A lot of people have asked:“why do poor countries stay poor?”Some say most poor countries, particularly in Africa, stay poor because of corruption. Corruption is just one of several reasons why most African countries are poor. Most African countries are poor because they do not have a culture that creates wealth. What is culture? There is a welter of definitions on culture by different scholars. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy however, defines culture as the way of life of a people, including their attitude, values, beliefs, arts, sciences, mode of perception, and habits of thought and activity. Cultural features of forms of life are learned but are often too pervasive to be readily noticed from within.
It has been expressed on many occasions in this column that culture plays a significant role in whatever we do as a people. The focus of this article is on broad trends in the entire society as no judgement is made on the desirability or otherwise of any current trait. Rather, the arguments in this article are derived from the fact that the nature of a society’s value system determines the extent which it is likely to develop technologically and economically.
If one takes a deeper look at developmental issues within our society, it is almost becoming a culture of not doing anything well in the country. That is why it has taken the country many years of going through a tortuous path towards sustainable development without much to show for it. If you are in doubt, why has the “privatization” of PHCN not delivered its core objectives since 2013? It is because Nigeria for many years have not imbibed the culture of using scientific means to solve industrial, and management problems as is the norm in most successful industrial economies.Besides, Nigeria as a country has not motivated its people sufficiently to build capacity to tackle critical organizational and technical problems with the result that dependence on foreign firms is on a large scale.
Sometime ago, I read in Nelson Mandela’s Autobiography Long Walk To Freedomabout one Reverend Andre Schefer, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in Africa, who in a conversation with Nelson Mandela in the prison says: “Whenever there is a problem, we have to find a solution. But whenever you blacks have a problem, you have an excuse.” An excuse that it was either the subordinate or political opponent that caused a problem. On other occasions, it is the subordinates that blame their leaders. It is all part of the blame game culture.
The index of measuring a nation’s economic power is technology. As we know that science, which is the search for the truth about laws obeyed by nature, and technology, which focuses on using scientific laws to create tools that will make nature obey man, are central to wealth of nations. But science, technology and industrialization which goes with culture, have not been growing as expected within Nigeria. If we say this is untrue, the question to ask is: How far has Nigeria gone in building its own indigenous technological and industrial capabilities?Due to large number of illiterates in the country, most Nigerians are still mystified by science, technology and industry as these are yet to become integral components of the value system in modern-day Nigeria.It is sad that Nigeria with a population of about 200 million is failing woefully in the achievement of intellectual and material progress because we have not accepted science and technology as a way of life. That we have about 100 million poor people is not because they do not pray. It is because the country has not gotten its economic priorities right to lift them out of poverty.
Have we asked ourselves why the increase in religious organizations as well as proliferation of universities, polytechnics, and secondary schools has not significantly changed how our people relate to the natural world? Why have wedeliberately chosen mediocrity instead of meritocracy?You find “scientific gullibility” even among a few educated Nigerians. Most Nigerians resort to religion with the result that religiosity is adversely affecting economic development. Perhaps, that is the reason why for example, religion is a fast growing industry while manufacturing firms are struggling for survival in Nigeria. Churches are rapidly taking over warehouses and commercial properties in prime areas of the country. The other day, I asked one of my staff why she was late to work on a Monday morning. Her response was very simple: “I went to sweep our church with other members.”Importantly, most of our people cannot be entrusted with public funds. What one gets in return is disappointment and perhaps, an insult if the matter is not handled carefully. Why is this so?
No concrete answer but one can see a clash between religion and development of the people. Anyone who cannot appreciate the conflict between religion and economic development particularly in Nigeria should endeavour to read Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism.Weber argued that character traits, strongly shaped by religion, could play a big role in the creation of wealth. These traits do not necessarily depend on any particular religion to create wealth. If wealth creation was to be determined by religion, undoubtedly, Nigeria would have been the wealthiest country in the world.Unfortunately, this is not so.The Spirit of Capitalism, according to Weber, is not about the mad rush to spend and consume, but the creation of wealth through good use of resources including our talents. So when people cannot save because of poverty, there cannot be investments. And without investment, poverty continues to rise.
Let us examine our attitude for a while.There are many Nigerians with positive attitude. When you look at our attitude from a superficial angle, everything appears to have changed. But from the development prism not much has changed. Without positive attitude, there cannot be development. We need to check our attitude at home and abroad. This is applicable to all our leaders and all followers. How can we plan for development without data? For many years, Nigeria as a country has not been able to conduct a credible population census. Our population is an estimate for many years. That is one of the reasons why most plans cannot address our developmental challenges.
• To be continued
MA Johnson
