Grandiose Parlor

With what I know about Nigeria - where I spent the bulk of my lifetime before leaving for the US in 1998 - having the right mindset will go a long way, and longer way in fact, to resolve the problems in the land. This same treatment has been used to solve arching problems everywhere in the world, except Africa.

Compare a mindset like that of the Malawian kid, William - who went out to build a windmill from scrap plastic and wood to power his family home in rural Malawi - to the typical Lagos residents whose homes and streets always get flooded every year but will choose to grunt and grumble and live life as it is. Why aren’t many Nigerians with a can-do mentality similar to Dr Stong’s - a retired American engineer who bridged two villages in rural eastern Nigeria working with 30 volunteers and without heavy equipment?
People always look up to the government as if it holds a magical wand which can be used to willy-nilly reverse the rots in the society. People talk of, and look up to “leaders” to fix problems -as if they are extra-terrestrial beings that dropped from the sky. The last time I checked, these “leaders” share one major characteristic with an average Nigerian: The same mindset.

Back to the Lagos flood. Adaure, a Nigerian blogger writes about the floods in Lekki peninsula and Victoria Island, affluent suburbs of Lagos, where the rich and lords of the land have their magnificent mansions and live in opulence. As I commented to her post, “If this people would pay little attention to something so basic but critical as proper drainage, then we shouldn’t be surprised that Nigeria is broken…” Nigeria is broken and will remain broken because the bulk of Nigerians have failed to tune on the right mindset.

Why do Nigerians continue to do the absurd like building houses where they shouldn’t? Or in locales without proper and adequate drainage system? Why has it become impossible for the government to employ proper strategies to fix social issues in the land?

I and several commentators have been accused of being overly negative of Nigeria; “washing our dirty linens in the public” some have accused. Only a mentally-compromised person would fail to draw comparison between what happens in a broken Nigerian society and the one I live in now in the United States. I’m not the only one who see how the machinery of these societies work. I believe there isn’t many of the so-called leaders in Nigeria and Africa that haven’t been to America or Europe; many studied there and continue to visit on regular basis. But the wrong mindsets have continued to make it impossible for the leaders to see and transfer home what they come to enjoy overseas. Likewise, the governed too, continued to be robbed of basic amenities of life because their mindset is off alignment.

Until Nigerians start taking baby-steps to effect changes, changes that can only be brought about by a change in mentality and orientation, Nigeria will remain broken. These steps will commence when we learn to ask questions…simple but meaningful questions. The simple “What”, “Why” and “How”. Identify the problem, figure out why they exist, or remain protracted after several failed remedies, then imagine how it can be fixed.

If William can figure how to power the family house in rural Malawi, then any adult can do this. For this to work, attention should be on local issues - at the street level and in the neighborhoods. All it takes is just a handful of champions…to take the first step. And there are abundant social issues to question: From flooded streets, to the the menace of the ubiquitous area boys (social miscreants).