OUR MEDIOCRE SITUATION

We are just having primaries and look at the rigging that is going on already. These are people of the same party, flouting their own rules; cheating themselves. Internal democracy has eluded both the ruling party and the so-called opposition party. What hope for the common man on the street? Where will we find this discipline that we so badly lack? This is why things just don’t work the way that they are supposed to over here. We are so insincere. We can turn it around in a very short time and very quickly enjoy the standards that we only witness elsewhere in the world. But are we prepared to do what it takes to achieve that?

We cannot think that we have either come to this world to only suffer or purely to enjoy. We must collectively all make sacrifices, otherwise our situation will implode and we will not have a country, either to lead or to be led in.  Remember the deal we have with God? He gave us something called “A free will.” A huge responsibility, we are allowed to do as we please but there are always consequences, either for the good or the bad. We shall atone for our actions. But it goes even further than that.  Each one of us has a built-in success mechanism, we are actually built to succeed but we have a free will! We are human and we will make mistakes and or make right or wrong choices. The quantum of these right or wrong decisions determines whether we are successful or not in the long term.

Why do some societies do better than others? It is because they are better prepared.  What patterns in our behaviour, in our environment make one set of people or certain individuals more disciplined, quicker to learn and more success-orientated than others?  Are we too uncomfortable or maybe even too comfortable? Do we feel that we have ownership of our society or do we feel powerless and on the fringes?

I think that the problem is that some of us are just able to hold the rest to ransom.  We think we are powerless to change the status quo, so if we cannot beat them then we join them or cower in fear, muttering “God dey”. Our structures have therefore been compromised. There are no consequences for bending rules or openly flouting them. Protocols have been broken. Impunity reigns and even judges collect money. If we still wonder why our democracy still fits into Fela’s definition of it as a “demonstration of craze”, the answer is in our inability do things the right way.

Do we have the kind of leadership that can properly enforce the structures that are in place, improve on them, give us ownership and create wealth for the nation? Is the infrastructure there to allow for this enabling environment? Do our current leaders understand that we need this infrastructure and without it cannot make progress? Do we have the brainpower to implement these sets of rules and give adequate consideration for the contract between us all? Are our taxes properly applied so that we all can take ownership of this big society and feel secure in the sense that our toil will not be in vain and will provide for our future?

We need to be able to answer all these questions in the affirmative, otherwise we will continue to fracture and live in the mess that is this mediocrity.  We are already experiencing the results of the negativity that is our society. We shall continue to be impoverished and will soon be beggars and cripples, orphans and widows, prematurely in our own land. Nothing in government is done on merit anymore. Imagine what it is to be up in arms as we become more desperate. It is being experienced all around us now. There is no dignity in it.

We must be interested in the polity around us and get up and be counted. We should not allow our destinies to be dictated by a cabal. We should be more resolute each time a bomb goes off and people are killed or maimed. We should hold our leaders to account for the failure in our society. And ensure that step by step we demand equity in the polity. We should choose and associate ourselves with potential leaders based on merit. Our future depends on it.