THE NORTH: TIME TO QUENCH THE QUEST FOR QUANTITY OVER QUALITY
By Bala Ibrahim
From the tales, terrible tales of deaths, degradation and destructions of public properties, that are continuously coming from the northern part of our country Nigeria, pursuant to the protests over the what the protesters call, bad governance, I think the north is particularly due for a review of it’s rectitude. As a society, the north needs to take a second look at it’s etiquette, and the long established rules of public behaviour. Either by design or accident, something wrong had happened, which seems to have eroded our values, virtue, and the sense of collective correctness. And this is more among our youths in particular, as shown by the resultant visits of occasional vileness.
Yes, the north’s long respected values and principles of good conduct, have been contaminated by crookedness, dishonourableness and immense immorality. The ongoing protests are testimonies to such decay of ethicality. For things to degenerate to such pervasive level of lifestyle, making people that are supposed to be righteousness, engage in looting and vandalism, in a society that used to pride itself as the custodian of modesty, things must have gone bad, pretty bad. It is an abnormality that deserves the reaction of unacceptability.
Young boys and girls, if you like call them children, were unleashed on the society, by parents that seem to have no conscience, to let loose negative hatred on everyone and everything that is not theirs. One of my late mentors, Dr. Bala Mohammed of the blessed memories, used to say, when you see things like these happening, we are beginning to witness the collapse of civilization, and the return to barbarism.
Ironically, the same Dr. Bala Mohammed was barbarically murdered in circumstances with similarity to the ones on display by the northern youths now. It’s bad, pretty bad.
Indeed the north is confronted by a conundrum, and the sooner the people push to put their acts together, the better. A friend and senior colleague, who is a staunch advocate of probity and the advancement of core competence, especially uprightness in the society, asked me a simple question- where are the parents of these children? Are they outsourcing the children’s upbringing to the Government? He said, parenting is about love. It’s good to have children. But not good enough to have them and release them on the streets, destroying the little that is available for the society.
Parents are tasked by God, my boss said, to look after the children they sired. It is the responsibility of the parents to give the children those things that are eternal. Things like good education and upright upbringing. The reverse is not their portion, and must not be visited on them. On no account should the society permit poor parenting to overtake responsibility. And hitherto, the north was known for drawing a distinction between what is right and that which is adjudged as wrong. The north was famous in the differentiation of good and bad behaviour. Why the change now?
It is gratifying to hear that, in some states, principal among which is Kano, the people have chosen to go spiritual. Some concerned citizens of the state have decided to petition God, through organized prayer sessions in mosques and churches, with the hope of establishing a spiritual communion with the Almighty, to come to the rescue.
As Nigeria stands today, everyone is agreed on the fact that the bane of the society is corruption. Although when the word corruption is pronounced, most minds go to financial corruption. But there are bigger vices-the loss of moral virtues, values and ethics. Once societal values are lost, they pave way for various immoral acts like stealing, prostitution, the much talkabout corruption and delinquency, among others.
Research has long established that, lack of morals and ethics can combine to give way to individuals with selfish, greedy and corrupt attitudes. Equally, lack of respect, civility and proper etiquette can make it difficult for many young people to maintain healthy relationships and interactions with others in the society. Recently, the north was accused by a former Governor from the southwest, of producing too many children without a corresponding arrangement for their upbringing.The former Governor, who was quickly countered by his younger brother of the same paternity, was impliedly saying that, the north is putting preference to quantity over the quality of their children. There may be some truth in his postulation. And the north must do something to correct such behaviour, that is breeding deliberate delinquency.
There is an unverified cliché in the social media, that is attributed to the President of Senegal, sent as a memo to the members of his cabinet. I don’t know which President, but it reads: “I don’t really want my picture in your offices. Because I’m not God, neither I’m an icon but I am a servant to the Nation, Instead, put the pictures of your children so that you will look at them whenever you are about to take a decision”.
The time has arrived, for parents in the north, to be compelled to hang such a message on the walls of their rooms. If they have no rooms, they should hang it on the walls of their hearts- their conscience. That way, they would quench the quest for quantity over quality.
THE NORTH: TIME TO QUENCH THE QUEST FOR QUANTITY OVER QUALITY