"What has consistently escaped most Nigerians in this entire travesty is the fact that mediocrity destroysthe very fabric of a country as surely as a war--ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption, and debauchery. Nations enshrine mediocrity as their modus operandi, and create the fertile ground for the rise of tyrants and other base elements of the society, by silently assenting to the dismantling of systems of excellence because they do not immediately benefit one specific ethnic, racial, political, or special-interest group. That, in my humble opinion, is precisely where Nigeria finds itself today."
Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country
With this, Achebe acknowledges that the trouble with Nigeria does not rest with its leadership alone. Any Nigerian who accommodates, tolerates, and/or encourages mediocrity in any way contributes to the trouble with Nigeria and the resultant decay in our society.
Arise, O compatriots
Nigeria's call obey
To serve our fatherland...
The labor of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain...
Both Nigeria's leaders and the people are equally guilty of entrenching mediocrity in the system. Don't all of us condone it? Always looking for shortcuts to almost everything. That's why everybody wants to get rich overnight without working for it. And when we don't succeed, we go blaming someone else. And looking for a wo/man of God to pray for us. How pathetic!!!
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