This all-important question is frequently asked: why is Nigeria so economically backward despite the abundance of natural and human resources that God has endowed her with? It’s a million-dollar question which had agitated patriotic minds for decades and to which our leaders have failed to provide cogent answer.
Each time one ponders this question, one is reminded of the miracle of the Asian Tigers: North and South Koreas, Singapore, Malaysia and China – countries that were at the same economic bracket with Nigeria a few decades back, but which are now grouped among the economically developed nations of the world, to the extent that some of them now even count among the world nuclear powers. How then do we find ourselves in this sorry pass?
In this piece, an attempt will be made to closely look at our country in order to discover what may be responsible for our developmental malady considering the fact that Nigerians in the diaspora are acclaimed to be making waves wherever they live and contributing meaningfully to the development of those countries.
What then could have accounted for Nigeria’s under-performance and her economic backwardness? Could it be that something is basically wrong with our race intellectually or psychologically? The answer cannot possibly be the latter because as earlier mentioned, our nationals in other countries are recording noteworthy accomplishments in various fields of human endeavor.
In order to really delve into the root cause of this national malady therefore, it may probably be of help if we go back to examine the historical antecedents of great countries that had made significant contributions to the thoughts and efforts towards nation-building.
This takes us to the philosophical contemplations of the Greek Statesmen of old. Remember they were the fathers of democracy as we know it today. A system of government which has now become a universally acknowledged mark of political advancement and sophistication. In their city states, the Greek political philosophers classified the people into three basic categories in order to identify those of the people that can be entrusted with political responsibility. These political philosophers wisely categorised the Greek adult men into I) Idiots, II) tribesmen and III) citizens.
According to the Greeks, the idiots are those who were completely apolitical, those who were totally nonchalant about the society in which they belonged, all their attention was concentrated on their own personal affairs exclusively. The idiots would only participate in societal endeavors in which they derived immediate personal gains, they lacked any sense of public duty or public good. The idiots were rabidly selfish and self-centered. They could not conceive any idea of societal benefits outside their narrow personal gains. The idiots were regarded only a little above apes and could not possibly contribute to societal progress and development. The Greeks labelled this category of people the idiots.
The next category as classified by the Greeks, were the tribesmen. This categorization had nothing to do with the idea of belonging to a particular tribe or ethnic group, a thing which is natural with all human beings. Rather the term was used by the Greek political philosophers to define the characteristics of that category of people. The tribesmen were in the unbreakable habit of considering every societal matter from their narrow and constricted perspective. People of other cultures, ethnic groups or backgrounds were instinctively suspected and regarded as enemies or antagonists.
In any matter for consideration, tribesmen wanted to gain immediate advantage for their narrow group. Anything that did not result into their advantage they discarded as no good. Any public policy either benefited them or nobody benefited from it. The tribesmen never thought holistically, they only thought about their narrow tribal advantage and hegemonic ascendancy. Even if this pursuit of narrow advantage was detrimental to the whole society, it was no concern of theirs. They were war-like and did not believe in consensus building. They preferred to live in the state of nature. They were dominated by tribal or tribalistic mentality. Their primary allegiance was to their tribe and they were always afraid of things that appeared different. They had the habit of dealing with people outside their clan with intimidation or fear. The tribesmen were therefore incapable of making contributions to further society or build a prosperous nation.
The third category of people as defined by the Greeks were the citizens, a term which did not connote social or legal status. According to the Greek philosophers, the people classified as citizens were those who possessed the knowledge and skills to build and live in civilised society. The were always interested in the affairs of their society and willing to contribute their quota to make the society better. They knew their rights and responsibilities towards their society and were always ready to defend same. In all their dealings, they respected the rights of other people. To the citizens, society meant friendliness, cooperation and general protection and a veritable means for human progress and development. The citizens therefore constituted the cream of the ancient Greek society amongst whom the leaders of the Greek society were selected.
A rough classification of the Nigerian society today is most likely to point our attention to the very spot where our national shoe pinches. I want to leave my esteemed readers to honestly do their individual analysis of the Nigerian society, just like the Greeks did, and come to their own individual conclusions as to whether or not our ship of state is being steered by the right category of people. But from my own careful observation, a preponderance of Nigerians belong to the category of the idiots and by this I do not mean to be insultive.
Just like the Greek inventors of this term, idiots here do not refer to people who are mentally or intellectually deficient. Rather, it is used here to refer to people so selfish and self-centered that the only God they worship is self. All public or societal good, no matter what, is easily sacrificed on the altar of self. People whose dominant inclination is to decimate whatever constitutes a stumbling block between them and their selfish object even including their fellow human beings. Their working philosophy is the survival of the fittest, while their political ideology is the Hobbesian state of nature, where life is brutish, nasty and short.
Is it any wonder therefore that those who emerge as Nigerian leaders belong to the category we termed the “tribesmen” who can not see anything beyond their narrow ethnic or tribal interests. All the plans and energies of tribesmen are focused on having unmerited advantages, on always having the lion share of national resources at others’ expense, on retarding the progress of other groups or even the entire nation as long as their narrow ethnic interests are served thereby etc. All these and many more not here mentioned are the problems bedevilling the Nigerian nation.
The third category of people as earlier mentioned are the citizens. The citizens are those who have a wide and enlightened vision of society and country. They have an appreciation of a harmonious, peaceful and prosperous nation in which the ‘Jews’ and ‘Gentiles’ will work according to their different abilities to build a great nation of which all will be proud. More importantly, citizens know their rights as members of their nation and are always ready to fight and defend those rights if need be. But at the same time, they are also always ready to concede to others their rights. These are only a few of the qualities that distinguish the true citizen.
The big question now is how many Nigerians can honestly qualify as citizens in the true sense of the word. In my view, the number of citizens as the Greeks would define it will be quite negligible in Nigeria. There lies the rub. That is the root of our socio-economic and political predicaments. Going by the classification of the Greek philosophers, we are a country mainly populated by “idiots” and “tribesmen” whose attitudes and mentality belong to the stone-age. And trying to find citizens who are the true nation builders among Nigerians is like searching for a needle in a hay stack.
