No nation on planet earth has ever industrialised or made a quantum leap forward without a serious dose of national discipline

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigerians like to hide behind the excuse of bad leaders but they are just being dishonest. They know deep down that even if our leaders want to be honest men, we will not let them be honest men. Nigeria’s leaders are a mirror image of the rest of society

[2] French philosopher Joseph de Maistre once said: “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” I agree with him 100%. Our criminal and unimaginative leaders are a genuine reflection of Nigeria. There are 109 senators in the National Assembly. If you went to Oshodi market and selected 109 people at random, their behaviour and thoughts would be identical to that of the senators

[3] As a people we are simply too indisciplined to fight the coronavirus pandemic for instance. We refused to obey health guidelines, to observe social distancing advice, our law enforcement agents were collecting bribes to bend the rules and we refused to queue when asked to

[4] Give Nigerians free and fair elections and they will vote for the most nonsensical candidate on offer just because he or she gave them rice, gari, cooking oil, yam, chickens, etc

[5] Nothing reflects our indiscipline more than our love for revelling, partying and spraying. Across Europe, disposable income went into cooperative societies and this capital was invested in factories, retailing and services. We would rather party than create jobs

[6] If you look at all the thieves who steal Nigeria’s money, it is their children, siblings and extended family who join them in bleeding the country dry. How many Nigerians would cut themselves off a family member who loots the state treasury?

[7] Whenever there are immediate gains to be made, as a people, we shun principle and rally around “one of our own.”

[8] When you look at the way people fight to get into a molue, does that not tell you how indisciplined we are? Cultured, civilised and disciplined people queue to get into the bus

[9] Do you know that in 1962, the federal government asked Obafemi Awolowo to apologise and pledge his loyalty to them. They said if he did so they would release him from prison and even make him deputy prime minister? He obviously rejected the offer, just as Nelson Mandela later rejected a similar offer from the South African apartheid regime in exchange for his freedom. How many Nigerians are made of such stuff today?

[10] When discipline and principle becomes a part of our national psyche, we will see dramatic change in Nigeria. Vanity is arguably the biggest drain on Nigeria’s foreign exchange. Only a disciplined people can adopt the mantra - Anything we don’t produce, we don’t need