The problem is if we discard the foriegn lingua francas, what do we adopt as a common tongue? You cant go about speaking yoruba to a Kanuri man. But if we maintain the status quo and go on with promoting indigenous languages we can reverse this trend
This can be done by only restructuring the present contraption called Nigeria into small federations under one Nigeria. This way, these little states can choose to be bi-lingual or multi-lingual, with an educational system that can impact the right manner of approaches to its now synchronised people. Nigeria is confused now cos we are a nation divided by many factors
And i do concur with u. Cos many nations that speak their mother tongue in africa are beginning to have more political relevance in the continent
Yes, the truth is Nigeria itself under the current British creation presents a problem to development. Different nations in this country can't just develop in their own direction all because of "one Nigeria" dragging everyone back. Even some of our problems like electricity would have been solved to some extent a long time ago, if states were allowed to generate their own electricity, crime rate may have been reduced drastically, if states were allowed to run their own police force, some states may have chosen to learn in their native language, if this was a confederation. E.T.C. So, yes, Nigeria itself is a problem.
But, the problem of what to adopt as a common language, if we were to begin learning in our native languages today shouldn't even arise. Education can still occur in our various native languages even in present Nigeria. The curriculum may remain the same nationwide, but the actual knowledge acquisition would happen in our various native languages. So, if you're Igbo, you'll learn and write your exams in Igbo. If you're Yoruba, you learn and write your exams in Yoruba. E.T.C. Remember, this does not mean our schools would stop teaching English. English would still remain simply as a subject in school just like every other subject, and not a way of life as is today.
White people themselves understands the need for using our native languages in passing message, and you see this whenever there's a global disease scare and the world health organization (WHO) wants to send information worldwide. Their policy includes making sure such information is sent in almost all languages worldwide to carry everybody along. Its clear our indoctrinated state of mind is what's preventing us from appreciating our native languages and using it for knowledge acquisition.
In fact, Jehovah's witnesses are already doing so, and I snapped the below pictures from their stand sometime as as a proof. They publish their watchtower and awake magazines in various languages, but all of them are saying exactly the same thing, while the knowledge acquisition itself happen in the languages of the readers. Education acquired in mother's tongue is the true meaning of education.
Yes, the truth is Nigeria itself under the current British creation presents a problem to development. Different nations in this country can't just develop in their own direction all because of "one Nigeria" dragging everyone back. Even some of our problems like electricity would have been solved to some extent a long time ago, if states were allowed to generate their own electricity, crime rate may have been reduced drastically, if states were allowed to run their own police force, some states may have chosen to learn in their native language, if this was a confederation. E.T.C. So, yes, Nigeria itself is a problem.
But, the problem of what to adopt as a common language, if we were to begin learning in our native languages today shouldn't even arise. Education can still occur in our various native languages even in present Nigeria. The curriculum may remain the same nationwide, but the actual knowledge acquisition would happen in our various native languages. So, if you're Igbo, you'll learn and write your exams in Igbo. If you're Yoruba, you learn and write your exams in Yoruba. E.T.C. Remember, this does not mean our schools would stop teaching English. English would still remain simply as a subject in school just like every other subject, and not a way of life as is today.
White people themselves understands the need for using our native languages in passing message, and you see this whenever there's a global disease scare and the world health organization (WHO) wants to send information worldwide. Their policy includes making sure such information is sent in almost all languages worldwide to carry everybody along. Its clear our indoctrinated state of mind is what's preventing us from appreciating our native languages and using it for knowledge acquisition.
In fact, Jehovah's witnesses are already doing so, and I snapped the below pictures from their stand sometime as as a proof. They publish their watchtower and awake magazines in various languages, but all of them are saying exactly the same thing, while the knowledge acquisition itself happen in the languages of the readers. Education acquired in mother's tongue is the true meaning of education.
I see indigenous language basically as a tool for political manipulation. Hence its importance is sacrosanct, and thats why europe remain very dynamic liguistacally, despite adopting various other language. Your average european (not english per se) speaks multiple language and their open border policy allows easy intergration.
