By Bernard Balogun.
What we are currently experiencing, happened, l think 1942 or so. After the atomic bomb in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, the Emperor insisted he was going to concentrate on just two sectors of governance – Education and Agriculture.
And he explained he will provide free and compulsory Education, not just to our children but every one desirous to learn. Education to all will consequently produce doctors, engineers, scientists, educationists etc. Agriculture – will provide good food for our people. But the people, due to their short-sightedness, rose against the Emperor. They insulted and disparaged him to a provocative level.
As it is now, so it was then. The Emperor was badly disparaged and thoroughly insulted. But he remained focussed and unperturbed. Friends go to Hiroshima & Nagasaki today, you will be amazed, there are no relics of the atomic bombs any more. The people have rebuilt from the ashes.
The power of futuristic vision and thinking.
Good leaders are usually never friends of the people they govern.
What an irony?
Ok, that is too far an example. Let us come down home.
When papa Awo became Premier of the old Western Region. For two years, after his ascension to power, the economic condition of Western Region grew from bad to worst. It was said, people will line-up from papa Awo’s house in Oke-Bola to the secretariat in Agodi.
What were they saying? Awo ole, Awo ole…that went on for two years, every day, as he went to office and as he returned home in the evenings.
Can you imagine such humiliation? The people you are planning to impact, wash them clean of their poverty, now turn round to publicly disparage you.
In fact, it was so bad that suggestions were made to papa Awo to move out of Oke-Bola to Government House. Papa rejected that advice. Again, he was advised to change his route to avoid the humiliation. Again he rejected it. He insisted if l did any of these, it meant l did not trust in what l am doing (my judgement). However, l assure you – time will tell.
Cut long story short. The power of vision and positive thinking came into play – some of those grumbling today benefitted from papa’s prolonged planning which produced – free and compulsory education in Western region, 1st Television station in Africa, Cocoa House, Cocoa Marketing Boards, Odua Hotels, Ajoda Farm Resettement, the various Housing Estates, Liberty Stadium, the litany is long.
Never you rush to please the people.
Diligent planning is time-consuming but it has a long time benefit. Unfortunately, many of us are unwilling to wait – the waiting period in agriculture is called gestation period.
I like to encourage us to stop acting and behaving like…the tribes-people….
Who are the tribes-peoples?
According to the ancient Greeks,
the people who in many ways gave us modern civilisation. When we say the tribes-people, it does not mean the fact of belonging to a particular tribe, which is a good thing. But when they use the word “tribes-people”, the Greeks meant “a tribal and tribalistic mentality”. And the Greeks said, the tribes-people are those people who are unable to think beyond their small tribe or small group. For the tribes-people, their primary allegiance and their only allegiance and ultimate allegiance is to their tribe (pernicious & parochial mentality – additional emphasis MIND). …The Greeks said, the tribes-people are always afraid of things that are different and alien to them. They are always suspicious and fearful. They always dealt with different people and in difficult solutions…
Permit me to add, in a nutshell, tribes-people are mentally pessimistic people. Let us purge ourselves of this pessimism.
Two years in the life of nationbuilding endeavour is certainly too short. Let us consider this period as “bricklaying foundation” on which a magnificent mansion will emerge.
Let us not be too hasty pls. I can see clearly his developmental plans. It will be far reaching and impacting on us all.
Bernard Balogun (BenPino) writes from Abuja.
