Thursday, November 15, 2018

ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITY IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP


Keynote address delivered by Professor Nyerhovwo Tonukari at the Nigeria Library Association, Delta State Chapter, 2018 Annual Conference, Thursday 15th November 2018 at the Delta State Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku.





ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITY IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP



INTRODUCTION



Today is a remarkable one for me as I am being given the honour and privilege to stand before great librarians and information scientists, reputable Nigerians who mean well for this great nation and have what it takes to make our country wonderful, blissful and enviable. I would like to thank and congratulate the chairman and organisers of this conference for the good work they are doing and choosing to address this salient and striking issue of insecurity plaguing our nation. I do not see myself as qualified to discuss the theme of this conference, but each of us can assume more responsibility for our actions which will ultimately improve unity and security.



Never in the history of Nigeria has it been in dire need of security and unity. The country has never been bedeviled and paralysed like what we see now. The very existence of Nigeria as a sovereign state is being threatened by the hideous acts of terrorists’ attacks, inhumane herdsmen, hypnotised and extremist militants, Boko Haram, and ruthless and unreasonable kidnappers. Our lives and activities are now curtailed, controlled and restricted because anybody can be kidnapped. The entire nation is held hostage by these criminals. None is safe anymore, but we cannot go on like this.



We all know the first and most paramount thing a nation can give to its citizens is security. If there is no security, there is no nation. A country’s national security is concerned with the well-being, welfare and interest of her citizens, preservation of her sovereignty and territory against external aggression. The Nigerian Constitution of 1999: Section 14 (2) (b) states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. The government has the responsibility of safeguarding lives and property of Nigerians against both internal and external threats.



There is no doubt that the development of any society also depends on the extent of the security of lives and property of the citizens. Insecurity can cripple the economy of a nation. A secured atmosphere will encourage intellectual minds and provide an environment for growth and infrastructural development. In a time like this, what do we do? But we should also ask why we find ourselves in this unfortunate situation. Whose fault is it? Let us do some soul-searching.





SOUL-SEARCHING



The 2017 per capita GDP of the United States is USD 60,000, Israel and the UK are about USD 40,000, Brazil and Malaysia about USD 10,000, South Africa is about 6,000, while Nigeria and India are slightly less than USD2000. Per capita GDP is simply a measure of the total output of a country divided by the number of people in that country. We may be better than few countries but with all our natural resources and so-called intelligence is this where we are supposed to be?



Most of us long for the day when Nigeria will become a developed country; when the economy will be much better and when poverty would have been relegated to the archives. But how do you expect such period of economic freedom, peace and joy to be realized when we all sit down and expect the “government” to solve all our problems and better our lives? The purpose of knowledge is to improve ourselves and the society, but are we educated elites here today who have at least university or polytechnic education happy with our lives and socioeconomic situation? So many things have gone wrong and we all have a lot to answer for. This clearly shows that we have been following the wrong path in our personal and national development. It is time we retrace our steps and reconsider most of what we do.



Now let us go back into near history of about 300 to 400 years ago. What we know of slavery is mostly what the Europeans and Americans wrote down with few undocumented and unconfirmed stories here and there. Truly, we have been very wicked to ourselves. Do you think some few Europeans had the gut to enter a village and carry the people away? The truth is that we were the ones selling our brothers and sisters as slaves. They were just waiting in their ships to buy the slaves. We were the ones that fomented stupid wars to displace people who were then picked up and sold. Has it ever occurred to you that many families even preferred slavery to the debauchery and hunger around them in precolonial times? Sorry that I am touching on nerves here, but I am telling you some true stories. Fast forward to the colonial times, the so-called British Empire soldiers were fellow Africans and some Asians that were trained by the colonialists. And do you think slavery was abolished to help us? Think again. Slavery was becoming unprofitable and the sheer number of slaves was turning into a security challenge in the Americas.



We are now in the 21st century and many of you are happy that slavery is over. The slave ships are no longer coming, instead our youth are trekking across the hot dry Sahara to get to Europe through the Mediterranean. Poverty and lack of opportunities can drive anyone to undertake such dangerous venture. The vast majority of Nigerians today are faced with constant and a seemingly unending struggle like disinherited children who have been deprived of their rights. There are more horrors coming and we may have to suffer even more until we come to our senses. Our society will collapse unless we gear up, realise and fulfil our individual tasks. We need to think and focus more on what we can do to improve the society and economy.



What must first change most drastically is we ourselves because we have refused to learn to work together and think bigger. We have refused to share our knowledge and accept each other as human beings. We have become slaves of religion and tribe, and many are ready to carry out much atrocities as long as they receive commendation from their church or mosque or ethnic group. Religious fanaticism and dogmatism have turned so many into barbarians and bigots.