For Africa to get to this position, we cannot do without english and french... the damage has been done. But in the long run, we can wean ourselves from these language by expressing our indigenous languages in road signs, and have a total revaluation of our values as a group; whether in a confederacy or federation.
For instance, in wales where i stay, the welsh had to take exceptional actions to make sure that english did not overun their indeginous language, which is completely different than English. Over here its a bi-lingual society so every formal communications are done in both welsh and english. Every public sign boards is in both language too. They have schools that teach solely in welsh. So i do agree with u completely. Its just that we can't do without english, but we can build a vibrant african society alongside it
Yes, the truth is Nigeria itself under the current British creation presents a problem to development. Different nations in this country can't just develop in their own direction all because of "one Nigeria" dragging everyone back. Even some of our problems like electricity would have been solved to some extent a long time ago, if states were allowed to generate their own electricity, crime rate may have been reduced drastically, if states were allowed to run their own police force, some states may have chosen to learn in their native language, if this was a confederation. E.T.C. So, yes, Nigeria itself is a problem.
But, the problem of what to adopt as a common language, if we were to begin learning in our native languages today shouldn't even arise. Education can still occur in our various native languages even in present Nigeria. The curriculum may remain the same nationwide, but the actual knowledge acquisition would happen in our various native languages. So, if you're Igbo, you'll learn and write your exams in Igbo. If you're Yoruba, you learn and write your exams in Yoruba. E.T.C. Remember, this does not mean our schools would stop teaching English. English would still remain simply as a subject in school just like every other subject, and not a way of life as is today.
White people themselves understands the need for using our native languages in passing message, and you see this whenever there's a global disease scare and the world health organization (WHO) wants to send information worldwide. Their policy includes making sure such information is sent in almost all languages worldwide to carry everybody along. Its clear our indoctrinated state of mind is what's preventing us from appreciating our native languages and using it for knowledge acquisition.
In fact, Jehovah's witnesses are already doing so, and I snapped the below pictures from their stand sometime as as a proof. They publish their watchtower and awake magazines in various languages, but all of them are saying exactly the same thing, while the knowledge acquisition itself happen in the languages of the readers. Education acquired in mother's tongue is the true meaning of education.
I see indigenous language basically as a tool for political manipulation. Hence its importance is sacrosanct, and thats why europe remain very dynamic liguistacally, despite adopting various other language. Your average european (not english per se) speaks multiple language and their open border policy allows easy intergration.
For Africa to get to this position, we cannot do without english and french... the damage has been done. But in the long run, we can wean ourselves from these language by expressing our indigenous languages in road signs, and have a total revaluation of our values as a group; whether in a confederacy or federation.
For instance, in wales where i stay, the welsh had to take exceptional actions to make sure that english did not overun their indeginous language, which is completely different than English. Over here its a bi-lingual society so every formal communications are done in both welsh and english. Every public sign boards is in both language too. They have schools that teach solely in welsh. So i do agree with u completely. Its just that we can't do without english, but we can build a vibrant african society alongside it
That's basically what I' am saying- English should not be a replacement for our native languages.
As a matter of fact, other colonized nations had already done so; Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, had long banned English as their official language and adopted their various native languages. Of course, this doesn't mean they don't study English, but as I said earlier English there is just a subject in school. Vietnam also banned French as their official language and adopted their local Vietnamese. This, again, shows our problem is that our level of indoctrination in Africa runs deeper than other former European colonies.
Whales is doing the right thing. That's how an intelligible people should act- they pay attention to their native language before learning to speak a foreign one. What you just said Whales had done is what any culture that claims to be free should do. Without language a culture is lost. Let me not forget Britain itself, once they got their freedom from Rome, German, French, Spanish, invaders banned all foreign languages in the entire British isle and adopted their native English as their official language in 1362. Again, history shows every intelligible people had always done the same thing.
Yes, when we pay priority attention to our native languages, every Nigerian would speak up to 2-3 other local languages. You don't even have to worry about how that would happen, cause like Europe, nature would wire everyone to learn more than one or two other local languages as he/she would necessarily need it. And in all this, don't forget English and Pidgin will always be there.
But we don't need to abolish english, rather we can orientate ourselves to speak and elevate our indeginous languages.
