Where are the Nigerian mavericks like Giles Scott to come with audacious initiatives that will provide cheap fixes to our plethora of socio-economic woes

Ayo Akinfe

(1) One of the biggest inhibitions society will always face is refusing to let go of the past. Tearing up the rule book, departing from conventional wisdom and plunging into the unknown is a step societies are always reluctant to take. This was most pronounced at the start of World War Two when Britain and France were still using World War One trench warfare tactics so were totally obliterated during the Battle of France. Hitler’s Wehrmacht steamrolled through the Ardenne Forest and their fast-moving Panzers smashed the British and French with their Blitzkreig tactics. Nobody had ever seen fast moving tank columns before, so the allies had no idea what to do

(2) Nigeria is at that crossroads now with a plethora of woes like kidnapping, banditry, ethnic mistrust, high unemployment, poor governance, etc. Rather than come up with forward-looking solutions, people are reverting to the primordial instincts of their grandfathers by calling for the balkanisation of the country. This demand for ethnic enclaves is the worst form of intellectual laziness, poverty of thinking, an ability to envisage the future and reverting back to base and primordial instincts of our forefathers at the slightest opportunity

(3) We should be coming up with innovative packages to end nomadism, ethnic mistrust, open grazing, unemployment, limited productivity, etc. However, our only two solutions are to pray for divine help from above and ask the federal government to solve all our woes. Whenever that fails, we are like deers caught in the headlights of trucks

(4) What made industrial societies is that in their time of need, people put on their thinking caps. This gentleman here for instance called Giles Scott, came up with two innovations that changed Britain forever. He designed the Battersea Power Station which allowed coal to be converted to electricity, thus providing power to the masses and designed the iconic red phone booth, which made telephones mass products

(5) People who just sit down and complain without coming up with solutions are just as big a headache as the Fulani herdsmen. This should be a time when thinking flourishes in Nigeria as it did in Italy during the Renaissance

(6) How can 15m Fulanis lead to the disintegration of 200m-strong Nigeria. I do not see how any averagely intelligent person can call for the dismemberment of the world’s largest black nation, the pride of the negro, over a small minority of just 15m people

(7) How can a rag tag army of nomadic illiterate herdsmen armed with nothing but AK47 assault rifles make anyone want to tear up Nigeria? If anything they should be clamouring for the expulsion of the Fulani from Nigeria

(8) All these people expending so much energy creating secessionist groups would be making more judicious use of their time if they got together and drew up a set of rules which the Fulani must abide by. I would also like to see them come up with disarmament plans

(9) I am waiting for someone to come up with a drone that spots armed herdsmen as soon as they gather and sends am immediate message to the security forces as well as local militia groups like Amotekun

(10) I fail to see any problems the Fulani pose that cannot be overcome by a dozen intelligent men and women sitting down together to brainstorm. Our problem really is intellectual laziness. Britain had the same power problems as Nigeria once but alas, Giles Scott came up with a solution. Where are our men and women like this?