PATERNALISM UNDER THE GUISE OF EMPOWERMENT. It is a notorious fact that Nigeria became independent on the 1st October, 1960. Nigeria is therefore 53 years as an independent country. One will expect at the matured of 53 years all vestiges or legacies of colonialism will have been discarded. One of the ugly legacies of colonialism that still haunt us is what I will call the culture of tokenism or paternalism. This culture of tokenism or paternalism was extensively practiced by the Colonial masters. It is a half hearted and ambivalent manner of doing something you do not really mean to do. The so-called empowerment occasionally launched by our pathetically benighted, corrupt and visionless politicians with pomp and colour is a type of tokenism or paternalism that is out sync with modernity. These empowerment programmes are nothing but window dressing. They are meant to deceit the gullible. A member of the National Assembly would collect hundreds of millions meant to execute projects in his constituency and then take out a meagre sum and buy tricycles, motor cycles, sew machines and used vehicles and return to his constituency invite his sycophantic supporters and dole out these Greek gifts under the guise of empowerment. Some of our disoriented people will expect some of us to clap for these politicians! It is contempt of the highest degree to practice tokenism or paternalism on your people. It shows how low some of our politicians regard our hapless people. These politicians feasts on the hopelessness, helplessness and abysmal ignorance of their constituents. One of them that launched his so called empowerment yesterday that was marred by a free for all fight , has been in government since 1999 and the only thing he can boast of doing for his people is buying them tricycles, motor cycles, sewing machines and tokunbo vehicles! Meanwhile this politician is building a multi million hotel in Ekorinim and has bought properties in the United States of America and United Kingdom! Empowerment in the real sense of the word is educating the people to learn how to fish for themselves. It is fighting prejudices and ignorance. It is about educating and imparting knowledge. It is not in any form or ramification what our politician have made it to be. All the money they used to buy exotic SUVS and building palatial mansions in Abuja and Calabar should be used to build cottage industries to employ our young people. All the monies they squander on acquisition of material things should be donated to our universities and schools. Knowledge is what drives the global economy today. India makes billion of dollars each year exporting computer scientists to the Silicon Valley in the United States of America.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 09:11:15 +0000