As much as most of asia express themselves in local tongues (due to their cultural dwellings which places a high price on honor...) the anti to their case study is latin America. In latin America, very few people speak the indigenous language and even fewer respect their cultures. The latin Americas used to be very culturally rich, and majestic in tradition till the portuguese and spanish colonized them; this happened way before Africa became an interest. Today, in latin Ameriac they speak itallian spanish, portuguese and their own local spanish. This did not make them lose track. For them there is unity of purpose as most nations there are 90% catholic.
On the other hand in Nigeria, the same forces that shaped us and the Latin Americans left us with a plethora of conflicts within our selves. Even more than they met in the first place. So if we say now we enforce local tongues in Nigeria for instance, the conflict of interest would still arise on what will be the lingua franca. But if we maintain the English, encourage the french and in different regions encourage one or two local languages, only then can we start to create the kind of world you so much write about.
The downside is that Africa cannot do without english and french, but we can do more to make our local languages compete with them within our geographical space. It happens at a level. But to bring about the paradigm shift where schools teach in local dialects is far fetched. But enabling the right industries can bring about the clamor.
For one... majority of the body of information in the world is written in english.. to access them one must be proficient in english. But if we create special schools where its local languages that are expressed and give the pupils the right incentives (free lunch, bursary, assured emoloyment as translators) then we can start a drive where the local tongue would be rebranded
That's basically what I' am saying- English should not be a replacement for our native languages.
As a matter of fact, other colonized nations had already done so; Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, had long banned English as their official language and adopted their various native languages. Of course, this doesn't mean they don't study English, but as I said earlier English there is just a subject in school. Vietnam also banned French as their official language and adopted their local Vietnamese. This, again, shows our problem is that our level of indoctrination in Africa runs deeper than other former European colonies.
Whales is doing the right thing. That's how an intelligible people should act- they pay attention to their native language before learning to speak a foreign one. What you just said Whales had done is what any culture that claims to be free should do. Without language a culture is lost. Let me not forget Britain itself, once they got their freedom from Rome, German, French, Spanish, invaders banned all foreign languages in the entire British isle and adopted their native English as their official language in 1362. Again, history shows every intelligible people had always done the same thing.
Yes, when we pay priority attention to our native languages, every Nigerian would speak up to 2-3 other local languages. You don't even have to worry about how that would happen, cause like Europe, nature would wire everyone to learn more than one or two other local languages as he/she would necessarily need it. And in all this, don't forget English and Pidgin will always be there.
LordCzar202: But we don't need to abolish english, rather we can orientate ourselves to speak and elevate our indeginous languages.
As much as most of asia express themselves in local tongues (due to their cultural dwellings which places a high price on honor...) the anti to their case study is latin America. In latin America, very few people speak the indigenous language and even fewer respect their cultures. The latin Americas used to be very culturally rich, and majestic in tradition till the portuguese and spanish colonized them; this happened way before Africa became an interest. Today, in latin Ameriac they speak itallian spanish, portuguese and their own local spanish. This did not make them lose track. For them there is unity of purpose as most nations there are 90% catholic.
On the other hand in Nigeria, the same forces that shaped us and the Latin Americans left us with a plethora of conflicts within our selves. Even more than they met in the first place. So if we say now we enforce local tongues in Nigeria for instance, the conflict of interest would still arise on what will be the lingua franca. But if we maintain the English, encourage the french and in different regions encourage one or two local languages, only then can we start to create the kind of world you so much write about.
The downside is that Africa cannot do without english and french, but we can do more to make our local languages compete with them within our geographical space. It happens at a level. But to bring about the paradigm shift where schools teach in local dialects is far fetched. But enabling the right industries can bring about the clamor.
For one... majority of the body of information in the world is written in english.. to access them one must be proficient in english. But if we create special schools where its local languages that are expressed and give the pupils the right incentives (free lunch, bursary, assured emoloyment as translators) then we can start a drive where the local tongue would be rebranded
I guess we're not on the same page then.
