Saturday, 25 May 2013
The Death of Commonsense By Okey Ndibe
Okey Ndibe
Columnist:
Okey Ndibe There was this fascinating loafer of a student during my secondary school days. We half-mockingly called him “Ogbu Oge.” The moniker is best translated as “killer of time.” “Ogbu Oge” dawdled, whiled away time, spent hours drinking, chasing women, or getting into other kinds of trouble. The only thing “Ogbu Oge” did not have time for was to study.
As you can imagine, he was not the most brilliant of students. His grades, predictably, were failing ones. But “Ogbu Oge” was also resourceful in other, surprising ways. On its face, the name we gave him (if memory serves me, it was our then geography teacher, a Mr. Eze, who first coined it), was unflattering. But the guy lent a half-heroic tenor to the name. He happily adopted the name, even reveled in it. In fact, when you called him “Ogbu Oge” to his face, he made it into a complete sentence by responding, “nwe plans.” In other words, he asserted that he who kills time has plans!
Part of “Ogbu Oge’s” plans lay outside of his school days. In the end, he had sense enough to realize he was not cut out for the disciplined rigor of academic life. He never bothered to apply to any university or polytechnic. He went straight from secondary school into business, taking with him all the wiles, guiles and slight “bookishness” he’d acquired.
But “Ogbu Oge” also left a lasting, if dubious, impression as a student – and he did it in a history exam. In this exam, the history teacher had asked, “Why did the Songhai Empire fall?” Our time-killing friend wrote a short, succinct answer: “Because of their carelessness.”
That answer established “Ogbu Oge’s” lore. Visiting Calabar two weeks ago, I spent time with a former schoolmate. As we ate “bush meat” and quaffed palm wine, we also reminisced about “characters” in our secondary school. Inevitably, the inimitable “Ogbu Oge” came up. We both remembered that memorable answer of his to a question about the Songhai Empire – and we roared and roared with laughter.
Afterwards, I had the opportunity to meditate on that unusual, uncanonical response of “Ogbu Oge’s.” No teacher with his head screwed on right would give a student credit for that answer. Even so, I had to admit that there was at least a hint of creativity to the response. If you boiled it down, “carelessness” is a major reason – perhaps the major reason – imperial nations collapse. “Ogbu Oge’s” answer, then, was informed by a measure of commonsense – a kind of applied native intelligence.
As I traveled in Nigeria two weeks ago, it suddenly struck me: Nigeria would be a much better-run space if the country’s so-called leaders brought even a smidgen of commonsense to statecraft. For Nigeria’s problems are both large and small, macro and micro. And even if our leaders were incapable of tackling the complexities of the major crises (unemployment, infrastructural underdevelopment, the dominance and persistence of an informal economy), they ought to be able to address the more minor problems.
Instead – from the presidency all the way to local government levels – Nigerian “leaders” appear bereft of ideas for solving even the most basic of problems. Nigeria’s tragedy does not lie simply in the inability of its “leaders” to engage in serious thinking about wrestling with complex issues. The greater tragedy is the death – and dearth – of commonsense in the ranks of those who parade as political leaders. Nigeria fails woefully at the big issues of nationhood; it also fails, sadly, in the small things.
Nigeria has progressively become an assault on the senses, a veritable eyesore and a place that stinks like hell. Let me illustrate.
During my recent visit, I spent time in Lagos, Calabar, and Anambra. I also traveled by road through Ebonyi, Abia, Imo and Enugu States. I came away with the impression of a country that had become a vast dumping ground. Often, the landscape was marred by the carcasses of decrepit buses and trucks imported into Nigeria from Europe, North America and Asia. Even the grounds near the domestic wing of the Lagos airport had their displays of grounded, rusted planes. On roadsides, highways and streets, one saw piles of refuse: banana and plantain peels, orange rinds, and the ubiquitous plastic wraps that contain what Nigerians call “pure water.” It all makes for a shameful sight, as if Nigeria had been set up as a metaphor for pure ugliness.
The infestation of plastic wraps in Nigeria is a national calamity. Why hasn’t anybody thought to ban the use of these plastic sachets to sell water? Or why has no state government taken the initiative to provide trash bins where these plastic wraps can be discarded? If there is any state government in Nigeria that boasts a modern waste disposal plan, I’d like to learn about it.
