The Hard Truth I must say... Never re-order the wheel... BE, DO, HAVE!!! Perez BrandLegend Tigidam wrote: LAGOS TO PORT HARCOURT, A TALE OF TWO CITIES PT. 2 (Stop wearing starched shirt, clean shave and drinking 150k beer) Recently, my heart has had no peace when I think about the forthcoming elections, the future and the fortunes of my dear Rivers State. Yes, Rivers State is that dear to me. Unfortunately, the more I get to understand the state, the more I become troubled. I will need someone to prove me wrong to the fact that Rivers State seems to have more ‘career’ politicians than any other state in the country. Politics is a huge deal here. Every family has 3 out of 4 siblings interested in it; sometimes the families are even torn apart by their divergent interests in the political factions in the state. Politics in Rivers State is a big industry with its own unique ecosystem though without any form of rules to the game. It’s uniqueness does not stem from the fact that something is done extraordinarily well but the fact that just too many of these pseudo-politicians know nothing about anything else in life other than the daily political chit-chats and their quest to know someone who knows someone who can pass a slice of the local bread to them and they blow it up on what they supposedly call booze (beer if you like). A slice could be given to them most times to prevent them from asking for the cake, what they don’t know is that it will never be buttered as they lack the competence (taste buds) required for eating bread with butter. More worrisome is the fact that same trend is now very obvious among the younger generation of Rivers Youths. These days, they even look forward to at least knowing a PA to an SA to the Oga at the top right from NYSC camp. Owning an NYSC discharge certificate seems to be the only ritual or rite of passage required to be a Governor here. They just can’t wait to be back and roam the streets of Port Harcourt with heavily starched clothes, (There seems to be more starch than clothes in the market here) moving from one joint to the other, discussing politics over bottles of beer. Sometimes, if an unemployed youth gives you a ‘boozing’ treat, you’d rethink even the dictionary definition of unemployed. You can literally watch your own salary value blown away on a table in one night. Our young ones find it awkward to learn a skill or trade because politics pays more. Why should I be a trader or a craftsman when I can be a Governor? Even when you find one with a vocational skill set, he has his eyes on the juice from Government house. Here, an indigenous plumber believes that someday, he will be a governor or LGA chairman. It’s my entitlement. Atleast I can pay my house rent through rent seeking from political office holders. Politics as wrongly done as it is here has affected our young ones so much that it has become the only lens from which they view life; make their definitions and interpretations of everything. By the time most people will finish reading this piece, there will be a sharp divide. Some will see it as pro-PDP and a subtle anti-Amaechi strategy, some others will see it as a pro-APC article and the third force with much guts will send me an sms thereafter saying “Guy how far na? I see your FB post, which position you dey hustle for? Now I’m not exaggerating, it has happened severally. Well, like I always say, “when I ready, your body go tell you” because I always get anything I want and at first attempt” Lol! ***Do the switch*** Lagos, being a state I have also lived in has thought me a lot of lessons. In part 1 of this series, I mentioned that Lagos is the closest picture to everything Nigeria has failed or is struggling to become and I stand by my words. In Lagos, people know Fashola because he is the Governor and by default expected to be common knowledge. Aside Fashola, I can bet my meal for tomorrow that 50% of the residents in Lagos can’t even mention up to 3 serving commissioners, this isn’t because they are the world’s most apolitical citizens but because politics does little to put bread on the table of the average young man on the streets. In Port Harcourt, we will name all the serving commissioners, PAs and SAs in alphabetical other, tell you where they live and everything about their family tree. In Lagos, you want to go to a club perhaps you might just run into a C.E.O or a staff of a company you are trying to do business with and that environment makes things easier but in Rivers State, it is the direct opposite. In Lagos, people build their career/professional profile and later in life, retire into politics, here we start from politics and retire into poverty after only 4 years of being out. Perhaps this is the reason it appears to me that south-south politicians steal more while they have the opportunity to hold a public office. I’m not saying interest in politics is bad but the trend and quality of people we see in politics around here makes it worrisome. Considering the potential Rivers State holds, there seem to be more chaff than grain in political leadership. I had my first degree in Linguistics and Communication studies and one key concept I took from the linguistics side of the program irrespective of how disinterested I was in it was the concept of COMPETENCE & PERFORMANCE. These two always go together and I don’t think that in politics they can or should be separable. Competence will and should always precede performance. You have no option but to know how, ‘knowing how’ matters or you’d do irreparable damage. Another principle I learnt from my undergraduate studies was the types/order of verbs BE/DO/HAVE. First you BE, (competence) then you DO (performance) before you can HAVE. You should never try to reorder the wheel. I will end by passing the buck of the blame on the leadership of the state. From our parents, to LGA chairmen, political appointees, upward to the governor, senators and reps. Each time I visit my pastor’s office, he always says to me “everything rises and falls on leadership”. I have held those words closely to my heart in all I do; I believe it is the key to unlocking our collective future as a state. Our leaders are to create the platform and environment that inspires our young ones to aspire, ignite in them the will and believe in hard work and dignity of labour. We can’t start conversations about workable unemployment reduction strategies without this being at the forefront. Rivers State must do more than mere lip service to human capital development if we must expand our frontiers; build the fortunes and future of the state. Dear SAs, please don’t quickly defend this by pointing at RSSDA oversees scholarship. Brilliant but that’s not all there is when talking about human capital development. It’s much more of attitudinal and a mindset shift that we crave, for we are what we think. I would have loved to talk about all this side by side the state’s youth ministry but that’s a topic for another day, as far as I am concerned, since 1999 that ministry has been non-existent or perhaps I should say it’s been existing as the sliced-bread sharing unit. I write this in the interest of the state and for those of us who represent the future. It is my own 1Cent, if you see it as a partisan note, it is your 1Kobo and I’d respect it.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 11:52:56 +0000
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