A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY & DEVELOPMENT

Can two walk unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3 NKJV, The Bible

Imagine a couple very much in love with one another. The husband believes a good education is critical for their children to become independent and productive citizens of the country. The wife believes her children need to be sharp and ready to take advantage of every opportunity, and she is there to help them with her networks and her net worth. Can this marriage work?

Nigeria is a country with multiple ideologies, each fighting for supremacy. Simplified, some people work to eat while others beg, or lie and steal, to eat. Those that work to eat, tend to value education and hard-work. While others either have not had the opportunity for education, or are too lazy or impatient to wait for it to yield its results.

Those who believe in working for what they earn believe in learning, creating, building, and improving. They use their education, knowledge, and skills to devise means of earning, ways of progressing, avenues for developing, for themselves, and their families. They push themselves to do better and be better, they make their communities better and help to build the nation. For these people, progress and development are their goals. They are civilized, hardworking, have integrity, and are legacy builders. True democracies can be built by them and for them.

Then there are those who choose to beg, or lie and steal. Begging in Nigeria has been elevated to a mode of employment, a profession, where a grown man or woman can sit at home, and by just pressing phone and spinning a sad tale, get donations from several people at once. (I have heard of a father dying twice.) Why should they work when they make more money this way? Lying and stealing are to be found everywhere and at every level, even to the highest levels of society and government. It is accepted, expected even, and encouraged. People get hired and put in positions because of who they are or who they know, and not on merit. They wield power and influence and are compensated for doing nothing or worse, causing problems. Why should people take school or work seriously when they can be sharp? For these people, money is the goal. They are the get-rich-quick types, hoodlums really because they are criminal. They can be bought, votes and all, and this makes them unreliable, dangerous, and a threat to our national security.

But people want to help, they feel guilty, they feel they should since they can. But for how long will they feed the beast? People that do not work end up being threats, dependent, and unhappy because they have nothing to show for themselves. They are not role models, rather they negatively affect those around them. They affect their families, especially the children, their communities, organizations, and the country, because they subtract and do not add value, they tear down and do not build, and they are only in it for themselves and not for the greater good.

So how can they walk together? How can those that choose to beg, lie and steal, walk with those that choose to work? How can a country of 200 million people and of 100 million adults, where some work while others do not want to, progress? It is not about the labels of name or tribe or religion, but about core values which become evident by what is produced. There are too many people that do not see the value of an education, and too many that see even less value in hard work and integrity. They are fine with others doing the work while they reap the benefits. How can true democracy work in such a country? Will they let it?

Success does not fall from the sky like manna from heaven. We cannot pray ourselves into a civilized society. We cannot fast our way into a democratic nation. We cannot cast out the demons of insecurity and economic recession. And we cannot spiritually bind bad governance. We have to build the nation we want. We have to value hard work in ourselves and in others. We have to question knowledge till it shows itself true. We have to push for accountability so integrity is held up to the light. We have to clearly define the ideology we believe in as a nation and live it.

A country should provide jobs and opportunities for growth and development for its citizens by developing industries, supporting corporations, promoting small businesses, and providing security. Individuals can do their part by working hard, being creative, and pursuing their passions, and by doing so. create jobs. So the next time someone comes to you with a sorry tale of hardship, do not be so quick to put hand in pocket or make a transfer because you can. (If you do, aren’t you engaging in a type of godfatherism yourself? When you need them, wouldn’t you be able to buy their time, their voice, and their vote?) Ask what happened, how, when and why. See how you can provide long term help with advice, mentoring, employment, or money to start or continue a business. Take the time to teach them, to reorient them to understand the value of education, hard-work and integrity, and how they can change their lives for the better. Be an angel investor yourself, encouraging hard work and moving the economy forward. This way you are truly helping them, helping their families, helping their communities, and helping the country.

Imagine a country where all or most of its adult population are educated and work hard to improve their lives, and contribute their quota to the development of the country. Imagine a country where no one lives off the labor of others unjustly. Imagine a country where you are judged not by your label but by your mind, your hands, and your heart. Imagine the market woman, maruwa driver, police man, teacher, banker, civil servant, and even the politician, all working hard, earning a living and contributing positively to the development of the nation. Imagine a country we believe in and are proud to call ours. Now imagine we are people deserving of such a country.

Civilized, thriving, democratic, progressive countries are built on the pillars of good education, hard-work, integrity, patriotism and security, which lead to progress, economic development, and social advancement for the people and the nation. When these become the core values by which we live and are judged everyday, soon we will learn how to choose the right leaders from among us because they will be the best of us. They will be able to lead us and we will follow because we will have tried them, and they will have shown themselves true to our ideology, more than capable to take us further and higher. And from generation to generation, government to government, our country Nigeria will keep moving forward and take its place in the world as a great nation.

Oye Atilade
oatilade@gmail.com
October 2020