As I traveled by road from Calabar to Anambra, I saw numerous places where heaps of rubbish had been set aflame. This crude incineration appears the default method of waste “treatment” in Nigeria. Don’t we have bureaucrats with enough knowledge to warn state governments that such approaches to waste disposal cause environmental degradation and health hazards? Or is it the case that our governors are too focused on what next to steal to spare a thought for the terrible impact of these toxic bonfires, many of them set next to populous markets or residences? One also wonders about the issue of open gutters in Nigeria. Many of these gutters are filled with rank, brackish water – and they’re often right next to food stalls and residences.
I walked around Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, once one of the proud edifices of Africa. Today, the airport is a shambles. The air-conditioning in the departure gates was fitful at best. But the airport’s busiest area, the check-in corridor, was a small oven, with a jostle of drenched, sometimes stinky bodies. Many of the faucets, spigots and basins in the toilets are broken, the floors wet. I walked the length of the arrival hall looking for a trash bin, but saw none. Not one. That meant that a passenger with tissue paper to throw away was easily tempted to drop it right there on the floor, or to leave the airport building and toss the paper outside.
Is it rocket science to know that a public place like an airport requires trash bins? What would it take to place such bins in any airport? Does Nigeria need a World Bank loan for the purpose? Do we need a presidential committee to study the issue, and another presidential committee to study the recommendations of the first committee? What accounts for Nigeria’s woeful failure in areas where the application of commonsense ought to guide people to the right decisions or solutions?
Lately, Nigeria has become notorious as one of the few countries where demand for private jets is rising dramatically. What do we say about ourselves when our fellows mop up private jets, but we cannot put a single trash bin in our airports much less fix the toilets? How do we advertise ourselves to outsiders when we buy up Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but our highways are gutted, rutted slow ways? How come we build mansions in our cities, but must hide these architectural marvels behind elephantine walls because our individual greed had snatched food from a multitude of mouths and forced our youths to make a living as armed robbers or kidnappers – or to die as suicide bombers?
In the midst of the gloom that’s Nigeria, I also saw glimmers of hope. Governor Fashola of Lagos State is making palpable, positive changes. Lagos streets looked cleaner and greener than I’d seen them in many years. Oshodi was not the bedlam I remembered, even though I spied a man in the white, flowing gown of an Aladura worshiper spraying the concrete road divider with his pee. Before arriving in Calabar, I had been told to expect a city as well-kept and groomed as the best spots in London. It was hype, of course. Even so, I saw clear evidence of a city whose appearance has been dramatically improved. My host told me that violent crime was rare in the city. One night, we met some friends at a fish restaurant, leaving after midnight.
In many cities around the world, to be about late at night is no big deal. But in Nigeria, where armed robbers often own the night, it’s an extraordinary feat. Calabar’s relative quiescence is proof that people respond to their external environment, that a beautiful address inspires beauty in the hearts of a populace. It’s the kind of benefit that’s likely to accrue to Nigerians if more of their leaders applied this equipment called commonsense.
Please follow me on twitter @ okeyndibe.
(okeyndibe@gmail.com)
Comments
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Commone sense
Submitted by Akin (not verified) on February 6, 2013 - 21:48.
Some commenters have spent their energy to prove the writer right - common sense is not common in Nigeria(ns). Small wonder the country is led by a man of no honorable calibre.
Good article. I pray our
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 5, 2013 - 11:37.
Good article. I pray our ruiners will one day use their common sence but on the Africa continent it seems sence is not common.
People in Government will tell you that GEJ administration did not cause our problems so he may not solve them. They fail to remind us that he did not discover oil but he is spending us dry. I observe that once people get into Government they forget where they are coming from and will definitely land nowhere.
Perhaps reasoning is not a black man thing.
Submitted by Ndidimagbula (not verified) on February 3, 2013 - 07:45.
Perhaps reasoning is not a black man thing. I am not even in a first world country but if I were allowed to take a picture of my surroundings and post here. A typical Nigerian would think he is enjoying, living in a high brow area. Which is mediocrity because where I live is a snapshot of what this entire country looks like in general. And I live in one of the poorest countries in Europe and my region is one of the poorest regions in this country. I had to say this not to emboss the fact that I live in Europe (thats the thing the idiots here will pick up on) but because I think we as humans live in environments which we ourselves set our own standards for. Nigeria likes to think of itself as a giant of Africa. If this were to be true then I am sorry for African countries because Nigeria is but an ant to the poorest European countries. I think public offices in Nigeria should be open only to Nigerians who have lived a minimum of 10 yrs in foreign lands and been part of development.
