The Crab Mentality

Akinde Ayu(He built an upstair at the age of 21 which gave Adikpo the name London)

From 1999 till now the Federal government has spent trillions of Naira as budget, even our dear State has spend   trillions of Naira as budget.  Even the budget of Kwande LGA is in Billions (newsflash). The total monies which has been expended in Nigeria in form of grants and aids from bilateral donor organizations, humanitarian groups and recently indigenous philanthropy organizations  during this period is also in billions of Naira.

However, the question is what percent of these huge revenues have reached ‘the Kwande  people’. Ignorance they say is bliss, it makes life very easy, but beyond the simplicity of life powered by lies and deceit  are philosophies, thoughts,  events and actions that should not be glossed over for they hold the truths the pretty much  determine our everyday life and ultimately destiny. Yet the crafty always look for ways to divert attention from the fundamental issues that govern our existence to superficial and irrelevant ideologies targeted to confuse and mislead.  It is within this framework of wrong perception  that I wish to locate my analyses and expose the defeatist nature of the crab mentality’.

Ironically the philosophy of crab mentality is been propagated from the same political party which has ruled Kwande Local Government most since 1999! The simple presentation of that analogy reveals the self denial that has made the same situation prevalent.

It is no longer news that  Kwande  is now backward in areas we used to be clear leaders; sports, academics, politics, innovation, commerce and culture, we were an excellent people, well organized and feared because of our numerical strength, very knowledgeable, exposure  and unity. As we stand in the ashes of today we are  trapped between the past glory and the seemingly hopelessness of tomorrow.  What is worst about our situation? I used to think  we are genuinely oblivious of our predicament but now I understand our problem; we are professing the crab mentality thereby living in  denial of the very reason responsible for our under development -US. This misleading notion has made  it impossible for us to change our thinking, mentality and approach to workable solutions. A defeatist mentality is always  blaming everyone but  yourself for your predicament. 

Despite the huge revenues and resources at the national level, not one kobo has reached us in terms of infrastructural development or other investments aimed at uplifting the standard of life of the Kwande people because there has been no one to stake our claim. But the question is whose fault? Have we had political appointments from Kwande even at the federal level, shouldn’t these people together with those we elected to represent us plea our bargain? Perhaps so, but when you are conversant with the  4^th republic brand of politics  which is a selection and not election resulting to  promoting self interest above societal interest, you will zero in on the very reason responsible for our own undoing.

Perhaps the national level is too far and the politics too complex  so let us come closer to the PDP dominated state level. At this level things are more complicated; from 1999-2006 it had to take the tragedy of the Air force plane for a road to be constructed from Adikpo to Obudu(the construction work was sub standard and poorly done) again GTS constructed another road from Adikpo to JatoAka, which was commissioned by GEJ(the construction work is also  sub standard and poorly done as some parts of the road have started to cave in). So even the things which come to us  are not qualitative. But with the number of Kwande people in government (State) since 1999 one would  expect  we would have attracted tangible development from the huge resources available  at the state level, sadly this has not translated into any form of dividends for us as a people.

Perhaps the stench at the Local government level will be too strong to open up it up for scrutiny. By design local governments are suppose to be close to the people. The intention of this design has been defeated in Kwande a long time ago. What we have continually seen is an alienated system of governance which is one of the fundamental reasons why this level of government has consistently  and woefully failed in Kwande. From 1999 to now we have seen abysmal  performance of successive local government administrations and lack of innovations leading to serious deterioration in the following sectors in the local government:

Agriculture; does anyone care about the availability of fertilizers and improved seedlings for the local farmers? The Nigerian government has billions of tons of improved different species and variety of improved seedlings stored up across the country to be distributed free of charge to farmers, what are the strategies to tap into this? Are there still opportunities for tractor hiring as it used to be? How about putting in place programmes for diversification to other means of farming like grass cutter, snail,  fish etc which have huge markets?There used to be the  agric show where farmers would display their products and share ideals, what happened to it? How about investment in food processing? Almost half of the vegetables and fruits produced by rural farmers are wasted. What about setting up mechanized means of garri processing, develop packaging and marketing strategies (our cassava is more rich in nutrients than those in other states who have started to export garri in large quantities)? The list goes on...

