Unlike many I beg to differ that South Sudan has reached the Promised Land. I prefer to be called a prophet doomsday economics on this note-not a prophet of doom.
The journey has been an emotional one from the strategic plains of Abyei to Darfur, from foreign intervention to a referendum and finally independence. The reconciliating units (North and South Sudan) have done what is best for humanity.However; it is pertinent to conduct a pre-conflict x-ray. The Arab dominated north and the Christian and black animist dominated south of the largest country in Africa-Sudan had been at war over resources and northern hegemony. The centre could no longer hold, thus they had to call it quits. The result is the present independence of the south.
Today amidst the joy I hear echoes of mistrust amongst the South-Sudan people over the allocation of juicy position’s to the Dinka tribe(second largest tribe in South Sudan).This might be a spring board for conflict, not of the erstwhile dimension but the type that won’t guarantee speedy development in South Sudan. Presently the South has oil fields and the North has refineries. The Abyei region considered as strategic for security and other economic reasons is still a subject of dispute between the North and the South. For now the purpose of this text that may be irrelevant. The south can still take advantage of her oil reserves for development. A bloody revolution has occurred an economic one should follow; its unfortunate that in South Sudan a social revolution has to come first before true development can take place. The solution was never a break up citing further mistrusts among the people of the south about fears of an impending Dinka domination.
To make a case for my conclusion against a territorial break up. I would cite a peculiar to them-Nigeria. Blessed with Crude Oil and other resources the country was ruled by the military North who dominated every sphere. Here the hegemony was equally as strong or a little short of that. The people however endured the times and have evolved over time. Though the citizens still pass through economic agonies and social instability. Nigeria also still has problems with equality in distribution of resources.
Nigeria recently had elections better than other years. Much progress might not have been recorded economically and security wise but we are working it out. There is freedom of speech and Press Freedom.Recently, Boko Haram has become a sectional issue threatening the survival of the country but we are working it out!
South Sudan’s independence is a euthanasia of painful human feelings of the over 2million deaths there. Its an emotional relief; an international intervention success. It would have been a day history would volunteer to record but for the mistrust brimming subtlety among the South Sudan people. Before it was Arab domination, now it’s the fear of the Dinka tribe domination. For the benefit of doubt I hope the Dinka fear would be suppressed. If the freedom Square of Juba would be truly monumental the hearts of the people of South Sudan must be monumental enough to accommodate tribal and ethnic differences. That way true development can be given a chance. Happy Independence South Sudan, though its not Uhuru, the struggle continues!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT:THEORY OF THE DIVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS IN NIGERIA
CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT: THEORY OF THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS IN NIGERIA
Culture they say is a way of life; it is an embodiment of a people’s mode of dressing, communication, marriage e.t.c, while development according to Professor Joseph Stieglitz is the improvement in the way of thinking and livelihood of a people. This espouses the truth that people cannot develop beyond their ways of thinking which informs their actions, culture informs the average persons reasoning. It is important that from time to time people of any given territory should ensure that their culture and thinking is right to sustain or better chances at their development and well being. Culture is dynamic, it should not stay stagnant. There is an exception to this statement-Nigeria and other African countries. This started when the colonialists came to Africa for the scramble. The white foisted their culture on us and told us that our language is vernacular. They told us our religion is paganism; they burnt our shrines and destroyed our institutions of governance which were not doing bad. They seized our lands and affected our chances at improvement in farming practices. One thing must be conceded in terms of best practices, the white man had better technology, but when they came our culture had to stand still or walk agedly without reaching the ultimate destination of dynamism. What has the result of the “oyinbos” actions been? an eroded value system, little appreciation of our culture as compared to what can be obtained, culture alienation from generation to generation ;as some parents and agents of socialization scold children for speaking their indigenous language, loss of identity as many want to behave like they are from the west. Nothing seems good that comes from their own land. One thing is pertinent that culture is the basis for existence and a viable tool for national integration of people in a country. It must be one that all identify with and want to live for. Do we have such in place in this nation? No.A nation can be defined from two angles; subjective and objective. The subjective definition is when people of diverse backgrounds and culture come together to live as one despite their differences. The objective one conforms to homogeneity of the people. This is big trouble, as we don’t conform to any of the two. what we need most is a social revolution rather than industrial one. We need to identify a peculiarity that would unite us against bad leadership and acceptance of mediocrity in the midst of abundant potentials. For the Americans it is the American dream, Germans-Aryan phenomenon and Japanese-Samurai chivalry exemplified in all spheres of their lives. To address this problem lets take a look at the roots. Our fathers themselves were lured into a game of divide and rule by the whites, this was a strategy that was used in many colonies; take advantage of ethnic differences, share political power disproportionately and incite the people to suspect themselves. It was not their fault but they were not nationalists, they were more of ethnicists and that has bred distrust down the days from the time of independence. Today we have the strongest political bloc otherwise called "The Northern hegemony”, managing to share real political power with the Yoruba both not having a truly national interest at heart. It is not late for us; they say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. We are in a country where an average leader is above the law, I mean an average citizen also talk less of leaders, our thinking and actions connotes the era of divine rights of kings where the white men took over have hardly gone beyond it. This is where the paradigm of the divine rights of kings comes in. It posits that any developmental initiative should focus on our divine rights tendencies, especially on the part of our leaders.