We all troop to worship every week with slave mentality because of fear of hell or expectations of blessings. For those who keep praying and begging for blessings, miracles and breakthrough while sticking to indolence and laziness, I wish them good luck. There is a great Law which ordains that the right to take lies in giving alone. Do you give humanity your time, talent and money as a necessary service in return? Most people are never willing to acknowledge that it is depended solely upon themselves to shape their lives differently!





DOING AWAY WITH INDOLENCE



Are we really that sluggish, indolent, unproductive and uncreative? I do not think so. But if we do not criticize, how else are we going to improve the society? Nevertheless, we must also proffer solutions.



Imagine the natural resources, blessings and beauty that Nigeria has been endowed with? Today, instead of making use of what nature has freely given to us to improve ourselves and the world, we are fighting over it. Besides, we have become so lazy that we just expect free money and we want everything to be free. Why won’t the government pay 30,000 naira as minimum wage when we all are so lazy to look for other activities that can pay ten and hundred times higher? What work do many even carry out daily to deserve the minimum wage? The socialist view, that everyone with similar qualification should be paid the same must be discarded. Salaries and promotion must be tied to productivity like it is in the private sector. Whatsoever a man sows, so also shall he reap.



The notion that government should do everything for us must be also discarded. It is the most unintelligent and stupid thing for the Nigerian government to start a new airline. Nigeria airways failed miserably. It is better to invest in the private airlines, motivate them but also regulate their activities very well. All our government steel companies failed, and all should be sold. The government has no business in establishing a telephone or refinery or electricity company. It does not just work. Just look around you? In a short span of less than 15 years, several private universities are doing better than many public universities. Imagine what will happen in 20 years! We are crying for jobs, yet there are so many new jobs that can be created if we change our policies and also our ways. I once advocated that a million direct and indirect jobs will be created in few years if private refineries are encouraged. With more encouragement, our private airlines will dominate the African sky. Also, the private universities should be encouraged with financial grants to expand and admit more students.





THE DIGITAL AGE



We are in the age of founders, the age of entrepreneurs. To make this age more interesting, there is a deluge of information out there for everyone to use. Innovation is the hallmark of entrepreneurship and key to success. Innovation leads to job creation.  Every good economy is anchored on innovation and information. So why are we not innovating? But why should we innovate when the government prefers to import fuel, the citizens choose to eat foreign rice, and the academics are encouraged to publish in foreign journals! It is disheartening to be in a society that discourages innovation.



The UK, a country with a third of the population of Nigeria publishes over 10,000 academic journals, while the whole of Africa of about 1.3 billion publishes just about 5000 research journals. Why are we so foolish to promote western companies and insist on faculty journals in Nigeria? Why don’t our universities also insist on publishing only in faculty journals in Europe and America? Nearly all the journals published in western countries are by established companies and associations, and are ranked by their content, editing and citations. How many faculty journals in Nigeria reject manuscripts? Nearly all Nigerian faculty journals lack indexing and digital object identifier (DOI). These journals are often poorly dissemination (only available in the faculty) and lack online presence. Is it not disheartening for Nigerian universities to reject a journal that is indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded just because it is published by a Nigerian company? Charity should begin at home.



Libraries and archives should be digitizing our hard copy research journals, books, and records so that they can be assessed online. The sheer speed of social media in disseminating information requires a new generation of librarians that can utilize new tools to achieve this purpose. Librarians need to package information into dedicated websites that will be interesting to specific groups. It is the responsibility of our library to disseminate trusted information (in times of so many fake news) in this digital age.





CONCLUSION



The choice is ours. We can start today by taking full responsibility of all that we do, rather than just sitting down waiting for the government to improve our life while praying our beggarly prayers. We will experience a sense of newness, which grows and becomes strong out of simplicity and humility, when we start to take responsibility for our actions. We will feel liberated when we start to give instead of always expecting to receive. We can start by really thanking God for all that we are, and the blessings showered on us already. Then, we should always seek the opportunity to serve humanity and improve the world starting with ourselves. There is no end to improvement and accomplishments.



If we strive to change for good and use the talents in us, happiness and economic progress will follow. Success and a good life are so easily attainable for those who are not only serious but also humble and willing to learn from nature. We must learn to work together. Everyone must use their knowledge and contribute their own fair share.



Ladies and gentlemen, great librarians, I thank you all very much for your attention and I hope your deliberation here today will be worthwhile and fruitful.



Thank you and God bless us all.



Professor Tonukari teaches biochemistry at the Delta State University Abraka and he is the founder of Academic Journals.