Sports /recreation; have you visited the Sir Akpoo Stadium lately, the level of decay and deterioration is alarming, how about  the basket ball, volley ball, badminton  and hand ball courts at ACC, which used to take the youths away from social vices?( on the state of football, read Iorliam Shija’s piece on Football; a dying culture)

Sanitation; have you visited the abattoir and seen the bad hygienic conditions? Our streets are overgrown with bush, no plans for waste disposal; the landscape that once made us London has been compromised by lack of effective implementation and adherence to the grand design of the town.

Infrastructural development; our township roads are bad (Barracks road, Kajo way) even where available, the street lights don’t work, and the drainage systems have been overtaken by dirt. How about water? There used to be a period where we had water on our taps in Adikpo(yes its true) Adikpo is gradually becoming congested what are plans for phase II?

Publicity; what is our position on the globe?  Globally, business is done on the net, were are in  the realm of information technology, does the LGA have a website? How do our people in Diaspora and other people interested in Kwande follow events and happening back home? How do they even contribute to the development of their LGA without correct information?  What are the investment opportunities available in the Local Government area, what natural resources do we have that can attract investors?

Tourism and culture; how are we promoting the Tiv Culture of which we are the privileged custodians? Where is Swem located, should  we not sponsor a study to find the location with a view to promoting Tiv pilgrimage to their ancestral home? (Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia makes billions of dollars from these types of ventures). While the Local government may not have the resources to do these it can build and develop partnerships to achieve this. We have a very rich cultural heritage that we are allowing modernization to erode with impunity

Commerce; Which sector in the Kwande economy employs the most people and how is this regulated and protected from unfair terms of trade? What catalytic investments can be made to boost commerce in the land? Provision storage facilities? Setting the agenda to create markets?  Provide training on entrepreneurship? Provide skills acquisitions training? 

How about the capacity of the local government staff? Do they have job descriptions? Do they have the tools, the training and right motivation to do their job? What added value do they contribute to the system?

Parnerships for development : How have we integrated the clan development associations into the development agenda? What role do they play? How has the government provided the right agenda to promote volunteerism and community based development initiatives? The excessive politicalization of the traditional and religious institutions has so far proved to be detrimental to community led development, this has not only commonized these institutions but also exposed them to ridicule. This has to be checked and corrected.

Our failures are predicated on the fact that we have not been able to build on the labour of our heroes past; these should be blamed on lack of a master plan which articulate our desires and aspiration as a people, which brings me to my last point. The Kwande LGA agenda; The Political reality across the nation has made it imperative for groups to have very strong  sectional agendas as a bargaining tool at the national and state levels, these agendas are also  preservation tools. The fact about the present day politics in Nigeria is that people who are serious about their development are increasingly been be proactive in asserting their developmental agendas. While some groups have adopted unconventional of agitation, we need to find the right balance to achieve the intentions of that plan. It could be through elections or appointments, but we should have a common agenda that bind us as a people. 

 So when we talk about the crap mentality we seem to exonerate ourselves of our responsibility in the equation  by blaming others for our failures and weaknesses, this is a distortion of the truth. The right thing to do is to take responsibility and move from our inconsistency,  mistakes and failures which have dressed us in borrowed robe. It is only when we acknowledge how our actions or inactions as individuals and as a people have contributed to our present predicament that we will find a common solution. Our failures are not necessarily because a fellow brother has pulled us down, simply put, it is our greed, ignorance, lack of a clear vision, strategy, and planning as well as innovative skills  that keeps pulling us down to the pit of underdevelopment, so let us live our fellow brother out for now.  A certain man is coming who will hold the torch high again for us to see and lead us to the way forward.

Tersoo Akula.

Feedback on tersooakula@gmain.com