I just tire for Nigeria and Nigerians sometimes
Submitted by Ndidimagbula (not verified) on February 3, 2013 - 06:59.
Majority of the comments here are proof that many Nigerians indeed don't have common sense. Critiques like these move nations in the right direction because they show areas where work needs to be done and when such lapses are plugged, it leads to a better entity. But in Nigeria they mean that you are insulting someone. The idea of mentioning Ogbu Oge was to emboss the reality behind the name not the person himself.
Read this fool asking if Okey expects GEJ to go about collecting plastic bags at airports and roads and reminding us that Nigeria is 52 yrs old. Is GEJ so stupid that he doesn't know that these are opportunities for local companies to spring up and put people to work? I wonder what criterion are used to select ministers and if these public officials use the concept of hell-fire to benchmark Nigeria. The funny thing is that these people travel to foreign lands and see how things are done but get back to Nigeria and their reasoning faculties dumb out.
Your article makes the most
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 2, 2013 - 23:26.
Your article makes the most common sense, just like you, I had the opportunity of traveling to Nigeria this past Christmas and I had the same experience. Murtala Mohammed airport is a shame to the nation, this should have been the first impression of what to expect from a country. The bathrooms are all malfunctioning, no toilet papers nor hand soaps. The worst of it came from from an experience at ABC transport at Jibowu, traveling to the east and neede to use the bathroom. There were no toilet papers in the bathrooms, when asked, I was told to pay N800.00 for one, which I did because I had no choice. What borders me most is that all the political leaders had either travelled overseas and saw infrastructures at its best, what is wrong with ours?
@Nnemeka the liar
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 2, 2013 - 14:11.
The link has nothing to do with your senseless argument. Stop feeding people with fat lies. Are you his PRO? He has not contributed anything meaningful to his discipline. 'Arrows of Rain' should have been Tears of Rain or Rain of Tears.
You cannot buy class. Was it not a famous writer that brought him to the US and made him an editor? Since he was never a First Class student, he did not have the right to mock any dullard in his class. Who is he anyway?
RE: @Nnaemeka what a shame
Submitted by Nnaemeka (not verified) on February 1, 2013 - 22:21.
DERI,
I know that you're retarded and that's why you easily veer off the tangent. Before a nation even starts thinking of going to the moon, that nation must, at the very least, embrace the culture of maintenance, cleanliness and conservation. These are some of the true core measures of transformation which, unfortunately, your clueless GEJ has refused to adopt. If you'd recall, Nigerians would still not know what it means to stand in a queue were it not for WAI introduced by Buhari-Idiagbon regime. FYI, the scourge facing Nigeria today is not the menace of 419 but, rather, monumental corruption under President GEJ's watch. By the way, what will you do if the plumber you hired two years ago keeps blaming the previous plumbers that handled your 52 year-old house for a 40 year-old, recalcitrant toilet leak? Yeye man!
Little secret of China’s success
Submitted by John Akpomuje (not verified) on February 1, 2013 - 20:42.
May the Almighty God also bless the President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan. The president and his associates will only formulate the guiding laws for the society. It is the responsibility of the citizens to put their knowledge and innovation-spirit together to get the country going. We have a long way to go, because this is a general failure, not President Jonathan’s failure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaH0A6PMg10
For example, the little secret of China’s success is her returning nationals from foreign sojourn. Welcome back home to Nigeria all our Professors, Doctors and Engineers. The ball is now on your hands to develop the country. Like in USA, in togetherness, we shall develop Nigeria technologically within the next decade. Professor Okey Ndibe, please don’t forget about the Jim Crow Laws over there in the USA.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/
Don’t expect others to develop the Mother Nigeria for you.
@Nnaemeka what a shame
Submitted by DERI (not verified) on February 1, 2013 - 00:07.
