Sunday, January 3, 2016


Backwardness Is An Aberration: A State of the Mind


As I was driving through the old country side of Ondo, to Ife then to Ibadan, I couldn't help but notice how good we are at copying ideas, beliefs, lifestyles etc., with initial enthusiasm and a bit of gragra. Then after copying it, we often tend to retrogress worst than how the original ideas were conveyed, marketed, applied and improved upon. 

From selling chicken, to interior design, lumber yards, coal manufacturing and sale, there's no significant improvement from the way it was a 1,000 years ago as we drive through these parts. And when improvements are made, it is often a good copycat, a MOR rather than something fantastic, exciting and innovative. 

You'll observe how pervasive this kind of disposition is in the kind of stultifying civil service we have in Nigeria, sinecure politicians and politics we practice and the dilettante system of education we run resulting in a society whose mind, spirit and body does not know that Liberty means upping one's game by evolving even if it's at one's pace. 

To conquer the mind disease of backwardness, Africans, Nigerians need to accept their conscious and unconscious contribution to their states of affairs. EVOLUTION IS A DELIBERATE CHOICE. Nobody is handed that.

When Darwin said only the strong survives, that is exactly how life is. To be strong is not about physical strength. It is more about how badly YOU WANT TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE.

All evolution is apparent and actual. You feel it. You see it. You know it. For African, this is a COLLECTIVE LEAP.

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