2019 Federal and states elections in Nigeria are about to begin.
Dr Adewale Sodade based in South Africa, a believer in one Nigeria, an advocate of prudent management of our resources to benefit the majority of Nigerians has analysed Nigeria’s situation by comparing her with a private company established for the purpose of making profits that would benefit the shareholders.
Here is the piece below, please comments are welcome via our whatsapp, Facebook and Discuss link on the page.
A country may be likened to a company or any business enterprise. In order for it to thrive, everyone on the payroll must serve its common interests.
However, in this particular company that we call Nigeria, the CEO and his executives are driven by very omnious intents. They are completely embroiled in activities that are inimical to the welfare of the entity they’ve been entrusted to serve. They’ve managed to create a culture of greed, deceit and corruption to fuel their ignoble motives and have insidiously conscripted the shareholders (the electorate) into their dubious plot. The managers and junior staff are part of the ensemble. They are all commited to exploit the weaknesses of the system for personal gains.
Every year, the company generates huge annual revenues but somehow manages to declare great losses which the shareholders accept without much fuss.
Many decades have passed and the shareholders have become complacent to the indecency of the mesmerising gyrations of their business managers. Some have even discarded their moral values to join the dance troup. They move in concert to the distant lure of an omnious drum beaconing them towards a desolate destination devoid of meaning.
A date has been selected for electing new leadership to manage the enterprise and everyone is scheming and scrambling for vantage positions in order to secure prime access to the company’s coffers.
In this company, the master feeds on the juiciest meats. He orders his meals from the most exclusive restaurants and commands a life of reckless slendour financed with money that could have been better utilised. He diverts as much company revenue as he can, into his private accounts, sharing some of the loot with his executhieves along the way.
The sharehoders starve but he doesn’t care. They hardly ever feature in his considerations anyway, save for election time when he masterfully seduces them with pennies in return for the vault keys.
His interest and that of his cohorts is to steal as much as they can before their tenure expires and this they often achieve with ease.
The shareholers are far removed from the gravy train. They watch in mild fascination as the pillaging unfolds. They observe the debacle with sunken eyes set upon gaunt bodies. Most of them are covered in rags, and some are ravaged with lice. They weep silently in frustration, spending most of their waking moments in supplication to a higher bieng with the hope that IT might someday drop a messiah from the skies to deliver them from their morbid fate.
They live in a permanent state of quiet despiration. They are afraid to challenge the onslaught for fear of losing body or limbs even though collectively, they are infinitely more powerful than the cabal that threatens their existence.
They are scared. They dare not challenge the predators lest they fall victim to the assault of the tiger’s fangs. After all they are mostly gazzeles, giraffes and eagles. They have elephants and buffaloes in their midst but even these are wary. They dream of challenging the predators but they cannot guarantee support from the rest of the jungle. Their collective history does not justify such noble expectations.
Everyone remains in their little hovels and clans, observing the destruction of their land, forfeiting their heritage and that of generations unborn but they dare not attempt to mobilise the forest against their foes. God forbid !! it is unheard of.
Life goes on and everyone takes solace in one another’s misery and trepidation.They voice their disapproval of the situation in hushed tones to any willing listener.
With each passing day, the company’s wealth depletes and its glory plunders as its resources are pilferred with impunity……
This is what is happening in Nigeria. We are stealing from ourselves. Through colective ignorance, greed and compulsion, we have conspired to pillage our own home, We have ripped the treasured paintings off the walls, destroyed the pillars and floorings, carted away the safes and reduced a beautiful homestead into an unrecognisable rubble.
We’ve allowed miscreants and despots to covet our collective property, desecrate our land and morph what could have been an oasis of hope into a desolate vista.
We cry foul, we wrinkle our noses to the stench that seems to cling to us like a second skin, we scratch our heads in wonder, searching for answers. We ask one another how we got into this confounding mess. We conjure excuses for our failure, we look for someone to blame and point fingers at each other in search of a respite. But the answer is not in the distance. Its closer to home than we think.
The answer lies within our minds. We are not thinking the right thoughts, that is why we are doing the wrong things!!!!
We have substituted our truths for untruths. The road to the truth and the fulfilment that we seek runs in the opposite direction to the one we are treading upon. This is why we are not achieving our goals.
We are headed towards an elusive oasis that will always remain a mirage.
Our collective discontent stem from the disappointment that confronts our vision in this wilderness of despair.
If you are in Abuja and your intention is to drive to the beach in Lagos but you set your vehicle in the direction of Sokoto you will not reach Lagos unless of course you intend to circumnavigate the world in order to reach there. THIS IS A FACT OF LIFE. and it reflects our situation poignantly.
We must stop pretending that we are on the right track. We vote for predators but hope to enjoy peace and bounty within our enclave. Our flesh is being devoured and our blood is being splattered upon the alter of greed and ignorance, yet we smile and carry on.
The lies we are indulging in by stealing from one another, destroying the organs and institutions of governance through bribery and corruption and our complicit indifference to it all will never serve us well.
We have modified our expectations to match the images implanted into our minds by political despots. Somewhere along the way, we have been sold a lie and have continued to sing its gospel until its finally become our daily mantra. We dance in tune to the drums of our assailants and follow their lead like sheep to the slaughterhouse. Mesmerised by the hypnotic lures of their evil gyrations, we hail and adulate their antics and some of us even desire to be like them. We’ve lost sight of the glory that is our birthright. We’ve replaced our moral codes and values with theirs and have become customers to their illicit trade.
We must break this nasty spell before we can become free from the sacrilege that’s befallen our nation. We need to untangle our minds from the web of ignorance that has entrapped our reasoning faculties for decades. We need to denounce the lies that have led us to this desolate place and embark on a journey towards the oasis of truth. Only the acceptance of truth can get us to the glorious destination we all dream about. Following the direction of lies as we are presently doing can only take us to where lies reside !!
Our redemption lies in our hands. The remedy is at our disposal. It resides within our beings. It is a tool that we all possess and it is called the mind.
Through right thinking we will begin to salvage our situation.
By replacing the lies we carry in our minds with the truths that we all choose to ignore, we will gradually find our way back to our glorious destiny.
Which lies have you substituted for truth in your life? Write them down and begin to reverse the programming within your mind. In due course, it will reflect itself through your conduct.
EVERYTHING STARTS FROM THE MIND, THIS IS WHY THE BRAIN IS LOCATED AT THE TOP OF THE BODY.
This is where we must begin if we want a new reality to govern our existence as a nation.
We must first educate ourselves and thereafter educate others about the importance of embracing truth in our shared existence. There are many lies disguising as truths within our culture. Many of these shall be addressed as we go along on this journey.
Anything we do before addressing the quality of our thinking in the pursuit of change in Nigeria shall amount to futile action which shall keep us bound to where we are. Action can only be productive if our minds are steadfast upon the conviction of truth.
Elections are approaching and we are all busy dancing to the tune of the political cabal without reflecting upon their conduct or thier eligibility for the positions they are canvassing to occupy in our lives.
We must stop employing thieves to watch our fortunes. Allowing known miscreants and despots to govern our land is no different from employing armed robbers to manage a bank, the outcome will not serve our best interest…….This is one truth worth pondering, don’t you think? – WS
