Any graph or pointer showing the rise of Nigeria towards greatness must have by now reached it’s peak indicating that Nigeria is no longer progressing.Consequently a decline is evidently imminent.Regrettably the graph will be falling steeply instead of gradually.This notion is predicated on what,if summed up,may be associated with the following socio-political ills namely: insecurity, corruption,ethnic crisis, inflation,bad leadership, exploitation of the masses,poor governance, poor infrastructural development,abject poverty,unemployment, marginalisation of some tribes and skewed constitutional provisions.Added to these are malicious suppression,subjugation and gross human right abuse. In fact the list of socio-economic malaise is endless all of which combine to leverage on under-development,frustration, stress,poor living standard,increased crime rate and short life span compounded by starvation and poor medical services.
Hitherto life in Nigeria was not as disgusting and frustrating as this.A time was when the naira was ‘stronger’ than the dollar and equalled the British pound.When these amorphous evils started creeping in,many who should have condemned and nipped them in the bud with their privileged positions and available relevant machineries at their disposal were simply lethargic,stoic and complacent.Today these evils have permeated our bone marrow so much so that only a few can boldly and overtly condemn them while the rest of us keep praying for an opportunity to join the Joneses in ripping and raping the masses and the economy.The people that now pretend to be pushing for sanity are the greatest culprits.The hoarding of the COVID 19 palliatives exclusively provided for the poor exposed some of them.There is little wonder that one had to observe that the difference between an honest Nigerian and a corrupt and criminally minded Nigerian is the distance between the former and the opportunity available to him to follow suite.The said Observer goes further to add that the farther the opportunity to him ,the louder his out-cry against it but the nearer the opportunity the less the out-cry.Pointedly as many are today into corruption,many more are impatiently waiting for their turn to join what has more or less become a normality.This underscores the description of Nigeria in some circles as being fantastically a corrupt nation.
Our orientation and training at school however exposed us to honesty, gentility, enviable degree of discipline, fear of God and love for our country.The last of the virtues above is the reason for the insertion in our school anthem: our alma mater and our country,we must always hold them dear.But how can one hold dear a thing that is known to have rotted and lost its value,taste, beauty, significance, lustre/texture and glory ? How can s sane person hold dear a situation or person that does not reciprocate or appreciate one’s goodwill.There is no doubt that the school is emminently intact and rife in virtues and above all has much to offer.On the contrary, what of the milieu/country in which it situates ?We should be cautious when we pledge to hold dear both our alma mater and our country.A few days ago, some body did ask in the OGSSIAN National Publicity Platform (ONPP) whether the country is still worth dying for.Perhaps he went to the presidency with somebody in mind and did’nt see him.
It is on record that a typical OGSSIAN would always take instructions from his seniors or well constituted authority and lacks the effrontery to challenge the said authority Obviously he would leave the school in due course in search of greener pastures with this orientation and mentality.It is also a certainty that about 99% of OGSSIANS do not study courses that would demand the need to question or challenge the reason why a thing has to be this way or that way.Being primarily science oriented most of their studies and activities are guided by well established scientific theories,laws and well defined rules.By way of illustration, that one plus one equals two,(1+1=2)is not and can never be any other thing other than two.Evidently this is not debatable and is the reason why most OGSSIANS are apolitical and often shy away from politics and political appointments.Definitely no OGSSIAN can for instance accept to endorse any document without reading it to ascertain the propriety and implications of doing so.Equally no OGSSIAN can afford to sign a blank cheque.Pointedly only a person who compromises his integrity can afford to do so because to be a politician in this our clime absolute loyalty worse than examples above may be expected without regard to the consequences and risk to one’s integrity.Not long ago Dr Katchy in his key note address on the occasion of the old boys re-union some three years ago recounted his ugly experience that nearly cost him his life in the hands of a people that wanted to pressurise him to compromise his integrity by meeting their dubious demands.Similarly Dr.Arah narrated in the ONPP his own experience that nearly cost him his job.
The Crux of what Iam saying is that we should be current with the socio-political issues and expectation of the society in which we are and which have been conditioned by bad leadership and bad governance to resort to bizarre measures as a coping mechanism to remain afloat and possibly set the pace in wrong direction.It is by being current as described that they can be attracted into positions and places where policies and legislations are made to improve the living standard of the masses rather than staying put at the point of execution of these policies and legislations.A very highly respected old boy once disclosed to us in ONPP his private discussion with a certain governor in the interest of our alma mater.If this highly revered old boy were in politics that issue would have by now been a fait accompli.The few like the Ajokus, Enweruzors, Udogus,Elezieanyas andOnyeagochas etc who have at one time or the other been privileged to belong to that fold is inspiring enough.Does a good dancer not change his dance steps when the rythm/music changes ? A school being hosted by an embattled society constantly under the threat of subjugation and marginalisation ought really to have each student sleeping with an eye.And should the products of such school hold dear their malefactor ?We cannot forget too soon the near polarisation of the ONPP when two senior old boys were enmeshed in serious expression of contradictory views over the state of the country to which hold dear and which our reasons for doing so have been badly eroded.I think it is trite at this point to mention that it is now agreed that certain serious flaws do exist in our constitution that need to be urgently addressed by way of restructuring before there could be political stability.These flaws were not there ab-initio when the school was founded but were arbitrarily, unilaterally and maliciously inserted after the civil war.This goes a long way to confirm that the circumstances that made us to pledge as we did in our anthem do not exist any more.The implication is that we have to pray hard for their restoration.This is the only way we have to justify and maintain the retention of that allegiance as made in our anthem otherwise it will seemingly remain a ‘cod’ along our digestive system difficult to masticate,digest and internalise.
Chief Golden Ibezim…64.