The same problem we face in Africa is exactly the same Latin Americans face- unresolved identity crises created by Europeans. Asians understood this on time, and they began placing premium on being themselves and getting back to their roots. To do this they had to place premium on their native languages. That's what produced the Asia of today!. Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, e.t.c up till the early 80's were once as par African and Latin American nations in terms of development, until they reverted to being themselves which means placing priority on their native languages. It was only then that these Asian nations began developing at a phenomenal speed. So, its not only because they pay premium to honour, cause there's no society that don't pay premium on honour. Its a natural thing to want by all societies.
All those problems you talked about in your original post are problems of identity crises that can only be solved by cultural revolution and it can't happen until we pay attention to our native languages. Actually, that was the reason I got interested on this thread to see how I can help explain the root cause of all you've observed, cause I've done the research and it led to this conclusion. Every other prescription anybody is offering from any quarter is simply treating symptoms.
And don't tell me we can't do without English or French, otherwise, you have to also explain to me how Japan, Russia, Germany, Korea, China, Vietnam, e.t.c do it. I' am confident the same way these cultures deal with it would be the same way we'll deal with it.
On lingua franca, at no time did we adopt English as our lingua franca. English as our lingua franca is a British creation forced down the throats of our forefathers, like Europeans did in all their colonies. Our lingua franca is Pidgin, but remains unofficial, again, because we're indoctrinated enough not to realize we ought make it our official lingua franca. Ironically, if the language of Britain was Pidgin, our official language would have been Pidgin also.
Well said, I totally agree with u. A cultural revolution is needed no lie... but your average black man sees being cultured as being western. Well, it's unfortunate i used to belong to this school of thoughts. But notwithstanding i love my cultural roots, just can't speak the language yet.
The same problem we face in Africa is exactly the same Latin Americans face- unresolved identity crises created by Europeans. Asians understood this on time, and they began placing premium on being themselves and getting back to their roots. To do this they had to place premium on their native languages. That's what produced the Asia of today!. Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, e.t.c up till the early 80's were once as par African and Asian nations in terms of development, until they reverted to being themselves which means placing priority on their native languages. It was only then that these Asian nations began developing at a phenomenal speed. So, its not only because they pay premium to honour, cause there's no society that don't pay premium on honour. Its a natural thing to want by all societies.
All those problems you talked about in your original post are problems of identity crises that can only be solved by cultural revolution and it can't happen until we pay attention to our native languages. Actually, that was the reason I got interested on this thread to see how I can help explain the root cause of all you've observed, cause I've done the research and it led to this conclusion. Every other prescription anybody is offering from any quarter is simply treating symptoms.
And don't tell me we can't do without English or French, otherwise, you have to also explain to me how Japan, Russia, Germany, Korea, China, Vietnam, e.t.c do it. I' am confident the same way these cultures deal with it would be the same way we'll deal with it.
On lingua franca, at no time did we adopt English as our lingua franca. English as our lingua franca is a British creation forced down the throats of our forefathers, like Europeans did in all their colonies. Our lingua franca is Pidgin, but remains unofficial, again, because we're indoctrinated enough not to realize we ought make it our official lingua franca. Ironically, if the language of Britain was Pidgin, our official language would have been Pidgin also.
The same way the JAPANESE do it using their language. The same way the CHINESE do it using their language. The same way the RUSSIANS do it using their language. The same way the ENGLISH do it using their language. The same way the KOREANS do it using their language. The same way the GERMANS do it using their language. The same way the SPANISH do it using their language. The same way the PORTUGUESE do it using their language.
If we can't figure out how other civilizations did it using their own language, then I have to admit we're brain-dead as a people. However, the whole problem and how to go about it is what the link on my signature; part 1 and part 2 is all about.
GrandGarcon: you forgot India. Almost everything is in Hindi
India is still one leg in English and one leg in Hindi, that's why I didn't add them. Once India wean themselves of western educational system and actually adopt Hindi for education from primary to university, they'll become the greatest Asian nation ever. Same for Brazil and Africa.
India is still one leg in English and one leg in Hindi, that's why I didn't add them. Once India wean themselves of western educational system and actually adopt Hindi for education from primary to university, they'll become the greatest Asian nation ever. Same for Brazil and Africa.
