Column No.6: Nigeria’s aversion to research, and how to cure it (II)

Our collective national disdain for research does not stop with institutions. After all, who runs the institutions, if not human beings? And in any case, words and numbers are just words and numbers until a human being collects, analyses, and utilizes them. It goes beyond and institutional level, and affects even on the most basic, […]

Our collective national disdain for research does not stop with institutions. After all, who runs the institutions, if not human beings? And in any case, words and numbers are just words and numbers until a human being collects, analyses, and utilizes them. It goes beyond and institutional level, and affects even on the most basic, personal level. The examples of how the personal affects the commonsensical when it comes to research in Nigeria are legion, and is probably why our youths tend to jump into conclusion like it’s a swimming pool on a hot day.

In Nigeria, ethnic and religious factors – even the political – come into play, and taint data too, much like how bare hand in a fresh pot of soup can cause it to go sour within hours. Yes, it’s a human thing to be toxic, both figuratively and literally, but that is exactly why research needs to be given the importance it deserves, so it can be carried out only in scientific or exact ways that leave little or no room for speculation or wrong application. Or even ignorance to emotional intelligence, and the tone-deafness that follows it closely. 

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Even the little positive pockets of hope here and there are under the threat of getting unraveled by the majority of the negative. For instance, data collected during elections and even a wide-ranging census remains underutilized, as does that collated when Nigerians were recently almost held at gunpoint to register for their National Identification Number (NIN). No-one can blame us, as our subconscious has over the years become wired to harbor great disregard for the science of words and numbers.

Research also has a close cousin, called intelligence. It is also poorly-regarded in these climes, and its gathering is regularly and mostly treated haphazardly. Even when there is excellent intel, it tends to be ignored. Like when social media speculation filtered about for months that ‘bandits’ are planning to attack the Abuja-Kaduna train I mean, we are yet to label them with their more accurate tag of ‘terrorists’, so how can we even take their threat seriously, even when the death count they have racked up since their murderous debut continues to rise? But I digress, even if slightly.  

While this is all mostly my opinion, you have to admit that it is informed, and not based on hearsay or notions, or even inspired by a flippant belief I have arbitrarily decided to place on Nigerians, in order to figuratively hang them. And that is why we need to buckle up, and brace ourselves. Wars will not be fought and won with guns, tanks, or other weapons, but rather with information, which is best-gotten through research, and its close relatives. 

While the amount of data available to aid research has never been as high as it is today, it appears that the resolve to use it well and properly or even use it at all has plummeted to an all-time low. As I make to end my piece, my call will remain that we strengthen institutions, and empower individuals who show great respect for research and data. One would think that with the advent of smartphones and the proliferation of internet services, we would all be, well, smarter. But no, it appears we are getting dumber. And I don’t even need research to tell me that. 

Postscript: Let’s just keep calling them ‘bandits’

I typed this out on Thursday evening, after spending most of the day worrying about friends and relatives ‘trapped’ on a train from Abuja to Kaduna. Their train stopped at Jere, and frantically-placed phone calls and sensational tweets from a cranky decommissioned Kaduna politician ensured panic was high and composure particularly low. Having left Abuja at 7am, they finally got back home in the afternoon, their trip cancelled. The reason for all this drama? Kaduna’s darling ‘bandits’ had struck, according to Shehu Sani’s tweets, and had attacked the train (which he was travelling in) the previous day. Another angle is that the train happened upon a pile of large rocks, which caused damage. Whatever the case, isn’t it even clearer now, that these murderous misfits aren’t the quaintly-named ‘bandits’ we keep calling them?