them to serve him, while stealing from them. What is wrong with that picture? Please forgive my being so frank and practical. Can I be real with you today? Are we ready to face the truth?
Those grossly unjust and inhumane practices by people in elected governmental positions, appointed and also private positions, when they started years ago, were not checked. Gradually they became acceptable ways of doing business. As time went by, people’s attitude towards running official positions changed. To the ordinary Nigerian today that is how a government works. Those practices, as reprehensible as they are, were seen as no big deal, to the extent that a citizen of Nigeria will pay his way from a remote area to the city for medical treatment, fall on the hospital floor and die while waiting to be served. The hospital employees have simply neglected him. People around the person will just cover his head, step over the corpse to continue their businesses as if nothing has happened. When accidents happen on Nigerian roads today, people rush towards the vehicle, on many occasions not to help victims though, but to steal their valuables from them as they lie dying.
To make matters worse, by contemporary Nigerian Psyche, the herdsman who by the way feeds hundreds of people annually through his profession and hard work, and the rural farmer who does likewise, are inferior in status by far to the city dweller. We tend to forget that every piece of meat from the daily meals of all 120 million Nigerians is raised and reared predominantly by the much underrated and undervalued herdsman. Most city dwellers however work easy unproductive jobs today. We know this because productive city job such as manufacturing does not happen at any significant rate in Nigeria. Therefore, most city jobs could be accomplished with strokes of pen, rather than hard productive work.
Many contribute nothing professionally to their country’s economy, but vain talk, gossip, slander and idleness; only to walk into an office and with the connivance of an official of the government, walk out with millions of Naira from people’s money through concocted and non-existence contracts meant to enrich that person and the official. The twisted scenario described above makes no sense; but to date it continues to become acceptable societal norm. Only a lost people, who have lost a sense of what value is, will accept that culture, but it thrives in Nigeria.
As I work on this paper, I was captivated by headlines that capture our attention every single day, involving exorbitant amounts of money. One reads “EFCC Probes Health agency over 400 million Naira stationery purchase in one month!” (Daily Trust, July 2008). Similar headlines run daily in our papers. This however belongs to the category of robbery by governmental personnel. And then there is another category;- private contractors. One such headline reads “Contractors abscond with silos (worth) 11.4 million pounds Sterling (2.7 billion Naira), (Daily Trust, July 2008).[1] For any one such incident that made headlines, only God knows how many others have not yet been discovered. Has anyone sat down to calculate the enormous loss to the economy and citizens of Nigeria in general? At such rate of public robbery, embezzlement and misappropriation, even if Nigerians are individually made of money, they will easily exhaust themselves to bankruptcy.
To return to our premise, by continually neglecting that internally designed compass that guides to our divine part, and a sense of right and wrong (Fitra), the public servant, elected or appointed has subverted God’s own justice upon which He created and arranged His universal laws. Whether we like it or not, our personal desires, corruption, distorted and misdirected willpower as Nigerians, if pitched against God’s fundamental law upon which he created the Universe, do not stand a chance. Such actions will not only lead us nowhere, but may become the beginning of the end of our prosperity and development. The Quran says;
(a)
“Do they not reflect in their own minds? Not but for
just ends
and for a term appointed, did Allah create the heavens and the earth, and
all between them: yet are there truly many among men who deny the meeting
with their Lord (at the Resurrection)!”
(Surah-
Ar-Room, Chapter # 30, Verse # 8) (b) Another similar verse
from the Quran says “We created not the heavens and the earth and all
between them but for just
ends, and for a Term Appointed: But those who reject Faith turn away
from that whereof they are warned.” (Surah-
Al-Ahqaf, Chapter # 46, Verse # 3); and
(c) Finally, another verse that says “We created them not
except for just
ends: but most of them do not understand.” (Surah-
Ad-Dukhan, Chapter # 44, Verse # 39)[2]
Many verses clearly state that the backbone or blueprint of the creation of the whole universe, not just our earth is living together while maintaining and according justice to every one and every being. So anyone who thinks he can continue to ride against the tide, contrary to universal laws in existence long before we found ourselves here, is doomed to failure; and mass failure if I may add. Where justice is denied, peace will find no place. And where peace is non-existence, and insecurity is the norm, there will simply be no prosperity.
