It’s sports season across schools in Nigeria, so most of us would have spent or will soon be spending a weekend with our children at their various schools to enjoy the “thrill of victory” and the “agony of defeat” that comes with these events. I wasn’t left out as I spent this last weekend with children in our School in a Mini-Olympiad of sorts at the Abuja National Stadium. As with most athletics events and amongst most enthusiasts, the boys and girls 4×100 meters relay race is the climax of these events, and this years’ final lived up to its expectations. As I watched the races, especially at the “exchange zone”, when the batons change hands, I started to ask myself the questions that should be a serious source of concern to all of us, especially parents looking to hand over a legacy to the future leaders of our country. I started to think about four things: 1) the legacy that our parents handed to us; 2) the legacy we are handing over to our children; 3) the legacy we should be handing over to them; and 4) what we must do to be more deliberate about ensuring that the right legacy is transferred.
Our parents grew up in colonial times, got world-class education, participated actively or passively in the fight for independence, fought an unfortunate and bitter civil war, participated in or watched from the sidelines as coups and counter-coups were plotted, elections were annulled, and Nigeria’s star fell from our great potential in the world to the near comatose state that we are in today. They gave us Unity Schools, NYSC, Federal and State Universities, and just towards the end became spoilt themselves by the oil wealth that they discovered so much so that they became the leaders of arguably the most corrupt country in the world.
The generation of those born in the late 1960s and up to the late 1970s grew up in the perilous times of the 1980s where every vice conceivable on the planet became the mainstay of Nigeria – cultism in schools, examination malpractice, advance fee fraud and corruption that had reached fever pitch. These times and up till now have been further devastated by economic recession or depression, depending on whose statistics and perspectives you are relying on, but even more worrisome are some of the social evils that have reared their head in the last decade that seem to be the dominant legacy that we may be passing on to our children if we are not careful!
The heightened levels of ethnicity, religious intolerance, terrorist insurgency, indiscipline to the point of impunity, false religiosity that stinks to the high heavens, and a culture of celebrity and “mammonism” are the unfortunate cultural elements that we have sown into our children’s future. So, our parents focused a lot on giving us the best they could, but their mistakes led us into peril. We are in peril and are already leading our children to perdition, and seem to be doing so not by mistake, but open-eyed and very deliberately.
We can however turn things around, but unfortunately, the people and media that are best suited to create this transformation – our political leaders and institutions, religious leaders and institutions and our educational institutions are too busy either fighting for political power and wealth; pursuing and preaching prosperity; or more concerned with issuing certificates and being “sorted” before doing so.
When people like me write these articles and pieces and try to speak prophetically to the issues plaguing our country, we may just be doing it in futility. Unfortunately, we do not have the political or social clout to create the pervasive transformation that we seek. After a few likes on Facebook and Twitter, everyone tunes in to the “junk” from their political, social and religious leaders and of course the media that transmits these messages and feeds us with their own commercial “garbage” in the name of entertainment.
The solution: we need a crop of truly inspired political, social and religious leaders out there who have the clout and followership that can create transformational change. Imagine if political, social and religious leaders in this statute that I have described could do three things 1) Speak openly prophetically and truthfully about these six “evils” that we transmitting to the next generation; 2) exemplify and institutionalize the destruction of these evils in their personal conduct and policies; and be deliberate about an acculturation program targeted at our children (much to the chagrin of us their parents) that will save us from this impending mess that awaits us in the next generation.
Thankfully, the political, social and religious leaders to whom am I referring know themselves and are possibly reading this. One will be tempted to ask what the ordinary man like you and I can try to do: well, I have written my heart out on this article, and am trying to use my talents daily in writing books, curricular and teaching children and teachers in our school to be better in spite of what is a harsh and daunting socio-economic climate. I encourage similar private efforts from other concerned Nigerians, but know that the big ‘putsch” needs to come straight from the top, as has every change (good or bad) that we have experienced in Nigeria.
Barrow is a Director and Co-Founder of Creative Learning International School in Abuja
