‘A failed people are the progenitors of a failed state’

And yet this place is where I call home. The home of my birth and now the home of my choice. My late father used to quote a verse from the famous Sir Walter Scott poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, ‘Breathes there a man with soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, this is my own, my native land’.

That verse often repeated to me as a child burned nationalistic fervour into my consciousness, so much so that when years later, I was eligible for a British passport, I refused on the much-touted grounds by my father that ‘I was born a Nigerian and I will die a Nigerian’.

Yet several years later, I now have every cause to regret my decision. Because the Nigeria I was willing to sacrifice all for, the Nigeria that my father believed so much in, has ceased to exist…if it ever did. The tyranny of the majority browbeat us into silence or worse still, mindless acquiescence for the sake of some illusionary peace.

But I have come to see that the issues plaguing Nigeria are caused by a tension between the narrow selfish interests of a few at the expense of the wider self-interest of the majority, what you might call the greater good. And we are all guilty of pursuing this narrow selfish interest.

It is the reason why some of us get a post and immediately begin filling all roles with people from our tribes. Why contractors accept government contracts where they are obligated to pay 80% of total face value as a kickback to the government official.

Why we want our ‘countryman’ as President, even when he has nothing to offer. Why our politicians prefer to steal money to buy expensive off-road SUVs rather than just fix the bad roads that cause SUVs to be a necessity rather the luxury they should be.

We believe that if only we can get enough value/resources for ourselves, we can insulate ourselves against the trauma that is Nigerian life.

Well, the trauma of Nigerian life dogs every aspect of our existence. Our very identity is threatened by a lack of social cohesion. Social Cohesion is defined as a cohesive society that (1) works toward the well-being of all its members. (2) Fights exclusion and marginalisation. (3) Creates a sense of belonging. (4) Promotes trust. (5) Offers its members the opportunity of upward mobility (rising from a lower to a higher social class or status) (Source: WikiProgress). The constituent elements of social cohesion are:

Stop.

Go back and read again about social cohesion.

Then apply this to your thinking on the state of Nigeria.

1. Works towards the well-being of all its members – We are in a country where the hoi polloi collude to entrench the lack of accountability of its political elite.

The people work against their own interests to protect politicians they believe represents their narrow selfish interest such as the promotion of pride of tribe over the nation, N1000 stuffed in a loaf of bread on election day. Need I say more?

2. Fights exclusion and marginalization – I have a theory that in building our ever-fragile sense of national identity, Nigeria has taken the entertainment culture of the Yorubas, the commercial culture of the Igbos and the power culture of the Hausas.

Our country has come to glorify exclusion and marginalization of others for narrow individual selfish interests. And I think this stems from the power culture that we have all embraced.

This power culture is essentially a feudal one. It raises up one boss, one emir, one chief at the expense of the rest of society. It effectively gives a man a fish as opposed to teach him how to fish.

3. Creates a sense of belonging – Our sense of belonging has never been more tenuous. Different groups of society feel increasingly alienated and picked on by the power group. This is evident in tribal groups, poor vs. rich, students vs. teachers, employee vs. employer, you name it.

You can see this in the fight for Biafra which has gained much momentum from the perceived anti-Igbo rhetoric and posture of the government of today. Or in the rise of Boko Haram which was initially as much targeted against the Northern elite as it was driven by religious ideology.

We all lack a sense of belonging to this fragile element called Nigeria. I was once proudly tribal, with equal blood link to 4 tribes and no sentiment about any.

Now the way society is fragmenting has (at first unconsciously) made me fearful enough to start identifying with the tribe of my father’s father. As it dawns on us that the entity we thought we belonged to is ceasing to exist, we have to pick our side for protection and acceptance.

4. Promotes trust – Nothing I have said above promotes trust. End of story.

5. Offers its members the opportunity of upward mobility – Social mobility is indeed the strongest element of social cohesion we have in our society. It is relatively easy to move up the social ladder, especially if one is blessed with a decent education.

The issue comes from the fact that social mobility is most often practiced in an exclusionary way, that is the upwardly mobile move into a new ‘tribe’ and forsake the old one, driving exclusion, marginalization, and alienation. Of course, none of this promotes trust.

I am as sure as I will ever be that the issue facing Nigeria is not one of corruption as such. It is a lack of social cohesion driven by a weak foundation of commonality. To diagnose is one thing. To cure is another. But try to cure we must. What other option do we have?

Wordmama