Our thinking should start connoting a society where people are responsible to the rule of law ,ready to live as one and fighting for a common dream, not where in our minds we are several imaginary autonomous kingdoms in one country wanting to grab everything for ourselves with the white man’s culture as a fall back.We need to recreate our values dynamize our culture and make it in line with prevailing circumstances-blending the old with the new.
Culture they say is a way of life; it is an embodiment of a people’s mode of dressing, communication, marriage e.t.c, while development according to Professor Joseph Stieglitz is the improvement in the way of thinking and livelihood of a people. This espouses the truth that people cannot develop beyond their ways of thinking which informs their actions, culture informs the average persons reasoning. It is important that from time to time people of any given territory should ensure that their culture and thinking is right to sustain or better chances at their development and well being. Culture is dynamic, it should not stay stagnant. There is an exception to this statement-Nigeria and other African countries. This started when the colonialists came to Africa for the scramble. The white foisted their culture on us and told us that our language is vernacular. They told us our religion is paganism; they burnt our shrines and destroyed our institutions of governance which were not doing bad. They seized our lands and affected our chances at improvement in farming practices. One thing must be conceded in terms of best practices, the white man had better technology, but when they came our culture had to stand still or walk agedly without reaching the ultimate destination of dynamism. What has the result of the “oyinbos” actions been? an eroded value system, little appreciation of our culture as compared to what can be obtained, culture alienation from generation to generation ;as some parents and agents of socialization scold children for speaking their indigenous language, loss of identity as many want to behave like they are from the west. Nothing seems good that comes from their own land. One thing is pertinent that culture is the basis for existence and a viable tool for national integration of people in a country. It must be one that all identify with and want to live for. Do we have such in place in this nation? No.A nation can be defined from two angles; subjective and objective. The subjective definition is when people of diverse backgrounds and culture come together to live as one despite their differences. The objective one conforms to homogeneity of the people. This is big trouble, as we don’t conform to any of the two. what we need most is a social revolution rather than industrial one. We need to identify a peculiarity that would unite us against bad leadership and acceptance of mediocrity in the midst of abundant potentials. For the Americans it is the American dream, Germans-Aryan phenomenon and Japanese-Samurai chivalry exemplified in all spheres of their lives. To address this problem lets take a look at the roots. Our fathers themselves were lured into a game of divide and rule by the whites, this was a strategy that was used in many colonies; take advantage of ethnic differences, share political power disproportionately and incite the people to suspect themselves. It was not their fault but they were not nationalists, they were more of ethnicists and that has bred distrust down the days from the time of independence. Today we have the strongest political bloc otherwise called "The Northern hegemony”, managing to share real political power with the Yoruba both not having a truly national interest at heart. It is not late for us; they say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. We are in a country where an average leader is above the law, I mean an average citizen also talk less of leaders, our thinking and actions connotes the era of divine rights of kings where the white men took over have hardly gone beyond it. This is where the paradigm of the divine rights of kings comes in. It posits that any developmental initiative should focus on our divine rights tendencies, especially on the part of our leaders.
Our thinking should start connoting a society where people are responsible to the rule of law ,ready to live as one and fighting for a common dream, not where in our minds we are several imaginary autonomous kingdoms in one country wanting to grab everything for ourselves with the white man’s culture as a fall back.We need to recreate our values dynamize our culture and make it in line with prevailing circumstances-blending the old with the new.
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