Inventiveness: The key to the Nigerian Dilemma?

The human mind, in my opinion, is the most awesome treasure house on earth. Let’s examine the evidence together: Most religious folklore, if you permit, regard man as a tripartite being; My favorite concludes that we are spirit beings, who live in bodies and interact with the earth through our souls. It goes on to allude that all men are born with their souls activated but require a conscious effort on the subject’s part to become aware of his/her spirit-man, a process commonly referred to as a rebirth. Following the rebirth or awakening, this being becomes aware of a realm not accessible through the senses; but that is a story for another day.
Back to the mind then; It is said to be the seat of intellect in every being. Ends are decided upon, roadmaps are devised and a step by step execution is carried out – all in the mind. This is its basic function and it would appear to be subconscious or taken for granted in most people. Look at it no-ow (in the naija pronunciation), in the early stages of life, our minds quickly grasped the necessary information on such basic concepts like survival, staying out of trouble and getting what u want. You had those concepts coded if you were smart and worked the s**t out of them. Here’s an example: For the simple reason that her father was an academician whom she thought the world of, my mum placed a high premium on academic prowess. Now, she was the source of power in the house since my step-dad was relatively submissive (Hell, even he had to toe the academician or baboon line to impress his woman) and so we boys found ourselves at the mercy of an insatiable academic success-hungry parent. Our little minds could not grasp the concept of specialization or delayed gratification; all we knew was that once it was taught you had to get very good grades in it to get Mama’s approval. And if you were gullible enough, you began to believe you were the shit if you could manage to keep your grades tight. You measured yourself against others and placed your sense of self-worth in the hands of another being’s perception of your aptitude in a concept as abstract as LaPlace’s law. Big time recipe for an adolescent/adult maladjustment disorder if you ask me. May God forgive all Nigerian parents.
So the mind’s basic design appears to be problem solving or inventiveness; the product here being a solution. However there’s no universal definition of the word “problem”. One man’s headache might be another man’s laughter tonic. To the wealthy, guard dogs and armed security men are a solution to a problem; To the pilferer, their presence constitutes a problem to be maneuvered around. Let’s not even begin to consider the fact that these 2 individuals might swap roles within days; that just makes things more complex.
What if there was an attempt at a universal definition of issues of concern and their appellation as problems? Then the next step would be an attempt to make such issues public in the hope that solutions would emerge from the global stimulation of thought concerning these issues. That in my opinion, would be the greatest service dwellers in a certain locale can do for the conditions that support them. In fact, ultimately, it is service to themselves. So we have a situation whereby a collection of minds focus on an issue or several issues one after another; sounds a lot like a senate (definitely not Nigerian) or the tower of Babel depending on what bedtime stories you were read as a kid. Remember what God said at the end of the Babel story? I’ll help you out. He said nothing shall be impossible for these people to achieve if they remain of one mind.
Our basic problem as citizens of this country seems to centre around action. We are so focused on what so and so is doing to the point of letting them influence our actions. We do not have a functional code of ethics anymore; remember codes are lived out, not chanted. We do not reward collective thinking or work for the common good; those who labour for others are the least rewarded in this country.Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers and Law enforcement officers. Individualism is nearing its peak in human history in this country today. We live like cavemen in own country. We have the power but we’d rather not share it. Ask yourself honestly, when last did you think about the consequences of your actions with respect to a fellow Nigerian? Even the most hardhearted pirate would not do to others some of the atrocities committed in this country. I hear you blame our forefathers; true but haba Cain wasn’t sent to hell because his parents ate the apple. I’m not 30 yet and I can tell you the attitude of most of my generation-mates is one of – na so we meet am, na so we go leave am.
Solution? Inventiveness o! And use of our inventions! But inventiveness is in itself an end, the process begins with lots and lots of thought. And Policing! And Social crusades!
The selfish, indisciplined , greedy, hypocrites amongst us must be expunged. Na who go come remain, now?