How we have refused to develop!

This message may only be relevant for most part of Africa.

Take a good look around you, your office or workplace, the streets, the major highways, the markets and marketing systems, the hospitals and their services, the community schools and their environment, most universities and their facilities, our airports, car parks, restaurants, our farms and farming systems, our health and health systems, our resources and its management system, our food and failing nutrition systems, etc . You may be tempted to ask – Why have we refused to develop?

On food alone, the World Bank world development report (WDR) of 2008 noted how food production in sub-saharan  Africa has failed to trend upwards for over 30 years. Our workplaces which include the farms, markets, hospitals, schools and tertiary institutions, federal establishments etc. are yet to encourage the desired productivity due to poor facilities and dearth of necessary services such as internet access, toilet, steady power etc. All these can be reluctantly dismissed as government failure but they are not! The truth is that “government failure” exonerates us from taking the blame and gives some relief to our rigidity to develop and everything remains unchanged.

With particular emphasis on most parts of Africa, I have the notion that we have refused to develop because as individuals most people are modelled to be selfish and most times very aggressive. Many were taught to clinch on any “opportunity” and escape poverty faster than their closest neighbor. By so doing, we become selfish and most times very aggressive.  By been selfish we focus on personal interest at the expense of public interest and by been aggressive we pull others down intentionally or sometimes unconsciously. We pull others down intentionally by: not letting certain information/knowledge get to them; by blackmail; by exclusion or by incapacitating them. Sometimes unconsciously by: justifying our private intentions with rational, emotional, religious, ethnic or racial prejudice.

At Indonesia, I had several opportunities to have classroom discussion/sharing with elementary and high school students. In one occasion, I brought a gift to be presented to whoever answered the most questions in that discussion. It marveled me that the best students were not struggling to answer the questions. They even waited for the “weakest students” to attempt after which if no one got the answer, they would then respond. At the end, about four students answered equal number of questions and I had to provide more gifts for them. In most parts of Africa, the situation may be different even among matured people. They want people to hear them and know how powerful they are. They do not wait for turn to talk and would not listen to others. So, most times the discussions end with little public interest met because people came with a determined personal interest to protect, shown through anger or aggression.  With selfishness and anger we may provide good workplaces, facilities, services for ourselves alone and assume others are lazy. By so doing, we make the less privileged to worship or destroy everything.

We will develop by killing the excessive selfish desires and work for the well-being of everyone.

Thanks for your birthday wishes and remain blessed.

Onuigbo D.M , 16/08/2018