EXTREMISM OF BIASED SENTIMENTALITY....

"Fortunately for serious minds, a bias recognized is a bias sterilized"
Benjamin Hayden.

One cold and perhaps frosty morning, precisely June last year, i was at Area 3 junction in the Nigerian federal capital territory, Abuja, waiting for a cab.
Then as i glanced at my left hand side, i saw a young man presumably in his late thirties holding in his hand the days newspaper i happened not to have seen. So i instinctively asked politely if i could browse through it briskly before our cabs came, and he kindly obliged.
The paper carried the news of insecurities in the country ranging from the recent terrorism and heightened level of corruption. After i browsed through it briefly, my cab arrived, so naturally, i returned the paper to the man and i promptly thanked him as i also said "God will help us".
Unexpectedly, the man got angry and was not afraid to show it. He snatched his paper off me violently and accused me of joining the band wagon of biased, sentimental hypocrites, expecting God to come down to help us when we have refused to help ourselves.


While my cab took me on my highly anticipated ride, i reflected on what the man at the bus stop said, and something stayed with me.
Believe it or not, but Nigeria is a country where people pray for electric power to come on, for the roads to be repaired, for a bus or cab to show up, for the traffic to ease out, for salaries to increase, for prices of items to come down, all without physically doing a thing about it.
The international community has called Nigerians many names or rather tagged Nigerians with many titles such as happiest people, most populous black nation, developing nation blessed with both natural and human resources. Well, these are mere flattery titles compared to the contrary that realists would rather say, as the most corrupt and socially irresponsible nation, and to top it, a bunch of opportunistic so called leaders enveloped with greed, short sight, hypocrisy and consistent negligence of the heavenly principles that emphasizes observance of the laws which govern the earth.


A popular Yoruba proverb says that so far a Landlord lives, his house cannot be overrun by bush. Another one says that once there is an elder in a place, a child will be well taken care of, in terms of morals and welfare, depending on the capacity of his wisdom.
The cue from these proverbs balls down on the leadership potential in Nigeria. Sometimes i wonder why there is a lot of neglect for the average citizen while the politicians over-pay themselves and still loot the national treasury. Then i realized that its is an all encompassing spate of selfishness and a total embrace of the default negative stereotype that in some way or another haunts us all, as we are a product of our environment, and thought.
Stephen. R. Covey takes us on a safe journey into the world of principles in his best seller, 7 habits of highly effective people. He carefully explained in a step by step order how to react to situations we cannot control so as not to destroy our minds and our lives with anger, fear and worry over things we have no power over.
Rather, he emphasized the need for building better relationships and healthier psychology through selflessness.



He further melted our hearts in his additional effort in his "8 habit, from effectiveness to greatness" by summarizing the essence of life as finding your voice and helping others find their's as well.

Everyone in the world wants to live in America, why? I know three reasons for sure, it is because America is so well structured in such a way that they have become economically sound enough to be respected as world power, there you are free to express yourself and you can be whatever you want to be so far you can dream it and work as hard for it.
This is possible because their fore-fathers understood the principles that govern the earth, and they inculcated  
in them enough positive mental attitude to face any obstacle head-on and make the most of it.
This is why they have less stigma for poverty, diseases and deformities.
Back here in Africa, we really fear what we don't understand and we destructively criticize them, except they happen to us or members of our families.
That is why we are considered the most religious, we pray for everything to happen the way we want without realistically tackling the issue.
This only makes us unfair to ourselves as we become vulnerable to the ugly claw of bias and extreme sentimentality.




Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@gmail.com)