The Nigerian factor (II)
AGBEBAKU IZOBO
The vandalisation and abuse of public facilities is common
and to the discomfort of all. No one seems to bother even when streetlights
and the rails on bridges are vandalised by miscreants. The reality of the
Nigerian factor is tantamount to ignorance, wrong prioritising of interest,
disruption of social ideals, economic maladjustment by those in position to
administer policies and of course bad policies caused by selfish motives.
At the apex of this opprobriously expressed act is compromise and desperation.
There is a desperate attitude to be first and be accorded special recognition.
An attitude of flamboyance to be distinguished and primitively amass wealth
encourages some people to make a harvest of chieftaincy titles and inordinately
flaunt their ill-gotten wealth before others. This same spirit causes preference
for imported goods and shunning of local projects. Dumping of goods is possible
because of the high level of gullibility. Anything with foreign names is conveniently
accepted.
The unnecessary use of sirens to embarrass and intimidate other road users
is visibly common. The use of the siren that ought to be for emergency purposes
by health officers and top government functionaries is being abused by anyone
that cares to install the gadget in his vehicle. Insincerity and compromise
is tolerated by the Nigerian factor. Compromise relegates the rules, suppresses
orderliness and promotes mediocrity. The incorruptible may be coerced or eliminated
if he does not succumb. It is common knowledge that hired assassins are available
to discharge their nefarious duties for those that care. It is this type of
disorderliness or ignorance that makes a number of motorists insists on the
repair of their vehicles by who is purportedly at fault in the event of an
accident instead of passing the burden to the insurance company.
It can also be discerned that it is wrong to repay loans taken from a bank.
A delinquent loan is assured through the collaboration of the recipient and
those in position to grant such facility. In other words, it is called bad
debt. For instance, it is not clear whether all the beneficiaries of loans
granted by the Students� Loan Board actually repaid. Such loans could have
been a revolving type that would still have been of benefits to indigent students
today. Many people who are in exclusive positions in government and private
organisations today benefited and did not pay back. Non-payment of such loan
is attributed to be their share of the national cake. The cake that no one
is interested in baking.
The education system is not left out. Some parents encourage their children
or wards to believe that hardwork is not necessary to pass examinations. They
go to any length to assist their wards to gain admission into school. It appears
that students are also not ready to work hard because there is always a way
out since the teachers could be compromised. The teachers� share of the national
cake is to be compromised with pittance. Such peanuts and its collection is
seen as a right. One may be cajoled to accept even when he is unwilling. It
is referred to as �title� or �runs� in educational sphere. These are also
unhealthy terms that represent right. A right conferred by one�s position.
The money comes easy and is expended on frivolities such as pepper soup and
beer.
Travelling out of the country in search of jobs that may be menial is in vogue.
The social ills of prostitution particularly abroad have attained an absurd
image. The dignity of women is debased and human trafficking in the guise
of travelling abroad to make a living flourishes. The trend is to get rich
and influential by any means. It encourages the activities of sycophants around
the corridors of power. Sycophants lack the courage to express the truth because
they don�t want to fall out of favour. They are the catalyst that get the
opportunity out of authority as they constantly remind him that opportunity
does not subsist forever.
Ironically, the sycophants are usually the first to retreat, cast aspersions
and castigate their prey when he is out of power or favour by asserting that
he was told what to do but did not listen. It is characteristic to have many
hangers-on when the going is good and to be deserted when the honeycomb is
dry. Close associates overwhelm those in authority to comply by arranging
dinner parties in their honour. At such parties they are reminded of the rule
of the game. Thereafter, they are further enmeshed in the Nigerian factor
by honouring them with chieftaincy titles.
This endemic malady is also sustained by the high level of economic and technological
dependence on the developed countries. A market economy that is more of a
consumer nature and not production oriented can�t be self sustaining.
To be continued.
�Izobo wrote in from Lagos
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR (III)
There is apathy, indolence and mendacious disarray of policies. This opium
is conceptualised as normal since it now appears as a way of life. One is
compelled to acquiesce because it is the norm. This nocent norm is recircled
to nurture chronic poverty, misery, disease, hunger and dejection that is
culled from abysmal inconsistencies of behaviroural pattern. The act of preaching
the ideals but invidiously propagating what is catastrophic to the welfare
of all and sundry is unfortunate in place.
The agitation to address these imbalances and defects has led to series of
calls for change by some groups and persons. Those clamouring for change believe
that minority complex and fear of perpetual domination by the majority will
be corrected while several other anomalies will be addressed.
The miasma of despair caused by the Nigerian Factor has constantly been under
siege. Unfortunately, it is a hydra-headed monster that constantly rejuvenate.
On 15th January 1966, a young group of Army officers staged a bloody coup
and toppled the then civilian government. The leaders� purported motive was
to restore economic prudence, social stability, law and order which they opined
had broken down. The leaders assumed that they were patriots. Their intention
to correct social ills and economic maladies that would adumbrate poverty
and restore sanity in the polity was not realized. Successive military governments
usually seem to be revolutionary and predisposed to effecting corrections.
Regrettably, the Nigerian factor always confuse, suffocate and compromise
the good intentions of the people and the power that be.
The Nigerian factor has led to the neglect of our ethical standards and values.
This leads to moral decadence. It is a phenomenon that bestrides the national
interest. It is highly unpatriotic. It is an obscene scenario and an intellectual
abuse philosophically. It is a coinage that portrays that structures are being
built on quick sand. The structures may be moral, social, ideological, physical
or economic policies. It can only be conjectured whether there is anyone who
can abort the Nigerian Factor. If this problem is perpetually accentuated,
it will increase degeneration to poverty lane. In essence therefore, factorization
of the equation of the Nigerian factor and of course corruption emits a syndrome
of pseudo development as a result genuine development and progress is elusive
and the polity is convulsively haunted by these shadows of sordid inadequacies.
Concluded.
Agbebaku Izobo wrote in from Lagos
Monday, July 19, 2004