The main and urgent problems could be sub-divided into two major parts. The first is the disease (illness) or what you may rightfully call negative underlying causes. The second group comprises of the problems that manifested themselves (symptoms) as a result of those underlying causes.
Causes
Result
We have pretty much covered systemic corruption, though I wish we have more time on that because that is the major underlying cancer gnawing slowly at the fabric of Nigeria’s development and prosperity. Generally, management worldwide connotes two basic ideas. Trying to make productive, a conflicting situation, i. e. diverse employees with differing ideas on the one hand, and lack of resources to adequately implement those ideas on the other. In fact management as a term implies dealing with inadequate resources.[3] As far as the disagreements, it consists of; conflict of interests between various units of a ministry or company (Research and development unit, personnel, line producers etc); differing ideas, inadequate resources etc. A good manager globally is he who best “manages” these typical challenges most effectively.
In Nigeria however, these challenges are further complicated by a crippling mind-set. (a) That resources allocated to an office or its branch are meant to go to the managers pockets, with the crumbs going into the mid- and lower level employees pockets. (b) That government resources are open to waste and embezzlement by those entrusted with it. Government work process is so choked with bribery and kick backs so much so that even to get its statutory allocated funds, a ministry or unit of a larger organization is forced to engage in kickbacks at every level of the process. [4] The Minister plays along because the mindset is once the money got released; they first deduct what they paid in bribery, and what is left of it personally belongs to them, with no dividend going towards working for the country and its people.
These kinds of activities cripple genuine development and productivity. It seeps deep down eating away at the motivation of competent employees willing to come up with ideas to deal with genuine challenges the country faces, be it electricity generation, adequate water supply or simply producing or encouraging the production of enough food by our farmers. Nigerians are smart, but they cannot put their intellect to use in such a setting. As daunting as these problems are, anyone who comes out with the solutions is looked upon as the person who betrayed his colleagues by divulging their secret system of personally enriching and milking both the system and the ordinary citizen. Nigerians otherwise compete in Schools and colleges worldwide coming home with trophies in terms of ability to analyze and come up with solutions to problems in all professional areas.
Unfortunately as smart and intelligent as Nigerians are in their string of degrees from various national and international universities, they seem at a loss when they visit their colleagues for seminars and conferences in comparable offices abroad. The reason is not problem solving skills or disparity in intellectual capability, but that the delusional and intentional crippling of their own system at home made them appear daft and unresourceful as they tour foreign facilities. And even after spending resources for them to learn how other countries confront similar problems, they generally lack the willpower and motivation to initiate a change at their home offices afterwards. So ultimately, Nigerian managers find themselves obtaining a failing grade in the field of effective management not because they are daft and unresourceful intellectually, but by personal greed and systemic complications prevalent in their home communities.
[1] Daily Trust (online edition), monitored July 20, 2008.
[2] Abdullahi Yusuf Ali translation of the Holy Quran
[3] For details of areas that managers deal with generally, see Montana, P. J. & Charnov, B H., (2000) Management. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
[4] “Members of the public had to bribe their way through in the ministries and parastatals to get attention and one government agency had to bribe another government agency to obtain release of its statutory allocation of funds. The impact of official corruption is so rampant….it has distorted and retrogressed development.” President Obasanjo’s inaugural speech, May 1999.
(c) The Optimist Voice. All Rights Reserved.
The next issue is the loss of values, dignity and a sense of worth. This is an important point. Long gone are the days when people are proud of who they are and the values they hold. The general mass of the people today, approximately 70-80 percent of the population who do not belong to the elite i.e. the educated managers in appointed positions or elected ones have been made either deliberately by design or by the contemporary value system prevalent in Nigeria today, to think that they cannot (a) think for themselves; (b) effectively figure out what is going on or going wrong with their government; (c) That power, positions, government decisions, and government processes are so complicated for them to understand or do something about. The result is a passive citizenry and working class with no self-esteem or motivation to rise up to the challenge and proactively work towards ensuring justice, peace and prosperity for themselves, and their children.