I don't think so, India has a plethora of languages, but the main language which almost every Indian understands in Hindi, When I follow tutorials online, for example programming, electronics and other technical subjects, if the owner of the channel is an Indian, 98% of the time, the language is Hindi, only very few are in English, I have seen a full feature English language Bollywood movie, only once in my life.
LordCzar202: Well said, I totally agree with u. A cultural revolution is needed no lie... but your average black man sees being cultured as being western. Well, it's unfortunate i used to belong to this school of thoughts. But notwithstanding i love my cultural roots, just can't speak the language yet.
It is the western education that causes the adoption of western values in place of ours. It is what creates the identity crises I' am talking about. Franz Fanon, who was a psychiatrist observed that in the 1950's and he wrote a book called black skin, white masks, i.e you see an educated black man thinking he's black, but he's actually mentally white. Below is a 4 minutes summary of the book.
He also observed the problem of elitism (which you talked about) as a direct result of the above. He predicted the system of education in all colonized nations would eventually create elites who would become a burden on their people. So, he wrote another book called the wreathed of the earth, i.e the colonized nations would continue to be poor as the elites (black people who acts like colonialists) would replace the colonialists and would continue to plunder their people. He then suggested as a solution that societies in all colonized nations must be overhauled, reset to default, and reconstructed from bottom up, removing any values installed by European colonialists. He was right!!. A 4 minutes summary of the book is below.
Another great black author, Dr. Walter Rodney, in his book how Europe underdeveloped Africa, identified wrong system of education and foreign domination as the root cause of our problem, but he stopped short of giving a solution. From my studies, both Franz Fanon and Dr. Walter Rodney had long identified our problems. I read their books and I cracked the solution. Everything I' am doing on my blog, music, and on Nairaland is trying to get Africans grasp this truth. If we must develop, we must do what Malaysians, Indonesians, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, had done. We must resolve the identity crises created by Europeans, and to do this we must choose to be pure Africans, and to do this we must begin using our native languages as the language of knowledge acquisition in school.
If you or anybody have time to read or listen to audio books that would boost your African consciousness, email me at: kemeticphilosophy@gmail
GrandGarcon: I don't think so, India has a plethora of languages, but the main language which almost every Indian understands in Hindi, When I follow tutorials online, for example programming, electronics and other technical subjects, if the owner of the channel is an Indian, 98% of the time, the language is Hindi, only very few are in English, I have seen a full feature English language Bollywood movie, only once in my life.
They use Hindi just as we widely use Pidgin in Nigeria. But, when it comes to using it to acquire knowledge in school, the British indoctrination given them won't allow them use it. However, they're beginning to use it in lower schools today.
They use Hindi just as we widely use Pidgin in Nigeria. But, when it comes to using it to acquire knowledge in school, the British indoctrination given them won't allow them use it. However, they're beginning to use it in lower schools today.
Please don't say that, Even in their schools, Hindi used as an official language, Hindi goes deeper than what you are saying. Have you ever seen a street sign written in Pidjin? If yes, how many times? In India Hindi sign posts are EVERYWHERE! 99% of their movies the same thing? In their parliament, only in very few cases will you find English.
GrandGarcon: Please don't say that, Even in their schools, Hindi used as an official language, Hindi goes deeper than what you are saying. Have you ever seen a street sign written in Pidjin? If yes, how many times? In India Hindi sign posts are EVERYWHERE! 99% of their movies the same thing? In their parliament, only in very few cases will you find English.
I said they don't use Hindi as language of education in higher schools. If you go to Indian universities, and I believe in secondary schools, you'll learn in English. Using Hindi as the language of education is not the same as using it as sign posts.
I said they don't use Hindi as language of education in higher schools. If you go to Indian universities, and I believe in secondary schools, you'll learn in English. Using Hindi as the language of education is not the same as using it as sign posts.
Why would he complain of Hindi is not being used in the first place? Look let's forget this debate, because I won't agree with you and you will not agree with me.
GrandGarcon: Why would he complain of Hindi is not being used in the first place? Look let's forget this debate, because I won't agree with you and you will not agree with me.
LordCzar202: A wise man once said; "'George Orwell book 1984 talked about Big Brother watching you; there is only one thing worse... and that is you, watching bigbrother'. We in Nigeria, and in Africa at large are over-stuffed with the diet of western values".