WHILE some nations are busy going to the moon, d Obong of Calabar Chief Okey, is here teaching us how to pick plastic bags on our roads-and the scrap mental factory he wants to build-in Lagos state for Fashola and Okada riders.,Perhaps GEJ was also responsible for D scam LETTERS-posted to white folks in Europe-& d USA. Does Okey expect GEJ to go about collecting plastics bags at our airports and roads? When we have governors? Okey shld confine his regional thoughts on d 419ners operating abroad than have him describe the president as “Ogbu Oge” Read a bit of what the world often says about 9ja-(About ten years ago I found out I had a long lost brother who died in a traffic accident in Nigeria and left me millions. Still waitin' for the check.)Nnaemeka -Again remember 9ja is 52 yrs old and not 2 under GEJ! Also it was not GEJ who squandered over 55 trillion naira of the oil revenue from d SS-Okey knows those who did!
Re: Ogwu Oge by Anonymous
Submitted by Nnaemeka (not verified) on January 31, 2013 - 20:31.
Mr. Anonymous,
You're truly ignorant. So Okey Ndibe only became a professor because he married from a popular family? Who told you that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Alex Amosu, et al were "Ogbu Oges" in high school and college?
Your ignorance is certainly without boundaries.
Nigeria starts dismantling its plane 'graveyard'
Submitted by Nnaemeka (not verified) on January 31, 2013 - 18:45.
For the likes of Deri and other (doomed) anonymous haters of Okey Ndibe's brilliance, the Associated Press has just filed in the report below:
Please click on the link below for the full report. Take it or leave it, Okey Ndibe's columns are yielding dividends.
Kudos, Prof. Ndibe!
Nigeria starts dismantling its plane 'graveyard'
http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-starts-dismantling-plane-graveyard-1511227...
What's with the negative responses?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 31, 2013 - 05:00.
The writer is doing his own bit to make things better. Do yours or be quiet but don't ask him to be quiet.
Okey has his own passion so
Submitted by Naija East Coast...Uh Yesoo (not verified) on January 30, 2013 - 23:16.
Okey has his own passion so is the Ogbu oge fellow. What Okey likes and sees are different from what ogbu oge is seeing. We are constantly advice to follow our passion. You can’t laugh off other people’s passion just becos. of what you think of your passion. You see, a lot of Nigerians are just smart as in high grades thus, need asambodo (Igbo word for certificate) to proof their education/knowledge. I have great respect for people that make things and not somebody that tells me how things should be or look like. Finally, am not pretending to have all the answers. It is all about everyday people knowing what is actually happening out there so that they can make decisions that benefit them. Needs and/or problems open the door for investment opportunities that create jobs and add real value to the society.
Some here Lack understanding and humour behind Okey's Ogbu Oge
Submitted by Awudu Mba Oluwa (not verified) on January 30, 2013 - 22:09.
I cant believe how uneducated some people are in their response here. The Ogbu oge was not intended to insult his fellow student but it served as an opening to the lack of commonsense that abounds in Nigeria by the so called leaders.
Chei, you guys are dimwits for real!!
Okey's Ogbu oge
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 30, 2013 - 16:16.
Going by the Okey's Ogbu oge (nwe plan) it can be safely concluded that Ogbe oge has done or is doing well in life (by Nigerian standard). So there is still hope for Nigeria. But seriously, what has Okey done in his own little corner, beyong being a social critique, to demonstrate practical rather than theoritical solutions? Being in the US for years, we could have started a small scale business in his village, incorporating American standards and providing employment.
The so called social critique do not make better leaders. Remember late Tai Solarin, our own Prof Sonyinka?
By the way, Okey should come to Enugu. Enugu is working under Sullivan, I am a living witness.
Ogwu Oge?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 30, 2013 - 09:43.
I have never read your newspaper column and doubt if many do. SR keeps making stars out of non-entities. There are many better educated men from Naija in the US who could not get the job you do due to lack of recommendation or connection.
If not for marrying from a popular family, would you be a Professor today? Search your conscience if you have any. Your mouth looks like a pit latrine, no wonder you had to mock a fellow student in order to feel good. If you went to university with Bill Gates or Alex Amosu, you would call them 'Ogwu Oge' for dropping out. Amosu's ex-uni later awarded him an honorary degree. Dropping out was a plus for him. Gates was called richest man for some years. You are an educated illiterate. How do you teach the students in that college?
What you should see
Submitted by Bode (not verified) on January 30, 2013 - 09:03.
