By Jerome-Mario Utomi
“No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected- Julius Caesar (100-44BC).”
An interesting sidelight to this topic was elicited by a conversation with a group of young people during the Sallah public holiday in Lagos. They were humane and well-informed. The discussion which lasted for about an hour focused primarily on the strategic interplays, conflicts and considerable uncertainties of the past weeks.
Among other things, it did explicitly expose the underlying ‘civil but cold’ relationship between Nigerians and their leaders at all levels. As well as trumped-up hidden tensions to where they can be seen and possibly be dealt with.
Synoptically, away from their expression of frustration over their inability to secure jobs years after graduations, they were particularly not happy that young Nigerians with genuine certificates are roaming the streets without jobs in a country where according to reports over 721 people are working in six government agencies with forged certificates.
The number they noted may appear ordinary compared to the teaming graduates seeking employment; but the stunning thing about the occurrence is that it exposed the government’s incapacity and lack of a mechanism to function as social and economic watchdogs; uncover the roots of national malady which goes deep into the venality and incompetence of leadership in the country.
Undoubtedly, this all-time-high unemployment coupled with other sociopolitical challenges which the nation grapples with the fallen standard of education, lack of modern infrastructures, epileptic power supply among others, have naturally characterized us as a nation in crisis- a kind of predicament that a combined team of security operatives cannot quell.
As a consequence propels unexpected social, economic and political developments that presently frightens the public; embarrasses the Federal Government; but the credibility and decency of Nigerians under serious scrutiny at the global stage; brought about threat to life and loss of lives and property, as well as promotes criminality and protests.
Except in a peripheral way, this crisis cannot exist without ingrain usefulness. Particularly as it serves a note of warning to our nation to plan and change the operational systems via constitutional restructuring of provisions which are not producing the desired result,
Returning to my conversation, the most crucial impart is in its signpost of relevance and role the attachment theory as propounded by John Bowlby can play in resolving our present impasse.
Essentially, Bowlby, a British psychologist in 1958, pointed out that ‘if a primary caregiver responds inappropriately and/or inconsistently, the infant learns to assume that he or she is powerless to affect the larger world and that his or her signals have no intrinsic significance where the universe is concerned. A child he added, who receives really erratic and inconsistent responses from a primary caregiver, even if those responses are occasionally warm and sensitive, develops anxious resistance/indifferent attachment.
The above like in the generality of mankind describes the disposition of Nigerians towards the leaders they ones considered as caregivers. Nigerians and youths, in particular, have over time been treated with contempt, ignored and visited with a series of erratic attention from their nation and they are beginning to feel angry.
This claim is not without some examples.
On October 1, 1998, on page 38, of the Guardian Newspapers, some group of bright and well informed Nigerians among other similar efforts in the past to move the country forward, presented a road map to the great society of the future.
The issues discussed by the road map centred on transparency and accountability, poverty alleviation and sustainable development, globalization and restructuring of the oil sector as well as human capital developments.
