Dear Friends, (This is quite long, but kindly oblige met) NATIONAL DIAGNOSIS Ten days ago, we celebrated our 54th Independence Anniversary as a nation. The word ‘Independence’ is a composite of two factors- Deliverance and Freedom. The two must be present for independence to happen. But the question that has always gnawed at my heart [as a perpetual student of Leadership] is- • Has Nigeria really gained independence? • We have been delivered from the British colonialists, but are we free? Deliverance happens for a person/people when the shackles of slavery and servitude are broken. His master lets him go or discharges him. However, for a person/people to experience Freedom, they must be ready to shift their paradigm, perception and mental culture. It is this internal rewiring that gives real value to the physical state of deliverance. Deliverance therefore is an event, but freedom is an inward state of being which reflects outwardly in conduct and character. Ancient Israeli history as told by the Book, provides us with a classical illustration of the dichotomy between the two concepts. We are told in that story, of how God raised for Israel a deliverer named Moses whom He used to bring them out of the captivity in Egypt. That was deliverance. We then go on to see the story of their journey to the promised land- a journey of 40 days that took them 40 years. Countless times they wished they were back in Egypt eating cucumber and garlic. Despite all the wonders God had done which they were witnesses of, they saw themselves as inferior to the other nations all around them. They still saw themselves as inferior, not able to win in battle and incapable of taking the lead- the resultant effect of the psychological wound occasioned by 400 years of slavery. They couldnt take responsibility for their new identity as freemen nor could they rise up to the challenge of building a future for themselves. The story ends quite sadly- the generation that witnessed slavery had to die off in the wilderness, all but two. We are told that the primary reason why God let that happen was because He realized their minds could not understand the way of freedom (Psalm 95:10,11). The damage to their psyche was so much so that they could neither comprehend nor imbibe the value system that characterized a free people. Interestingly, the only two individuals in the whole lot who survived (Joshua and Caleb) were the ones who were able to overhaul their mind. They thought differently from the rest of the pack. (I found the psychological concept of ‘conditioned reflex’ useful in understanding this phenomenon) There is no true freedom without corresponding responsibility. But that word responsibility is alien and foreign to the slave because all his life, he has been the responsibility of his master. He depends on the master for food, shelter, clothing etc. The slave does not understand what it means to be responsible because all he does is the bidding of the master. In law, there is a principle known as vicarious responsibility and simply put, it posits that a master is responsible for his servant’s acts or omissions to act in the course of the slave discharging his lawful duties. That simply means that the master takes responsibility for the servant’s mistakes. This is the greatest damage to freedom- to be shielded from responsibility! Another way to construe freedom is a state of internal or self government. This happens when an individual has imbibed the value system that places him in a position of responsibility for all his thoughts, words and actions. In any society where the self government or internal government of the people is weak, external government is invariably empowered. Take for example the issue of tax payment. When you pay your tax as you should, nobody disturbs you. You internally regulated yourself to do what you know is right. But assuming you default, you automatically empower the government to come against you with sanctions or other punishments. This is how weak internal government empowers external government. Weak internal or self government reflects the absence of freedom. My argument is simple- it is possible for a people to get deliverance and yet not have freedom. The relationship between the two is that deliverance sets the stage for freedom to happen for a people. However, freedom is a deliberate, conscious effort to rewire one’s psyche which only the people can do for themselves INDIVIDUALLY. However in some rare cases, freedom can precede deliverance. A good example in contemporary history is the Black Rights Movement leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. October 1 1960, Nigeria sent her colonial masters packing. That was deliverance. But 54 years later, the question is ‘Do we really have freedom’? Yes, they have left our geographical borders, but what of our mental territory? One truth I hold so dear and I tell my audience everywhere I speak is that at the heart of human change is the change of the human heart. There is no true, long lasting progress without a total overhaul of the people’s value system. No wonder God said to Joshua, this book of My value system shall not depart out of your mouth, meditate on it day and night, and let it form the template with which your actions are scripted and you will be prosperous and successful. [Joshua 1:8, paraphrased]. The Book asserts that only knowledge of the TRUTH can set us free. In this context, truth is a value system, a world view, a new paradigm. If it is knowledge of the truth that can set one free, then freedom truly is a mindset because all knowledge is stored in the mind. If this nation must be free, we must embark on an aggressive and far reaching values re-orientation drive. Each one of us must take personal responsibility, first for himself and then his brother. We must learn to look inwards first before looking elsewhere. Our paradigm must shift from fault finding to fault fixing. We must learn not to blame the government for our many problems. After all it is a corrupt society that produces a corrupt leadership. The problem is with internal government. If we can get it right on a personal level, then we can get it right on the national level. Yes, Nigeria can be changed, but one man at a time. We must give up this national penchant for rhetoric at all levels and learn to match our words with responsible action. We have to stop this holier than thou pontifical attitude of outsourcing the blame to everyone but ourselves. Sometimes I wonder- almost everybody believes that somebody else is the problem with Nigeria- who then is really the problem? If we can learn to start looking inwards, I am very certain that in no time, a FREEDOM EPIDEMIC will come upon us! Now is the time to get knee deep into our private little messes and clean them out and guess what, when all of our private little mess is gone, Nigeria’s huge mess is gone. Are you ready? THEN LET’S GET TO WORK. Good Morning Nigeria, and… …BE INSPIRED! +ifedy... P.S. This is the text (condensed version) of a speech I delivered at an Independence Event four years ago. As I look at Nigeria four years later, I feel bad that this text has not yet been overtaken by events. I hope that in the next four years, this text would be useless!
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 02:13:04 +0000
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