Hey Okey, You saw what it is you wanted to see, what you have conditioned your mind to see. you should have seen the hard working and energetic youths striving to make a living; you should have seen the emerging landscapes and infrastructural developments in Lagos and you should have seen a huge investment opportunity in waste recycling and start thinking of how you can you do a positive PR and get foreign investors to Nigeria.
Luggage Trolley N150, 1$, 1€ , 1 Pounds
Submitted by Igbiki (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 23:57.
The Murtala Muhammed International Airport is the only place in the world where Luggage Trollies must be paid for.
I dont know if they do accept Zimbabwean Dollars, Somalian Shillings, Ghanaian Cedis or that of the Congo.
But they do shout, trolley 1$, 1€ , 1 Pounds or N150.
The Depature Halls are enjoying well well.
The Arrval have no air conditioning what so ever, once you step out of the plane, you are stepping into hell fire.
cvr
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 15:30.
But what happened to him - Ogbu Oge -
you should have let us know how he is doing today.
Thank you.
Commonsense
Submitted by Ogbuefi (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 15:20.
Commonsense ? Ofcourse, it is NOT common in Nigeria !!!!
Pure water satchets
Submitted by Sumanguru (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 14:31.
I have also wondered and worried about the long term effect of 'pure water' satchets and bottled water on Nigeria's ecosystem.
Please will the very proactive Lagos State governor consider banning this material that is not easily biodegradable for the betterment of the future of Lagos. I am sure the other docile governors will take a cue from Lagos...
Dr Writer
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 13:18.
Must everybody be intelligent? What of all those Igbo spare parts sellers? Funny enough, this writer who makes fun of a fellow student does not have a first degree but HND. That is life. He has a PhD but if he had a first degree, he would have abused his whole class. Hehehe! We did not come to this world for the same purpose. No wonder the SSS keeps detaining him.
WEEP NOT OKEY.
Submitted by ANIKE AKINMOLAYAN (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 11:32.
Since we allowed OGBU OGES to rule us, we have married "carelessness" as statecraft. Little wonder they trade with governance without defined rules. Thieves like the Police pension fraudsters Yakubu, Dan Gabars, Tafa Balogun, Lucky Igbinedions went home with plea bargaining. The long arms of our law is too short to reach the FAROUK LAWANS as they chop bribes with impunity, aided by their collaborators in the Legislature. This democracy rivals Abacha's regime only in delivery of one common good: KLEPTOCRACY. Something tells me it can't continue indefinitely. We may all be witnessing the very beginning of the end, definitely so. So cheer up brother, it may end sooner than you imagine.
The professor is grossly
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 10:03.
The professor is grossly underestimating what it take to effect the outright looting of the commonwealth by the "stakeholders". Therein lies the death of commonsense and a host of other taken-for-granted attributes of public officers that make other societies function; whereas our society continue to nominal progressive push!
My anger at Okey, Pius & others....running away from the truth
Submitted by akpos1 (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 08:49.
People like Okey, Pius & very many others like them live in d self imposed delusion & illusion that Nigeria is a country. We all know deep down in our hearts that we are not a nation. Nigeria is what Okey described because it is a continent which has been eroneously run as a country since 1914. Pure & simple....For many, it has become fun to write about about the rot in continent Nigeria,4 others, the prospect of winning international prizes as a social crusader, & for others, an oportunity to test their use of lexicons & some,the publicity of been arrested by the SSS, and 4 others, the oportunity 2 write watery articles preparatory to their PhD studies requirement in the UK & elswhere, & last but not d least, the legion of paid opposition writers - Leonard Shilgba, on the payroll of certified thieves like Atiku. The solution is a reversal of the 1914 amalgamation & breakup of continent Nigeria into its component countries.Long live the United Republic of the SS&SE
Common-sense appears to be
Submitted by olumuyi (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 08:31.
Common-sense appears to be only another name for the thoughtlessness of the unthinking.
God Bless you
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 08:19.
The Prof! Not with an intention to flatter,you seem to be one of the very few Nigerians with sound mind,good conscience to see the truth and say it.My prayer is that God in His infinite mercy,will place you in the position of leadership in this country.If not now,atleast in God's future.You are highly appreciated.
Majority of our leaders,past and present are not humans,they are devils incarnate.
Re: Okey Ndibe's article
Submitted by cyril ohaeche (not verified) on January 29, 2013 - 01:29.
Our leaders have become unfortunate reputation for stupdity.