The mindset described above has to be urgently reversed. It does no one any good at all. Before the breakdown of our value system, there was much peace, order, tranquility and security. You cannot even begin to compare those days 60s – 70s to what has become of the country. The older value system stresses respect for elders in the community and home, parents, grandparents etc. The family is knit together, the community and ultimately the country at large bond with each other. These people may not have acquired formal education, but they are smart, wise and gifted with a lot of wisdom (Hikma). They can sit anyone down and relate to them the seeping problems unfolding as they observe them, and also the best way to go about solving them. They can analyze possible pitfalls with each and every decision they give you. Instead of working together with them, today’s generation feel they are inferior, old fashioned, and cannot think wisely because they have no formal education. The result is a disconnect between generations that has hurt the country bad.
Their counsel as to what is morally and ethically right is neglected, so much so that more and more people today continue to move away from long held values sanctioned by universal laws of righteousness and good conduct that breeds community building and progress. In fact the people with long and proud history of community building and orderly living align themselves today with communities that do not have such background in order to learn from them the art of scamming, cheating and acquiring ill gotten wealth overnight regardless of how one does it. Please excuse my being real today with the facts unfolding in Nigeria. If we want change we have to identify the root causes and deal with them.
The decaying value system runs smack into the next underlying cause, i.e. lack of patriotism. By that we undervalue the important values that bind us as a community. In fact the last few years after fighting hard to restore democracy and the rule of the majority, different sectors of the country try to hammer divisive issues, mostly based on greed. They do that in political, economic and social arenas. The call for sovereign conference at a time when elected officials took office for the first time after many year of struggle to restore democracy is one example. How one could neglect an elected government and prefer that delegates be nominated to discuss any agenda that determines such very important issues of the nation is an enigma only those who spearheaded the call know.
Lack of Patriotism is also fanned by many of the articulated problems. When people despair of their leaders and their motives, sometimes patriotism is the culprit.
It is hard for individuals to maintain patriotism for any reasonable period when they are embarrassed almost always by news of what either their elected leaders or those in position of representing the image of Nigeria to the world are engaged in. When the name of the country is dragged in the mud, it affects how people feel. It does hurt them, but gradually as human behavior shows, people tend to distance themselves to any persistent cause of grief. Improving and taking actions to jumpstart and sustain the solution to Nigerian socio-economic problems, should help boost its acceptance in patriotic terms by the general public.
Finally in the list of causes is a Lack of commitment and non-challant attitude towards important issues of state. Generally, issues of governance, even if they directly affect the welfare of the people, are not given adequate attention. A typical example is the issue of sustainable power. As important as the issue is, and as much as the government and people in position to do something about it are trying to convince us that it is insurmountable, we do know that is a fairly tale. Countries much poorer than Nigeria, with no financial resources have done it. Furthermore apart from the funds to do it, Nigeria has all the tangible resources for generating electricity e.g. large rivers, coal, gas and oil resources. How can they credibly convince us that they cannot provide sustainable and uninterrupted power supply for their people? Bear with me, in a short while as we go along I intend to point at where some of such solutions lie.
Results
Mischievous misuse of sustainability as an excuse in 1999 – at the inception of the first civilian administration - has caused the country much distress. While sustainability of the newly regained democratic system of governance is important to meaningful development, it should not deter progress. We also require sustainability and steady progress in socio-economic terms. The Nigerian government however, especially the immediate past administration, has misused the sustainability of the so called “nascent” democracy to hoodwink the country into virtual pacification. People deserve to see responsible progress for the 11 years of democratic governance.
One of the realities of governance (as enumerated and supported by Qur’anic verses we quoted earlier), is that continuity can only be guaranteed if rooted strongly in justice and transparence. What would you expect of a new manager coming in to find an office full of redundant, unworkable and probably ill conceived projects that were brought to life not because of genuine demand for them, but in order to enrich the former manager and his clique among the contractors in the private sector? There is absolutely no reason for the new Manager to work towards building on the former manager’s foundation. Why? A host of reasons, among them: a) those inherited baggage only adds to the present manager’s impediments. The continuance of the old projects or tasks becomes a waste of resources with no results. (b) The new manager is not solving the real problems and tasks assigned to the office; so in the end people will accuse him of inefficiency (c) He is not contributing to his own legacy and portfolio for which others may later judge him in that same position, or recommend him for future positions. (d) He is not working towards pleasing those who gave him the position. Remember that the choice of any leader or employer reflects the on the judgment of the person who employed him to the position. And betrayal of that trust and service also reflects on the employer and all those who put in a word of reference for the new manager in order to get the position.