We in sub-Saharan Africa, a once tropical paradise, were blessed with natures abundance. Africa by far had a wonderful climate (this has worsened with our approach to development) and the continent is well positioned at the centre of the world, with a diverse ecosystem from its Northern hemisphere to the southern. In pre-colonial times as opposed to the winters in the west and persistent famine in the east, we Africans had no reasons to change our ways. There was no pressing need for innovation, thus industrialisation was not a necessity... If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, abundance then is the mother of inertia. This led us to have very lose social structures and a lack of need for a state. Life was indeed very simple. Just before colonial rule, all over Africa, there became reasons to form states in order for the west to secure principalities (from the rampaging Arabs from the middle east) . In the Berlin conference of 1884-85, Africa was shared like a piece of cake with no African in attendance. The colonial era was ushered in and all over Africa, Oasis of luxury started to manifest; first through the opulence of traditional rulers (who benefited greatly during the pre-colonial times) unto high placed citizenries who were able to do business wit foreign merchants. You see, if climate was the first cause of Africa's depreciation in technological advancements, foreign invasion of the continent (colonisation) by vested interest was the next cause of Africas backwardness. The cash crops became a very important crop for produce and then export against our own local produce for our consumption(We became so attuned to the taste of the europeans that we started forgetting our fellow local hungry mouths) . The white man sweet tooth became the standard for the Nigerian elites, at the time who were involved in the trade of cash crops. We exported our raw materials for cheap and recieved imported beverages and finished materials with which we paid taxes on. this social malaise instigated by our pioneer elitist class led us to the third cause of Africas backwardness; poor judgement and miscalculation.
You see, colonial rule was artificial and lacked legitimacy and respect from its subjects. In Nigeria, as complex as our contraption was, the lack of legitimacy of colonial rule led to misappropriation of our resources by the elites in control of its processes indirect rule by the British. The next generation elites, whom received education abroad had become aware of the discrepancies in colonial rule and sort to lace his own pockets (like stealing from a foreign theif). Unfortunately, this attitude and mentality has not changed about 60years into our independence. It has instead gotten so worse with time. In the present, urban cities that were created to provide civil labor have led to rural decay, as a continuous exodus continues to happen as Nigerians seek greener pastures. Rural life which is essential in the African concept became inadequate as rural youths flocked to the city. Our cultural and agricultural influences drained away as religion became over-expressed. Poor judgement ate deep into our polity as it became a national anthem. Colonisation has since back-fired as miscalculation gave birth to lots of elephant projects, richer elites and over-exploited masses. However, this colonial disaster had a different implication in Northern Nigeria which is majorly islamic. This is outlined in the points below that highlights the Nigerian fundamental problems in mentality.
Western dependency Over time, development has become distorted in Nigeria and priorities are often misplaced or completely violated. Our western dependant mentality made us mortgage our souls to the white man. In the southern axis of Nigeria, Abundance of import replaced abundance of nature as we embraced the colonial taste hook line and sinker, together with their ways of life and style. In the northern part of nigeria it was different, as Islam had always been very suspicious of the good life. This led to a distrust of the pleasures of consumption as imbibed in their cultural-religious practice. Thus while the southern axis were trying to be more europeans than the europeans, the northern axis was stuck in their ways and embraced retrogression. Both directions were influenced by western influences. The oil boom only then created a moral disease of sudden oil wealth in a weak capitalist system; Therefore as wealth accumulated so did corruption and distrust rise between the north and south fault lines... and as personal wealth became available to thieving elites, so did human mentality and morals decay.
Decay, entropy and Lack of maintenance culture There is no sadder case of the haemorrhage of our national mentality than this point. The collusion between our elites and vested interest still waxes strong till today in taking away resources from our lands and failing to give back or maintain a considerable lifestyle for the masses. First of this collusion was the taking away of our fittest natives as slaves to the white mans plantations; then it was the consideration of cash crop exportation to suite the white man's taste over the development of our local produce to create value chains and boost industrialisation; now it is the exploitation of our natural, human and minerals resources by corporations without meaningful development - All to the detriment of our ecology. Even when efforts were made to create enabling industrial complexes, this turned out to be huge elephant projects due to a lack of rational thinking; whenever a dam was built there was miscalculation to the amount of water to power turbines, whenever steel plants were built... lack of foresight on powering the complex prevailed, whenever monuments were built, a lack of maintenance culture brought about decay and entropy.
