God save Nigeria @ 50
- Details
- Category: Philosofaith
- Written by M. U. Ndagi
- Hits: 641
If Henry Erickson, the psychologist who propounded the psychosocial theory of personality development, were alive today and asked to put Nigeria within the context of his 8-stage theory of personality development, he would likely conclude, without apologies, that Nigeria is greatly suffering from a chronic “Generativity Deficiency Syndrome (GDS)”. According to Erickson’s analysis, the seventh of his eight stages of psychosocial development of personality which spans from adulthood through the fifth decade of a person’s life is a stage when “generativity” manifests. Generatiivity occurs when a person shows concern for the welfare of the next generation and the nature of the society in which that generation would live. Care consequently emerges from the psychosocial crisis that someone or something matters. Erickson adds that those who fail to develop a sense of generativity concern themselves with personal needs and comforts; caring for no one. This, exactly, is what Nigeria stands for at the crucial age of fifty. Nigerians and their living conditions, sadly enough, do not generally matter to those in whose hands God has placed the burden of leadership in the most populous black nation. The minutest trait of “generativity” can hardly be noticed in any segment of the contemporary Nigerian society.
Nigerians who were born on October 1, 1960, and fortunately had an upbringing that was nurtured by personal discipline and a moral sense of responsibility; are today living a fulfilled life @ 50, mostly having also by God’s grace become grandfathers at that golden age. Very unfortunately, Nigeria as a country does not seem to be mature and responsible enough to, after fifty years of self-rule, proudly keep and peacefully maintain a family let alone become a respectable father or grandfather among her peers. A man that cannot feed himself @ 50 in spite of the vast arable land at his disposal is certainly least prepared to keep or rear a decent family which metaphorically entails that Nigeria is still very far from becoming a happy nation; a dream that is already a reality in some African countries that belong to the same political generation with her.
In contemporary Nigeria, there is no generation of Nigerians that does not have one thing, at least, to lament over. Those who lived under colonial rule and the First Republic perhaps have greater disappointment than their younger generations. Of course, this group of Nigerians would affirm to you that things were not bad under colonial rule and were even better in the First Republic before a wicked crop of Nigerian leaders came to take charge of affairs, about three decades after the abrupt termination of the First Republic. Even those of us who graduated from Teachers Colleges in the 70s, precisely in Northern Nigeria, benefitted immensely from the fruits of the concrete and workable policies of the Northern regional government. There was not a sector that actually did not profit from such purposeful leadership. Today, fifty years after the British had forgotten they were once in Nigeria as colonial masters and forty-four years after the assassination of some northern politicians of the First Republic, some names including those of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardaunan Sokoto and Alhaji Tafawa Balewa still ring bell in the political stage of Nigeria.
Many Nigerians are compelled to look back with nostalgia because the institutions left behind by these foremost leaders as legacies have been destroyed by those who did not contribute to building them. Where are the sanitary workers (dubagaris) whose environmental sanitation laws in those glorious years were enforced and obeyed; availing Nigerians with healthy environment? Where are the railway tracks, trains and couches that transported cargo from one part to the farthest distance in the country; sparing our roads from the pressure of heavy-duty lorries and trailers? Where are the groundnut, cotton and cocoa pyramids that fetched Nigeria hard currencies to develop many parts of the country? Audaciously as it appears, Nigeria now provides the biggest market to Cameroun bananas and fruits! The quality of life in most parts of Nigeria was generally better in the days we had committed leaders including Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Worst of all, the education system has collapsed. The Nigerian society has also lost values. This is why some of us find it difficult to understand whether there is anything to celebrate in contemporary Nigeria. May Allah (SWT) save Nigeria @ 50, amin.
