According to the Greeks, the purpose of education is to be a better man. But the reverse is the case. Some see education as enriching themselves, building houses everywhere, having power in the village, building skyscrapers in their father’s land, and having power over the less privileged and the peripheries of the society, and acquiring all kinds of chieftaincy titles, thereby dethroning intellectualism. Their books are covered with cobwebs, they no longer consult them. Today’s society doesn’t pay a premium attention to education. Since after the civil war, the concept of education changed. The young ones don’t like going to school anymore because they are now looking for shortcuts to wealth. The government contributed to this by allowing those with no or questionable academic certificates to hold critical political offices. The academia should wake up and resuscitate the society from the impending doom. The academia are in pursuit of money, hence, they are polluted by politics of the day. They should maintain a critical distance from the politicians who are involved in populist ideologies, Marxist and Machiavellian principles. Their education should be used to sanitize the society and empower the populace.
Nigeria today is what it is because of the conspiracy of silence of the academia. If they make proper use of the power, the power of education, they will not create a space for political neophytes to assault their sensibilities and assault the society they should have protected with their voices. Their voices should resonate in the society to confront evil and preach justice and peace in the land, thereby making the politicians sit-up for justice in the land. I will never forget what Pope John Paul II, now a saint, said in his homeland Poland at the stadium addressing the people with the politicians, academia, the church and the military brats gathered. This was at a time when Poland was in a political limbo. He said, “Poland enjoys arrogant use of power” When he said this, the military junta Jorowaski adjusted his seat with brows knitting thought. It did not take long, Wollenzer came in, and Poland came out of military regime. This was a wonderful intervention coming from the Vicar of Christ (the Pope). Pope Francis was in Cuba, another Communist state with all her intellectual, spiritual prowess, he spoke and the Marxist president listened. Then Obama, the first black American president went and spoke and his speeches began to resonate all over Cuba. Now America has their embassy there. After 50 years of frosty relationship with Cuba, imagine the American plane landing in Cuba.
A new political wave has set in which is a wonderful political symbol of “Let us be one again” in spite of our ideological leanings. Then Pope Francis visited America, when Trump was talking of building a wall between Mexico and America, and the pope said “We should build bridges instead of walls” and these have entered into the brain waves of many global people. As for immigrants, the pope said, “He is a son of an immigrant and that everyone is an immigrant.” The pope has visited many countries mending all political fences that excluded others; his voice resonates again all over the world. The pope is a man of reference point and an educated Leader. Aisha Buhari, the wife of the president of Nigeria, with her robust education without mincing words or fear, spoke about what she has been experiencing in her political backyard. Knowing that she is a servant of the society she had to speak out so that others will follow suit and correct the political ills. It seems that what she said has been dismissed with a wave of hands and skeptical smiles because she is coming from a background where men are the only ones who can speak loudly. It is the power of education that rubbished that kind of male and religious chauvinism. We cannot follow pre-historic ideas, even the so-called civilized societies like Australia where they rubbish women who aspire to become presidents. This is misogynism.
Could they tell Hilary Clinton the then aspiring president of USA to stop and stay in the kitchen and bedroom of her family? We are in a global world with global way of thinking not exclusivism but inclusivism. These qualities found in those I have mentioned are what the academia in Nigeria should do in the social world to avoid wars and bigotries. In the case of Nigeria, what we see now is a world of people living in their own cocoons with no sufficient synergy to speak. Men of ideas and knowledge have continued to live at a low key because of political intimidation and accept positions from the inferior leaders. Some are even used to rig the elections because of monetary gains. No wonder Socrates said, “Hell is waiting for those who in the midst of moral crisis maintain Neutrality.” What is the use of our knowledge when we cannot use it for the growth of mankind and be proud of what we acquired? Late Chuba Okadigbo; a philosopher king displayed his knowledge in the parliament and was respected. He didn’t mince words. He called a spade a spade. Should we leave the society alone for the money bags and political neophytes? That is the state of the nation right now. Who would bail the Cat? If the academia can learn something from Popes John Paul II and Francis, there will be hope for the society. The words of the academia should be words of empowerment.
These are the social expectations from the society. If nobody motivates them, they sink into misery, poverty, alienation, loss of meaning in life for lack of somebody patting them at the shoulder saying “Don’t worry better days are coming.” That is why Nigeria is the way she is because nobody raises voice to correct these anomalies. Everything is leveled as normal. Nobody questions what is wrong. This is the reason money has become a symbol of prestige in Nigerian sense. Everybody clamours to get money without struggling hard for it. Every young boy is in a rat race to acquire the money through any means which has plunged us into the menaces of robbery, fraud, kidnapping and money rituals. Even the law enforcement agents ones celebrated have degraded themselves and caught in these dirty webs of crimes. We are born into this world to show a sense of achievements and empowerment of others. Otherwise we will become an intellectual dust-bin with no sense of impacting our knowledge on the society.
• Monsignor Livinus Ukah is a Roman Catholic Priest, Author of many books and a Social Justice/Peace Advocate