One main problem that always baffles me is, we tend to believe that a new government will be different only to find our hopes dashed. It has never surprised me and should not surprise anyone. The general attitude of the overwhelming population is reflected in leaders and appointees, and verse-versa. No one should expect to reap tomatoes from a field he has planted potatoes; like begets like. We need to admit and face squarely that the generality of Nigerians including those in public service are becoming increasingly ethically bankrupt. The ethical and moral reasons are clear.[1] Our elected and appointed leaders will always come from the same ethically bankrupt society. It is delusional therefore, to expect miracles from them. The only way is to work on restoring ethical conduct and eradicating all these counterproductive practices nationwide.
How do we eradicate the problems? you may ask. We start by defining, enumerating and publicizing on top of our voices the issues that are crippling the nation’s prosperity and make it an important topic of open discussion. We then embark on a mass campaign for attitudinal changes backed by the enforcement of all our anti-corruption laws at the same time. Negative forces and bad conduct love to grow in darkness and secrecy. Clearly articulate the problems without fear or favor. I assure you, any government that does that, while credibly suggesting and applying remedies will win the goodwill of the people. Only then will its importance be marched equally by resources aimed at eradicating it. We may then be able to implement carefully thought out and measurable plan for a mass campaign to publicize the evils in open as well as subliminal ways.
The electronic media, mostly government owned could be put into greater use, through for example, highly captivating drama series exposing such unethical practices along with their consequences for the society. Public announcements using proverbial and carefully chosen metaphorical jargons deep rooted in the culture of the local audience may be used as a toll for the campaign. Regularly produced and widely televised documentaries that focus on targeted issues relating to awareness as well as uprooting such degenerative practices should also be a priority.
Another problem that surfaced from the causes enumerated above is lack of accountability. Nigeria has become a nation of investigative committees, committee of enquiries and ongoing investigations. Hardly do you see prosecutions following those investigations, and rarely do people get charged. The public knows a crime has been committed, they know their allocated funds have disappeared without any tangible gain from it. The government officials elected or appointed to manage it know it is missing, but ultimately the public is pacified by committees of enquiries that ultimately turn up nothing. Even in cases where they do turn up something, nothing is done by way of recovering the funds and bringing it back to the people from whom it was misappropriated. In short such committees are usually temporary popularity schemes for those who set them up, only to become a blackmailing team who end up sharing the loot with the original embezzlers. The poor citizens never get their money back to fix their schools and fund their hospitals. As a result, their welfare institutions continue to deteriorate. Where then is the accountability, fairness and justice?
There is absolutely no way you can maintain peace and security without justice, even in a simpler group such as a family, let alone complex communities. Such actions breed insecurity. Very soon some of the frustrated citizens will not obey laws. Those with little discipline and moral upbringing begin to set up road blocks, to gain something for themselves by force. In such unruly situations the innocent again fall victim to such actions.
When important issues such as portable water and electricity are brought to light, they just draw headlines from those empowered to resolve it. They give speeches to the public as to how they promise to resolve it soon. But ordinary Nigerians have now become so discouraged that anyone can ever do something about such debilitating problems they face every single day. One of the major issues in that regard is inadequate research, planning and brainstorming until a viable and applicable solution is found. Because people want to take credit unnecessarily, they are impatient to seek workable even if long term solutions.
