There are developmental factors that we ought to take very seriously in our efforts to transform our nation but we hardly take note of them. This omission is the reason we take one step forward and five others backward. The factors are so many but I want to focus on one: mobilization and enlightenment of citizens on an issue such as process for empowerment. In places where life and living are cherished, and the dignity of man is important, government, highly placed individuals and corporate entities as a matter of social responsibility compete for the tutorship of citizens; they take from the lessons of history and what they know about human existence and teach that to the larger society with emphasis on the younger generation. The objective is to enable them scale with ease the mistakes and challenges of the preceding generation. Research results are used to create new work ethics.
Counseling as a course of study is even more valued than science and technology and this is because they know every other thing in the society revolves round human element and if the human capital is unstable for any reason, the other pillars of society cannot function effectively. They are very troubled when there is growing army of the unemployed; they know this is a time bomb, and to avert unpleasant consequences, they introduce remedial measures such as having productive kind of education, and in fact having trained officials to direct pupils and students on suitable course of study. In our own nation and indeed all Black settlements the reverse is the case. We breed children at geometric rate and do very little between the governmental and parental levels to guide them into effective life occupation. As my pastor-friend noted recently, Black nations have more prisons than correctional centres.
This trend is proving to be very costly, because annually thousands graduate from tertiary institutions and instead of engaging in gainful employment they retire to their parents’ houses, where they continue to live off them like parasites and gradually their graduation which was supposed to be a source of joy turns into frustration, and before long it grows to anger and crystalizes as deep aggression against the larger society. I am still on my research on why young able-bodied citizens who are above the maturity age of 18 can’t be on their feet and why some of them are bold to confess their happiness about their state; one of the things I found out is what the articles on empowerment authored by Bishop David Oyedepo, which appeared on this column on January 6th and 10th January tried to highlight and that has to do with the poor mindset of the Black man and like those articles said, we lack the possibility mentality, we have what late Bob Marley described as ‘Mental Slavery.’ We are unable to self-rationalize peculiar challenges and to draw from it solutions and answers unique to our experiences. Our people operate at the realm of hopelessness and surrender, and are hooked to the belief that redemption can only commence with prescriptions from outside forces, whereas personal responsibility is it.
This is the bane of national developments in most Black nations, ours inclusive. Till today I’m yet to find out why Black nations like Haiti which are only a few nautical miles from the United States of America daily see and smell what is happening in America and yet appear totally incapable of replicating even a small fraction of what they see. How many of us wonder why with enormous natural and human resources our nation still looks like a jungle?
I think it is the playing down of rationalization and the distortion of the mindset that has gone on for a long time. Even as you read this, the trend is still there with all of us waiting for Western monetary institutions to teach us small simple things such as whether we should refine our crude oil or sell it to them and buy the finished products, and which aspects of life should get higher funding. This phenomenon I believe is also behind the “life on excuses” that is the lifestyle of our young ones. When asked why they are idle, some tell me their parents are poor and could not train them, the trained say they have no godfathers especially in high places, a few say they know what to do but can’t access capital.
What they say are facts but not the truth. The fact is that circumstances are hard but it has never been different from the time of creation. From time life has always been competitive, stiff and sometimes brutish. The world has never been a fair place, it becomes so only for those by early understanding and deep resolve opt to push beyond the barriers, even in the 60’s when a few like my dad built a magnificent house and owned industries only very few did and what that taught me is that even though all of us have equal opportunities, only those who sit back to ask themselves critical questions and to apply the rule of personal responsibility overcome the facts of situations which include no education, lack of sponsorship and no capital among others, to still attain success and have life very abundant which is the ultimate truth. Some of the wealthy and great industrialists of today never went to school and neither received parental nor governmental sponsorship; yet by rugged decision to succeed they were able plug through life’s vicissitudes to arrive at the truth, which is big success. Adversity should motivate rather than demoralize, they should be to us what the waves are to the Eagles. Our youths are unable to step up because of poor orientation which has affected their vision, most of them want to enjoy good life without working and many of them who give excuse of no capital, where they live, what they wear, the telephones and cars they use, prove only one case: poor orientation.
Government should fight the unemployment scourge; this can be done through mechanization of agriculture and revival of the industrial base. The construction sector should be alive just as we can give tax rebates for companies to make them employ more citizens; we need constant electricity supply as well. More than these would be the issue of counseling for the young ones, productive education and massive orientation and enlightenment campaigns to teach them that times have not really changed but what became prominent is that every citizen that desires good life must be ready to soil his hands working because money is not the paper we see but the problems we solve or the services we render. We can succeed with or without government, sponsorship or no sponsorship, if today we decide to be contributors and not consumers, after all even those who run into economic slavery abroad work long hours like “jackals” on menial jobs just to earn a pittance. So whether United States of America, Britain, Russia, China or Dubai, the core command is work!!!