O. JASON OSAI writes that Nigeria’s future shouldn’t be sacrificed on the altar of particular person ambition or partisan loyalty
Sun Tzu was an historical Chinese army strategist, thinker and reputed normal who lived throughout China’s Spring and Autumn interval, across the sixth century BC. He is greatest remembered because the creator of The Art of War, some of the influential treatises on army technique, management and the administration of battle ever written. But he was greater than a scholar of warfare. He was an astute observer of human nature, political energy, management, deception and the implications of poor judgement. His central philosophy is that the very best type of victory will not be the destruction of an adversary, however the achievement of 1’s goal with out pointless bloodshed or devastation.
Sun Tzu understood that battle is an costly endeavor, that inside division weakens nations, and {that a} chief who fails to know the implications of his ambitions may finally destroy the very state he sought to defend or management. One of his most enduring propositions is {that a} nation should be ruled with knowledge, self-discipline, strategic foresight and an appreciation of steadfast concentrate on the widespread good. In his philosophy, energy will not be an finish in itself; it’s an instrument that calls for duty and restraint.
Although the favored saying that “an evil man would burn his own nation to the ground merely to rule over its ashes” is often attributed to Sun Tzu, there is no such thing as a dependable proof that he really stated or wrote it. Yet the sentiment of the assertion raises a profound query that resonates far past historical China: What occurs when the private ambition of those that search energy turns into extra essential than the survival and prosperity of the nation? It is towards this philosophical backdrop that the Nigerian expertise invitations reflection, and that is the target of this piece.
Moving ahead, we ask: What does the saying imply? Simply answered: It describes a frontrunner whose starvation for energy is larger than his love for his nation. Such an individual would: One, offhandedly destroy nationwide establishments than enable another person to guide. Two, create division and battle to keep up management. Three, sacrifice the folks’s welfare to guard private ambition and 4, go away the nation devastated, offered he stays in energy.
More than two millennia after Sun Tzu, Nigeria presents us with a compelling research within the relationship between energy and ambition on the one hand and nationwide future and good governance alternatively. One is compelled to ask whether or not these at present entrusted with the duty of preserving the Nigerian state absolutely respect the distinction between successful political battles and securing the way forward for a nation. For what worth is political victory if the establishments of presidency are weakened, the financial system battered, the folks impoverished and the nationwide spirit diminished? A rustic will not be a trophy to be gained, neither is its inhabitants collateral injury within the contest for political supremacy. The final measure of management will not be how lengthy one holds energy, however the legacies which can be bequeathed the nation when one finally leaves workplace.
The peculiar tragedy of the Nigerian state of affairs is that it’s at battle with itself and so can not determine the enemy. Drawing from Sun Tzu’s metaphor, Nigeria is being burnt down by these entrusted with the ability of the state, and probably the most worrisome and horrifying side of this unfolding nationwide disaster is that the fireplace will not be coming from a single path. It is being fuelled by political recklessness, institutional decay, financial mismanagement, brazen kleptomania, insecurity and an alarming disregard for the welfare of strange residents.
Experience through the years reveals {that a} nation doesn’t collapse in a single dramatic second. Sometimes, it dies steadily, one compromised establishment of governance at a time, one deserted duty after one other, till the very foundations upon which its existence rests start to crumble. Currently, the National Assembly has turn into an extension of the manager and the judiciary has misplaced its chunk. Any individual with a modicum of sense of reasoning will acknowledge and settle for that Nigeria is speedily slipping down a really slippery socioeconomic slope. Nigeria is heading in direction of catastrophe; the nation is on the fringe of a yawning canyon.
The financial system is suffocating thousands and thousands. The price of dwelling has turn into an insufferable burden for households and the center class has been obliterated. Confronted by diminishing alternatives and an unsure future, the youth now look past their homeland for hope. Japa, the phenomenon of touring abroad in seek for greener pastures, has made its manner into the Nigerian lexicon and its relevance isn’t any extra restricted to touring to Europe and America, Asian international locations and a few much less endowed African international locations have turn into desired locations. Farmers can not confidently return to their fields in some components of the nation. Communities are ravaged by insecurity, whereas residents battle to reconcile the paradox of huge sources of their nation with the poverty that defines their each day existence.
Sadly, within the face of this nationwide misery, the political class is unapologetically preoccupied with the acquisition, retention and consolidation of energy and the brazen show of ill-gotten wealth by means of ostentatious life-style . Political survival appears to command larger consideration and urgency than nationwide restoration. The contest for political benefit often overshadows the crucial of governance.
Tzu’s metaphor of burning the nation to the bottom merely to rule over its ashes, finds appropriateness right here when taken towards the backdrop of a rustic the place political ambition is cold-heartedly detached to the implications of its pursuit. Nigeria will not be the personal property of its political leaders.
It belongs to its folks. Therefore, its future shouldn’t be sacrificed on the altar of particular person ambition, partisan loyalty or the determined battle for political relevance. The tragedy of a burning nation will not be really the destruction of its bodily buildings; slightly, it’s the erosion of public belief, the loss of life of collective aspiration and the gradual lack of religion in the opportunity of a greater tomorrow.
What Nigerians want now could be management that understands that energy is a duty, not a private inheritance; that governance is about folks, not political trophies; and that patriotism should be demonstrated by means of service, sacrifice and accountability greater than political slogans, elaborate ceremonies and countless guarantees of illusive transformation.
At no time within the historical past of this nation have despondency, desperation and dejection been boldly inscribed on the faces of Nigerians from Sokoto to Oyorokoto and from Badagri to Bakassi. A home on hearth doesn’t want occupants arguing over who owns the furnishings. It wants folks prepared to place out the fireplace. Nigeria is aflame. The query is whether or not these entrusted with saving it recognise the flames, or are merely ready to inherit the ashes. Another query is: have the victims of the present socioeconomic inferno realized that the dividing line within the society is socioeconomic, not spiritual, ethnicity and the opposite social malaises which can be exploited by politicians so they’d proceed to take advantage of the nation and the plenty?
Two parting questions: Are these at present competing and jostling for public workplace and political energy in Nigeria looking for to rescue the nation from these bent on sinking the ship of the Nigerian State or are they merely hustling to preside over it and additional the ruins? Does Nigeria want folks with capabilities, competence and character on the helm of affairs or bleeders who masquerade as leaders? These are the questions that ought to agitate the thoughts of each voter.
Prof Osai writes from Port Harcourt
