A mad man’s truth

The main thrust of the sermon is Manning feels we need to admit and deal with the fact that the world has a problem because black men don’t know how to run nations. He says the only time the black man has ever done anything of note he did so under the supervision of whites. […]

The main thrust of the sermon is Manning feels we need to admit and deal with the fact that the world has a problem because black men don’t know how to run nations. He says the only time the black man has ever done anything of note he did so under the supervision of whites. As far as he is concerned before the white man came to Africa the black man built nothing! No seaworthy ships, no sewage systems, no houses made of stone (only wood and grass), and no great monuments. Egypt in his opinion isn’t in Africa so anything that happened there doesn’t count. He refers specifically to black Africans. Manning himself isn’t a white man. He is the African-American Chief Pastor at the ATLAH World Missionary Church in New York City, USA. For those who don’t know him well, it’s important to note that in his own country there are those who describe Manning as a mad man. Claiming to hold a Ph.D. from his own unaccredited Theological Seminary, he burgled homes as a young man and spent three and a half years in prison for robbery, larceny, criminal and possession of a weapon amongst other crimes. Apparently while in prison he became a “pastor and devout Christian”. He says the reason he freely insults the black race, is out of love not hatred.  Although he accepts the idea of color blindness in which a man is judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin, he says before we get there we must recognize that the black man has a problem. As far as he is concerned even though blacks can be trained to be lawyers, doctors or physicists they can’t be trained to understand affairs of the world and the result of this deficiency can be seen all over Africa. To support his contention that black men can’t run nations Manning used Nigeria as an example. He told his congregation that Nigeria produces oil every year and yet children in the country go hungry and walk barefooted. Even though Manning speaks like a demented individual it’s often said that left alone to talk for long enough, a mad man will eventually say something which makes sense and is true. It’s this reference to our nation that seems to be catching everyone’s attention. In between some most absurd statements and semi-demented ranting from the pulpit, Manning tells some home truths which deserve careful consideration. Although his belief that black people’s problem  is a “God problem” involving material wealth coupled with spiritual poverty may or may not be true, it really is time for us to ask searching questions as to why our nation appears unable to overcome the most basic problems. Why can’t we guarantee the basics of life and good governance despite an abundance of intellect and material resources? Could it be as a result of spiritual poverty amongst our leaders as Manning claims? It’s time for us to own up that they quite simply don’t just know what to do. With a myriad of urgent problems ranging from terrorism and unemployment to corruption and economic crisis, facing the country, our political leaders are busy playing games. The brouhaha in the National Assembly is just one example of how not to run a nation. Our incompetence isn’t confined to the realm of politucal leadership. The ongoing Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise is another vivid example of how not to manage affairs. Similar to National I.D card and Permanent Voters Card registrations, the whole exercise was conducted with scant regard for inconvenience to the Nigerian public. The usual unrealistic deadlines, lack of adequate preparations and functional machines, coupled with our legendary poor customer service trailed the process. After putting the public through unecessay travails and stress the deadline was extended in a similar fashion to all other poorly thought out registrations. If more evidence of inability to manage our affairs is needed, the tragic road travel situation provides it. Despite the billions spent on maintaining the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) and Traffic Police – all of whom  mount checkpoints on the road with the sole purpose of extorting Internall Generated Revenue (IGR)  from motorists – un-roadworthy and dangerous lorries, articulated trailers and petrol tankers regularly claim lives in horiffic and avoidable accidents. Wose still although we are an oil producing nation, the mismanagement of our economy has led to a disgraceful situation in which workers employed by government are being owed several months’ salaries and infrastructure has decayed to a state of abomination. Our electoral system is still very much controlled by rigging and undemocratic practices.  Judicial workers in many States have been on indefinite strike denying access to justice to helpless citizens. Developed societies realize and accept that the quality of life for the rich is related to how well the poor are cared for. In Nigeria we couldn’t care less. To paraphrase the social media we abuse power and call it politics, we covet our neighbor’s property and call it ambition, we pollute our culture and call it freedom of expression, and we ridicule the time honored values of our forefathers and call it enlightenment. If there is one statement that illustrates how monumentally we have failed to manage our affairs it’s the Economist Magazine’s recent description of Nigeria as Africa’s most “important failure”. The mad man’s truth is that we can’t possibly know how to run a nation because Nigeria is not a poor country, but quite absurdely we are a rich country full of poor people.