 Published
February 1st, 2011
As peaceful uprising fills
the air of Africa, the days and weeks ahead could pose
questions for other near and far countries in the continent,
and underneath the turmoil are traces of corruption,
unemployment, underemployment, brutality, dangerousness and
lawlessness.
These painful factors remain realistic and vivid in the
hearts of ordinary Nigerians, and these are tests for the
power-that-be, who find themselves constantly being
suspicious of each other, cruel to each other, killing each
other, bribing each other, mis-educating each other, lying
to each other and pilfering from each other.
These daunting and never-ending forces and pressures on the
people have in the last decade created gross societal and
institutional neglect as evidenced in squandered treasury,
deadly roads, school mismanagement, oil exploitation,
inadequate healthcare, rampant violence, electric supply
instability, poor policing, and other misguided
institutions.
Nigeria has become a country where accountability,
transparency, objectivity and high standards in governmental
and private practices are almost void, and leadership is
defined in fragility due to being accountable mainly to
godfathers/godmothers rather to the people.
These signs of institutional tensions should bring the
people together in spite of their regional, socio-economic,
ethnic and religious differences, and help create a peaceful
uprising, protest and revolution. It now appears that the
people have in the process internalized these leadership
problems and tensions, and as a consequence are turning
against each other, resulting in peculiar or abnormal
practices as in kidnapping, religious violence, family
brutality, cult slaying, ethnic strain, cash laundering, and
general insecurities.
The painful and recent history of poor law and order, and
the shaky political/economic insecurity, which mainly
threatens the lives of ordinary Nigerians, the students,
market women and struggling workers especially, makes it
proper for a revolution which must be constructive and
peaceful with a focus on provoking positive change.
The Nigerian people are known for just wanting to live their
lives, and as we all know rallies, protests and outcry for
social justice have not traditionally been a part of their
collective or individual psyche. So the desire to
spontaneously express and peacefully lash out against
spoiled Nigerian leadership will not be easy to reveal
itself.
But what is clear is that the signs to anticipate popular
outcry for change appears to around the corner, and as the
April elections draw near the people will be justified to
demand for their right and freedom through a participatory,
responsive and God-fearing democracy.
A national unity among demonstrators will have more power if
good-faith Nigerians in the diaspora, in America
particularly, tell those at home that help is on the way,
and actually go home, and present a show of collective force
against leadership who need to be held to higher standards.
As we all know April, May, and June are fast coming and the
world is watching as to when change will be in the air in
Nigeria!
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D , DABPS, FACFE, is a
Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and an Assistant Professor of
Psychology and Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward
College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu
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