Articles
God save Nigeria @ 50
Category: Philosofaith Written by M. U. Ndagi Hits: 641
Not until the eleventh hour before production, I much doubted if I could write this column for the week. The reason, being as much obvious to me as it is to many Nigerians, is most regrettable. The question that keeps popping out from the lips of Nigerians ever since government budgeted about six billion naira to commemorate Nigeria’s 50th birthday is, “what are we really celebrating @ 50; Is it corruption, insecurity, unemployment or unmitigated failure as a nation?” Amazingly, some state governments, we learnt, planned to celebrate the national tragedy even though less people in such states have access to potable drinking water. The 50th independence anniversary propaganda that dominated most of the air-time in government-owned media outfits in the last one week seems to have earned more genuine feelings of animosity than sympathy from many Nigerians. I almost felt daunted and psychologically dispirited by this most unfortunate scenario. Nonetheless, that part of my conscience, governed by a sense of social responsibility, kept gnawing me to, as required of a columnist, comment on what could fairly but unmistakably be described as a national tragedy, “Nigeria @ 50”. I eventually became convinced to comment. However, the immediate task before me was finding a remarkable event of history to extol. Again, I became mystified as to how and where to start because the state of affairs in the country is overwhelmingly discouraging. This is for the simple reason that there is so much to mourn about Nigeria, a country yet to attain adulthood even at the late age of fifty. We shall get back, later in this discourse, to these lamentations, mostly reminisces of nostalgia.If Henry Erickson, the psychologist who propounded the psychosocial theory of personality development, were alive today and asked to put Nigeria within the context of his 8-stage theory of personality development, he would likely conclude, without apologies, that Nigeria is greatly suffering from a chronic “Generativity Deficiency Syndrome (GDS)”. According to Erickson’s analysis, the seventh of his eight stages of psychosocial development of personality which spans from adulthood through the fifth decade of a person’s life is a stage when “generativity” manifests. Generatiivity occurs when a person shows concern for the welfare of the next generation and the nature of the society in which that generation would live. Care consequently emerges from the psychosocial crisis that someone or something matters. Erickson adds that those who fail to develop a sense of generativity concern themselves with personal needs and comforts; caring for no one. This, exactly, is what Nigeria stands for at the crucial age of fifty. Nigerians and their living conditions, sadly enough, do not generally matter to those in whose hands God has placed the burden of leadership in the most populous black nation. The minutest trait of “generativity” can hardly be noticed in any segment of the contemporary Nigerian society.
Nigerians who were born on October 1, 1960, and fortunately had an upbringing that was nurtured by personal discipline and a moral sense of responsibility; are today living a fulfilled life @ 50, mostly having also by God’s grace become grandfathers at that golden age. Very unfortunately, Nigeria as a country does not seem to be mature and responsible enough to, after fifty years of self-rule, proudly keep and peacefully maintain a family let alone become a respectable father or grandfather among her peers. A man that cannot feed himself @ 50 in spite of the vast arable land at his disposal is certainly least prepared to keep or rear a decent family which metaphorically entails that Nigeria is still very far from becoming a happy nation; a dream that is already a reality in some African countries that belong to the same political generation with her.
In contemporary Nigeria, there is no generation of Nigerians that does not have one thing, at least, to lament over. Those who lived under colonial rule and the First Republic perhaps have greater disappointment than their younger generations. Of course, this group of Nigerians would affirm to you that things were not bad under colonial rule and were even better in the First Republic before a wicked crop of Nigerian leaders came to take charge of affairs, about three decades after the abrupt termination of the First Republic. Even those of us who graduated from Teachers Colleges in the 70s, precisely in Northern Nigeria, benefitted immensely from the fruits of the concrete and workable policies of the Northern regional government. There was not a sector that actually did not profit from such purposeful leadership. Today, fifty years after the British had forgotten they were once in Nigeria as colonial masters and forty-four years after the assassination of some northern politicians of the First Republic, some names including those of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardaunan Sokoto and Alhaji Tafawa Balewa still ring bell in the political stage of Nigeria.
Many Nigerians are compelled to look back with nostalgia because the institutions left behind by these foremost leaders as legacies have been destroyed by those who did not contribute to building them. Where are the sanitary workers (dubagaris) whose environmental sanitation laws in those glorious years were enforced and obeyed; availing Nigerians with healthy environment? Where are the railway tracks, trains and couches that transported cargo from one part to the farthest distance in the country; sparing our roads from the pressure of heavy-duty lorries and trailers? Where are the groundnut, cotton and cocoa pyramids that fetched Nigeria hard currencies to develop many parts of the country? Audaciously as it appears, Nigeria now provides the biggest market to Cameroun bananas and fruits! The quality of life in most parts of Nigeria was generally better in the days we had committed leaders including Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Worst of all, the education system has collapsed. The Nigerian society has also lost values. This is why some of us find it difficult to understand whether there is anything to celebrate in contemporary Nigeria. May Allah (SWT) save Nigeria @ 50, amin.