Some narratives of the past are soothing and reassuring. We used to take pride in our communitarian ethos which abhors crass materialism and greedy individualism. Nationally, we’ve been through some good times which we unfortunately failed take advantage of. But we cannot now afford to cry over the milk that was spilled.
On the other hand, however, there was plenty in our past that we are better off forgetting because, even in our neck of the wood, they are painful reminders of our individual and collective human depravity. Within and across nationalities and ethnicities, we were accessories to repugnant crimes against humanity, including slavery and genocide.
Both of the foregoing observations go to show that the past is better left where it belongs. Of course, this is without prejudice to the wisdom of learning from the past to avoid repeating its mistake. What it means is that we can learn a lot from a time slice without obsessing with its positives or agonising over its negatives.
The present is beckoning us for an embrace of the opportunities it offers for a makeover. Where the past divided, the present urges unity. As opposed to the moral and material impoverishment of the past, the present offers opportunities for genuine all-round enrichment of values.
But the past demons have placed themselves strategically on the path of the present possibilities, blocking our views, and presenting us instead with illusive optics. With these demons, the present is simply an extension of the past, with its counter-productive understandings of our various conditions.
These past demons mis-educate us about the reality of our condition. They pit us against the better angels of our nature. They present us with false hopes about the way out of the morass of our national existence. They recommend approaches that are inimical to our interests. Unknowingly, we succumb to their entreaties. Unfortunately, as a result, it has become clear that our present is no different from the past, the grievous mistake of which we are reliving and repeating. It is no surprise because we have allowed the demons of the past to attack our present.
Nations have histories which have better be left as such. Ours is no different. Now is the time to embrace a future that is without the baggage of the past. How is this to be done?
The present administration came to power with a great deal of optimism and a lot of goodwill. For even the most loyal supporters of the previous administration knew that something was terribly wrong that needed to be fixed. They might have thought that the necessary fixing could be done by that same administration. Now we know that a lot was wrong and that if the last administration was not the sole source of the wrong, it was an integral part of the rot that it created. It wouldn’t have been able to fix anything by itself.
Corruption is no doubt at the centre of the nation’s challenge. And it is one area that the present administration has focused, rightly, like a laser beam. It also happens to be one of its campaign promises. It therefore needs all the support and encouragement it can get to do it right and lay a solid foundation for a future to embrace.
But important as the fight against corruption is, corruption itself is a symptom of a more dangerous disease that needs to be cured. While a sizeable number of Nigerians applaud the administration’s anti-corruption fight, many yet have faulted it for one reason or the other. One of the reasons is the perceived one-sidedness of the fight, which they argue have been against the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
While this is an understandable partisan grudge, it is not a valid point to argue, especially because the PDP administration has occupied all the branches of the central administration since 1999, while states just depend on the crumbs from the federal table. Secondly, at the same time that we shout on the roof top for true federalism, we must not give the impression that we need the federal might to probe state governments unless the largess from the federal purse are traceable to them as is the case with the allegation levelled against the Ekiti State governor.
The partisan division in the matter of the appraisal of the anti-corruption fight is just one aspect of the challenge in that struggle, but it is far from being the only one. The other is more fundamental to our predicament and one of the demons of the past that has not faded away in the present.
A few weeks ago, there was a news item regarding the position of the Southsouth and Southeast on the militancy in the Niger Delta. According to that news, the political leaders had approached the administration to drop all the anti-corruption investigations against members of the past federal administration, especially those from that zone in exchange for the cessation of hostilities in the Niger Delta.
The particular information may be false for all we know. But if it is true, it is a demonstration of a past demon that is not unique to the Southsouth. It permeates our reasoning across the zones and states of the nation. In general, we route for those we perceive to be our kith and kin even when they misbehave. And we refuse to see the logs in our ethnic or zonal eyes even when we focus on the speck in the vision of others. It is a confirmation of our core challenge: uniting for a good common cause even if it requires our shunning old parochial alliances.
To meet this challenge, there has to be a recognition that we are a nation of individuals with a common purpose that cuts across our ethnic or linguistic divides. Basic to our common purpose is a prosperous and secure future that our great grandchildren can look forward to. How do we secure that future for them in an atmosphere of mistrust that has characterised our past and threatens the present? True, the root of that mistrust feeds deep into the crust of a forced marriage. But it is a difficult proposition to prove that each of the partners to that marriage has not benefited in some way. Not a case of the end justifying the means; but rather, a realistic invitation to come to terms with a reality that is inescapable.
That reality beckons us to seek a promising way out of the unprofitable constant recourse to our various corners where we make no effort to rise above the primordial instincts which write the other off as irredeemably evil. In a world that is clearly shrinking by the hour, we are dealing ourselves very dangerous cards.
In all these, however, leadership matters. Whether in politics, religion, education, business, or culture, leaders have a huge responsibility to rise above pettiness. A populist ideology that only seeks to manipulate the ignorant innocence of the masses is potentially more harmful than the threat posed by a gun-trotting maniac. The former, being in a position of trust, is more likely to negatively impact the lives of many more people.
More pungently, our present environment of serious inter- and intra-group mistrust requires leadership intervention to allay fears and rekindle the hope of future leaders and followers in project Nigeria. This demands more than words of exhortation. It requires action that revamps hope for fairness across the board.
Importantly, it calls for paying attention to and grappling with the structural defects that have presented debilitating obstacles to national development and individual and group prosperity. Too many lives are being wasted.
Majority of Nigerians would answer the call to duty on behalf of their country if only they know that their labour of love will not be in vain as it appears to be the case with those who had paid the supreme sacrifice without much changes in the affairs of a nation for which they gave their lives. There is a future to embrace if only leaders will just pick up the mantle and lead in its direction.
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