FOR OUR DEVELOPMENT, THIS IS WHAT WE CAN DO
Development is the best thing that can happen to any human society. And underdevelopment is the biggest problem facing third world societies of which Nigeria is one. Nigeria’s need for good governance is unarguable. Nigeria is in dire and exigent of good governance, because upon good governance depends the achievement of development. There is a feeling that I have whenever I want to talk about Nigeria; I feel like it’s a waste of time and energy to talk about the affairs of Nigeria. Talking about the affairs of Nigeria seems to be a fruitless engagement. Every day on TV, on radio, in columns of newspapers and on several social media platforms, intellectuals are actively engaged in the crucial task of marshalling out sound and profound ideas on how there can be accelerated development in Nigeria, and yet things seem to be getting worse by the day. So, I would wonder what difference my own talk will make. But for patriotism sake, and as a Political Scientist cum politically conscious mind, I do feel impelled to lend my voice to the demand for good governance in Nigeria, and to issues of national development. I still believe in Nigeria. As a Nigerian of Igbo extraction, I share in the marginalization sentiments of my people (the Igbo people). Nonetheless I choose to believe that a well-governed united Nigeria is a better option.
How will Nigeria get well-governed? Nigeria will get well-governed if we will choose to say enough is enough, and do things differently in terms of our voting pattern come 2019. Sometimes I am tempted to think that a revolution (a situation where all Nigerians will pour out on the streets in protest against the status quo and for enthronement of a new order) is the way forward. This can only be a hallucination owing to the fact that the unity level among Nigerians is nothing to write home about. How can we do things differently in 2019 in terms of our voting pattern? Simple! Let us refuse to vote for either the APC or the PDP, because these two platforms have had same old politicians who have over the years been part of the creation of the problems we are suffering in Nigeria today. Let us rather opt for any different platform that could offer us a new breed of politicians whose credentials, leadership antecedents and ideological expressions show them to be the messiahs of Nigeria. I should not be saying this, because I am a PDP sympathizer. But I dare to say it because my patriotism for Nigeria is higher than my sympathy for any political party.
As for our quest for development, I recommend that we pursue development on the individual level. What I mean by this is that we as individuals should embrace self development. The society is the people that live it, and a developed people would make a developed society. So, by the time we as individual citizens of Nigeria become developed, Nigeria would be largely propelled on the path of development. And in my idea, development on the individual level has to do with a culture of prudence, a culture of rational thinking, a culture of personal productivity and so on.
By and large, Walter Rodney’s idea of self development is quite apt for this proposition. According to Rodney, development for the individual implies INCREASED SKILLS AND CAPACITY, GREATER FREEDOM, CREATIVITY, SELF-DISCIPLINE AND MATERIAL WELL-BEING.
It is not my intention to make this article a lengthy one. So, I am compelled to quit my keyboard at this point, to continue in a subsequent article. Thanks for reading this article.
Kingsley Onwuka