Desperation, Corruption and a Lack of care As people became more conscious and aware of their ability to govern themselves, there was a clamour for self governance. However, when self governance was handed to Nigeria, we became carried away by tribal conflicts, a lack of care for progress and tribal desperation for influence and power. This is responsible for keeping the attitude of misappropriation of our resources and has denigrated into the present stand off of militancy and insurgency. The inability of independent Nigeria to tackle our developmental distortion only fed to the desperation of the masses, and every individual started looking for means which they could misappropriate funds to secure their families future. This has led to a long history of conflicts and poverty within our polity. This has created a double sickness of things falling apart and dependence on outside powers for influence and aids. The bane of this is that most of us still don't care about this status quo.
Urbanisation without Industrialisation One of the reason for progress in the west and middle east is a following of the natural order of things. Over there civilisation gave birth to urbanisation which birthed industrialisation, and this took place over 100s of years. In our case, foreign civilisations were planted on our land without us being actually civilised, and urbanisation destroyed the delicate balance between rural and city cohabitation. This put great strain on our industrialisation drive; and was all done in a few decades, as thousands of rural dwellers continually flocked to the cities. Thus, we never really hit the ground running but rather slumped into a coma from the set go. You see socialism without science is void. So to achieve equality amongst citizens irrespective of location, one needs the socialist dream of collective efforts and a welfare state. However, to get the equality with other nations we need the scientific dream of industrialisation, innovation and technology. There are so much discrepancy between these equality coefficients that has failed to boost our industrialisation of our nation, even with a highly educated young population whom we lose to other nationalities. Thus there it lies that; equity amongst citizen depends on who owns what while equity amongst nations depends on who knows what. This leads to a transaction in human labor between poor nations and rich nations, leaving us rooted in darkness due to a weak economic base. Its ironic to think the first contribution Africa made to the western industrial revolution was labor, then followed by the our cash crops; but we have lost the ability to tell where commodities end and humanity begin, because we have transformed our brightest minds as commodities with a human face.
Lack of Planning, poor judgment and Miscalculation This is better clearly highlighted with the advent of crude oil. In the years of the oil boom in the 70s and counting, successive Nigerian governments have always felt they can buy whatever they want to, neglecting industrialisation and resulting in weak economic base. This even led to many farmers down tools to join the oil glut. Lack of management of this critical resources has led to an over dependence of consumption without the need to produce. What makes it more pathetic is the lack of rational thinking that our highly valued crude are hauled out into the global market and then we have to buy the refined products from countries with which we give our crude oil to. This is a senseless show of lack of planning that has been maintained by sabotage, poor judgments, fraud coupled with misappropriation, and a lack of maintenance culture. it seems as if the political will is still absent at the present time to right this wrong. Even when efforts are made to plan and execute, we find ourself trapped in our differences in views based on tribal interest. it is a known fact that since 1999, no single budget of the Nigerian government has been effectively executed and implemented.
The question is why can't we develop our solve our huge problems with homegrown ideas and radical solutions? Why do we need to continue to depend on the foreign ideas to solve local impasses? Why do we not innovate enough to produce for our own consumption and enough for export, and go beyond the colonial cash crop mentality, and become less dependent on other nation for sustenance?
Your ideas are capitals to rebuild this once great nation... as the human will will always have the power of restoration.
You sure have a message. Sadly, there is no redemption for Nigeria
I was once at a point in my life where I was also pondering on everything the author was pondering about. And, I have long answered that question, the solution is contained on the part 1 and part 2 of the link on my signature. The answer is EDUCATION- the right type of education, not what is obtainable today. Until we get education right to reset our mindsets back to our natural selves before slavery and colonialism, nothing would work in Africa. Or, we would have to wait millions of years and literally begin to think like white people. For now, the identity issue hasn't been resolved. The question remains; do we want to be white people or Africans? This is an important question any thinking person involved in managing education in Africa must answer immediately for us to proceed.
