By Iyabo Titilola Ola-Olorun
Whenever a person is sick, people will recommend medicine or advise such a person to go to the hospital to see a doctor. Sometimes the person with the sickness might not be aware of it until someone observant points it out. For example, a person who has dementia or Alzheimer’s disease might not be aware of it; it is only those who converse with him that will notice. Sleep apnea, amnesia, and sleeplessness are sicknesses associated with loss of memory and medical trauma.
A person who suffers from retrograde amnesia might not be able to remember the car accident that caused it in the first place. Amnesia is distinct form of forgetfulness. It represents a particular gap in memory. Why this analysis from a person who is supposed to talk about the law and not medicine?
Most of our leaders today were born between the 1940s and late 1960s. These were periods when things were working in Nigeria. Coincidentally, I was born in the early 60s too. Growing up as a child in the Lagos of yore, life was not as burdensome as it is today. Life was predictable, in the sense that you can add two plus two and it becomes four. The average poor man could aspire to educate himself if he worked hard and knew that he would pull himself out of poverty.
Most of us at that time took pride in attending public schools. This gave rise to many Yoruba songs like “Iwe kiko, laisi oko ati ada.. koipe o.” meaning, “Being educated without learning farming is incomplete.and take part in farming…” .The song goes further to say ‘If you don’t work, you will steal’. Our parents taught us that hard work pays. As we grew older, we learned that it is not hard work; it is SMART WORK. The public confession of Dr Mrs Halimat Tejuosho as regards desiring a political office is a case in point.
The word SMART can be both negative and positive. Dr Halimat Tejuosho’s confession connotes what many Nigerian politicians regard as being smart, though in a negative sense. No wonder when many of them get to public office, the first task is to recoup what they invested in getting there.
As a young person growing up in Lagos in the 60s, one could see the dedication to duty exhibited by public officers. Our institutions were working. The then ECN, which eventually metamorphosed into NEPA, was working. If they had to deprive any area of electricity, notice was given both on the radio and television. They would announce it, stating the number of hours, and light would be restored in accordance with the announcement.
It was a pride to be a civil servant, and there was true respect for public service. Teachers and students alike from Federal Government colleges, and any graduate doing his or her national service, were respected anywhere they were in Nigeria. All these work ethics exhibited then have gradually disappeared from public service. At what point did we lose our ethical compass as a nation?
The reality of what is happening to us as a nation truly got to me when I requested through an NGO that I would like to bring some young people from local villages to a government radio and television station for an educational visit in order to inspire them as regards their future aspirations. On inquiry, I was told that I had to pay a certain sum of money.
When we were younger, factories and television stations were always excited to receive students and young people in order to educate them about their functions. They were excited to answer questions, and I remember in most cases they entertained us with biscuits, drinks, and some of their products.
Currently, there has been decadence in almost all infrastructure and institutional ethos. No one is held accountable for anything. Visits to some government offices reveal unkempt lawns and stinking toilets, yet they parade a retinue of messengers and cleaners who wear dresses more expensive than the CEO of their institutions, probably because they got the job through connections and their bosses cannot control them.
One was more surprised at a fake document that was said to have been given to youth corp members during NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE, explaining the content of which by implication was communicating to them that the NYSC is not responsible for their safety while serving. I learnt later that the said document was later regarded as fake by the NYSC authorities. Such a document should never have arisen at all as it destroys morale.
This type of thing destroys patriotism on the part of the Nigerian youth. Children soldiers, policemen, retirees, and members of the National Youth Service Corps are supposed to be “omo ijoba,” as they are supposed to be the responsibility of government. That is why many of our young people are desperately looking for how to “Japa” from the hopeless situation in which they find themselves.
May we never suffer from PRA (Political Retrograde Amnesia), both as a people and as leaders. This is because forgetting what happened in the past will deprive us of being able to set our goals clearly and find our way out of the current quagmire in which we find ourselves.
It seems everything is Nigeria has been reduced to a price and no longer value.Even the future of the ‘future leaders of Nigeria is precarious. The Nigerian youth is endangered .
In order to reset our ethical compass, we as a nation need to get our bearings right. If an adventurer lost his way in a thick forest,he would have to reset his compass and the knowledge of where he is coming from and where he is going is ‘sine qua non ‘ to his dream of getting to where he wants to go.
The case of the annual flood across Nigeria is another issue which resulted from a sort of amnesia on the part of leaders. It is reported that there was an agreement signed in the 1970s with Cameroon as regards the construction of a Dam which would have prevented the annual floods in the country. Cameroon constructed it’s own LAGDO Dam in 1983 while Nigeria’s own Dasin Hausa Dam is partly completed till date. When Cameroon has to release their water from their dam, Nigeria pays for it by experiencing flood. To God be the glory, learnt that the current government has decided to continue work on the dam with the assistance of World bank and public -private partnership.
When projects are started, there is usually no handing over note to successive leaders. So, no continuity in governance. So partly completed government project litter the whole country. Monies which should have been spent in Dam construction to solve the problem once and for all is now used as annual relief materials for victims of flood.
Handing over note in public service should be legislated and made compulsory for any outgoing public servant or leader. One of the major bane of our existence as a nation is lack of accountability on the part of many of our people, leaders and head of institutions. In time past, institutions give periodic accounts of their stewardship. Anyone who holds any post of responsibility in the public service should be mandated to prepare a handing over note to his successor. In addition, there should be proper and compulsory orientation for new staff of any government agency or establishment. These must, as a matter of urgency be made compulsory so that there would be continuation in governance and assimilation of the ethics of the particular establishment involved.
It is important that the citizenry, our head of institutions and political leaders examine where we are coming from to plan for where we are to go.
I pray that none of us will be suffering from PRA(Political Retrograde Amnesia)as we move to the future.
As we choose our leaders, as we serve as leaders and as we play our respective roles in the future electoral process ,it will be important that none of us suffer from PRA( Political Retrograde Amnesia)
God bless Nigeria.
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