Ladi Thompson Something significant happened to the raw, coarse and illiterate disciples of Jesus Christ as they followed him daily. Their minds began to acquire discipline of thought, clarity of expressions, expansion of ideas and an increase of processing speed.
The upgrade in their architecture of thought was so profound that the elite of the society took note of the transformation. Every upgrade in the “architecture of thought” of any community is a catalyst for change and no nation in this earth will ever advance beyond its thought structure.
As the youth of Nigeria continue to give voice to their total dissatisfaction and protest the nightmare that defines the modern Nigerian experience, the Nigerian authorities would do themselves a favour by listening to the counsel of HRH Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum: “A nation’s development does not happen overnight or by accident. Nor does the development of a nation ever stop once the process has begun.
”Nation building is the result of intense efforts at building a community and homeland; a phenomenal task not undertaken lightly, but shouldered by a nation’s government, its public and private sectors, and its people.
”They must all be willing to respond to the rapidly changing conditions that ricochet around the world at breakneck speed. In order to achieve this, a modern infrastructure is not enough; we must have the vision and flexibility to embrace change, to continuously adapt, and to improve our personal performance and our commitment to service.”
This in a nutshell is what the Nigerian youth protests are all about! They are seeking for value to their lives, they want a hope for their future and desire a nation that can provide assurances.
From the tonality of their demands the youth may not have articulated what they really want, but one sure thing is that they know what they don’t want! The onus is on the government to step up their game and respond with the maturity expected of an adult community.
To diffuse the situation and redirect the energies of the youth we need a creative solution. Borrowing from HRH Al Maktoum, Nigerian leadership has to generate a convincing intensity of purpose, present a lucid national vision and commit itself to deliver on promises before the window closes. These objectives can be achieved but the question is whether our leadership has the required “architecture of thought” needed for this hour.
We must keep it in mind that no nation of the world really shares the core secrets of its success and this is one knotty puzzle that has to be cracked locally. One salient point that must not be ignored is that the youth have in the course of the protest shown greater re straint probity, accountability, management skills and efficient governance than the corruption-ridden instruments of state.
The world is watching and nature does not permit the blind to lead those with sight so the government authorities have to step up to the plate.
It has been proven over and over that the greatest future for a nation would be a function of innovative leadership and creative thought rather than the prisons of its past.
One of the basic parameters in nation building is based on the number of thoughts that the average citizen is designed to process per day. Depending on the sophistication of a society it is said that the average person processes between 16,000 and 62,000 thoughts per day.
Ninety-five per cent of the Nigerian thoughts processed are daily repetitions while 80% of the daily process in the heart of the citizen are negative. This simple socio-cultural tool explains why Nigeria is where it is today and why we have made little progress since independence.
The “architecture of thought” we inherited at independence was crafted to produce a limited number of thoughts in both northern and southern Nigeria. In a sense we were designed as a “deterministic chaos” and primed to fail as an economic nation.
We have continued to run around in circles because we don’t think much of “thinking”. It was Albert Einstein that said a problem cannot be resolved at the same level of thinking that obtained when it was formed. There are global witnesses who quietly project the number of thoughts that our presidency entertains daily in Aso Rock.
The architecture of thought of his advisers are monitored and the sum totally of thoughts contributed daily at the Upper and Lower Houses in Abuja are equally scrutinised. It’s just what smart nations do to keep their citizens ahead of the game.
The youth protesters are doing what they are because a fresh injection of thoughts based on the value of human worth was introduced into their world by reason of exposure. Life would have gone on as usual but thoughts can be contagious.
This is the reason why Stalin the Dictator said “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?” In this light it becomes obvious that some of dinosaurs who have the ear of the Nigerian president have outlived their usefulness. These anachronisms in the corridors of power could well destroy the president’s legacy if allowed. The days ahead will be interesting as we are expecting an upsurge of novel thoughts in Abuja.
There just has to be a major spike in our national “architecture of thought” so that the sun can shine on all. Tafawa Balewa foresaw these days, Obafemi Awolowo spoke about the days of Jacobs troubles and the great Zik did not mince his words. Come what may,