Countries; like, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei, even Japan, once upon a time in their national lives came to a point where they had to decide whether they wanted to forever adopt the cultures of their colonizers or be just Asians. Fortunately, they made the right decision, they all discarded the system of education given them by their colonial masters and started acquiring knowledge in their native language.
Our major problem is the system of education white people left us with. Its that education that creates the mindset that have us consider white people as the reference for excellence. We cannot be better than white people as long as we continue to acquire knowledge under a system of indoctrination they gave us. We can't even act right as the author wondered.
The problem of elitism in Africa that the author observed is real and I've observed that in my personal research. Its a direct legacy of the colonial past. The colonialists lived like kings and when they were leaving their colonies they created elites given a system of education with that mindset. This was done to keep the elites comfortable enough to maintain the exploitation of Africa using the same elites as conduits. Therefore, an educated African in government becomes someone who's supposed to live large like a colonial master. For example; this's why you would hear someone like Emir Sanusi spending a whooping N4 Billion of Kano state's funds and justifying it. So, Northern Nigeria isn't immune to the malaise as suggested by the author.
This problem of elitism would easily be solved once we begin using our native language to acquire knowledge. The gap between the elites and every other person would close to a large extent. You can imagine; for instance, an Igbo man or Yoruba woman or Zulu man, e.t.c sitting in a court room where legal and court deliberation is served in their native language, and everybody would be carried along. The elite then would no longer be one who could speak better English or French- the language of elites installed by white people. You would then have peasants, market women, agberos, everybody having an opinion on court cases and all sorts of subjects in the polity because they'll actually understand what's going on in the country, not just the so called educated people.
The benefits are many. A Yoruba man tutored in Yoruba culture and system of education would never steal money belonging to his people and run to Switzerland to keep it. And Igbo man tutored on Igbo system of learning would not steal money belonging to Igbo people. They would be educated enough about their tradition, themselves, their people, so much that they would find corruption and stealing of public funds unattractive. They would be educated enough to understand there would be consequences for their action in the wider society; like, rise in armed robbery, kidnapping, suicide, e.t.c.
No matter how I check it, education stands at the root of having the very capacity to arrive at the right conclusion whether as an individual or a nation. If Nigeria needs to confederate or split from the British contraption as the author put it, only the right type of education would let us know what's best for us. The right type of education would remove ethnicity and have us think straight.
As it stands today, our minds is running on the software installed on us by white people, especially the educated. What Europeans did to Africa during colonialism is like uninstalling a MAC operating system from an apple computer and installing a WINDOWS operating system instead. Its not as if the computer can't work, but such computer would continue to experience malfunctions till the end of it's life. All the problems we have in Africa could be likened to this. We cannot be ourselves until the WINDOWS operating system is uninstalled and the original "follow come" operating system re-installed. The problem is this WINDOWS system had been too long in the MAC operating system, so much that it no longer realize it was originally an apple computer solving it's own problems it's own way. Problem of lack of technical, scientific and technological capability all boils down to the same reason.
These computers have their own distinctive ways of solving their problem. On the keyboards, the way you copy and paste on a MAC computer is not the same way you copy and paste on a WINDOWS computer, but at the end of the day they are doing exactly the same thing. On a MAC computer pressing Command+C is to copy and pressing Command+V is to paste. On a WINDOWS computer pressing CTRL+C is to copy and pressing CTRL+V is to paste.
Who is WINDOWS computer to say the only way to copy is pressing CTRL+C? And who's MAC computer to say the only way to paste is by pressing Command+V? Yet, this is what happened to us during slavery and colonialism- Europeans imposed their command on us, and shockingly we still hold it dear unable to realize the so called education was part of slavery!!. I' am waiting for the day Africans would realize this.
Only education based on African mindset would solve our problem. I' am talking about a system of education based on African philosophy, not on white man's theories and language. Again, details on the link on my signature.
God bless you abundantly.
I like you and I hope God richly increases your knowledge
Truth is light. it can never be hidden
This was what Nnandi told them and they said "crucify him"