Nigerians as enumerated earlier can match every single country in terms of intellectual capability of its people. But that resource is not used. A team of academicians professionally knowledgeable in the area could be asked for example to join a team that may include, Professional electrical engineers with hands on ground experience in public service, energy experts in areas of hydro energy generation, coal energy acquisition and use experts, energy distribution experts etc down to those with a host of experience in hands-on issues of resolving interruptions etc Today in management, teambuilding is key to resolving the most intricate problems.[2] That team does not look down or undervalue any employee. If solutions being sought affects any unit, everyone including the lowest level worker in that unit finds a place at the table to air his or her views, and such views are seriously considered. Once the team is made up, it is then given a time limit, task, resources that should be available, and told to come up with a blueprint that resolves all the problems that have already been identified and enumerated. In reality however, politics once again and greed becomes the motivating factor. In the end nothing gets done because the right way of tackling the issue is deliberately circumvented for personal greed.
Solutions
Because of time, we will just run through some possible solutions without necessarily explaining them in detail.
- Mass campaign could be launched to deprogram the general public away from deep rooted psyche and actions that are counterproductive. These should include public announcements, captivating drama series, and documentaries by the nation’s broadcast media.
- Careful scrutiny in the choice of People who lead or serve at critical and important positions. Leadership and servitude should be given to people who not only possess knowledge, but those who have demonstrated trustworthiness and piety (Taqwa). Pious enough to know their responsibilities, i.e. the burden from the people and their Devine Lord to whom they will be accountable to someday.
- Transparency and openness in governmental transactions is essential. An informed public is generally active and participative.[3] Gone are the days when papers print annual allocations to every state government; including the Federal budget as allocated to federal ministries. Followed by state government’s allocations to various ministries and the local governments. That allows the public to set adequate demands for their public office holders in terms of project priorities, and demand accountability.
- Strict enforcement of accountability at federal and state government levels.
- Establishment of various projects with the intention of instilling some degree of love of community and country. Games and Sports is one such means that brings a city, state or country together for the common purpose of winning. Mutual projects between neighboring states to harness common resources for their people’s development. Interstate visits and coalitions for associations of common interest across state lines. Interregional alliances and student exchange. National Youth Service has helped a lot in that regard.
Conclusion
In summary, the socio-economic problems are pervasive and require a mass campaign to redirect our energies. Eradicating corruption and attitude change are the key. And before anything we need to start working on ourselves personally. Charity begins at home is an adage commonly spoken of in Nigeria. Though one’s means of livelihood with which he eats and feeds his children as most will probably agree should be clean, most do not view the evil practices that corrupts their subsistence source as they should “evil.” People make excuses such as, well everyone takes bribe. Everyone has to be paid money under the table in order to perform the same job they are paid by the government to do anyway. Others will not see any evil in concocting a fake event or contract, allocating money to it, then paying themselves subsequently. Well everyone does it, they will tell you.
The realities and the evil generated by such activities are immense. They are the root of all underdevelopment, disease, death, malnutrition, lack of education and degeneration of same etc. A nation blessed has cursed itself by its hand and actions. For every penny you take out of the money entrusted to you through the office you occupy, and the ones you take from ordinary people who had to double pay you (salary and bribe) in order to perform your duty, you will be asked to account for it one day. In one way or another you will, if not beginning in this world, you will at the hands of Him that created you. This is not the position of just one religion, but even the atheist believes in what they call the Karma effect; that is to say what you send into the world of your deeds, will come back to you. Examples of that phenomenon abound around us. Yet people take these issues lightly generally, and it should not be the case at all. An attitude change in that direction will go a long way in redirecting our energies to nation building.
[1] Matharat-al-Qulub by Imam al Maulud translated by Hamza Yusuf in the book titled “Purification of the Heart,” Starlight Press (2004) ““Covetousness, the desire to aggress and exploit, the longing to pilfer natural resources, the inordinate love of wealth and position and other maladies are a manifestation of diseases found nowhere but in the heart. Every criminal, miser, abuser, scoffer, embezzler and hateful person does what he or she does because of a diseased heart….so if we want to change our world, we do not begin by rectifying the outward.”
[2] David, K.C., Kelvin, J.H., & William, J.T., (1996) Managing the Change Process. New York: McGraw-Hill, Pg. 19.
[3] Advantages of openness and participation include, enhanced motivation, better decision results, creates trust, accelerated progress towards goal achievement. Motivation & Goal-Setting (1993) second edition New Jersey: Career Press, Inc. Pg.63
