The missing culture of respect

NIGERIA is currently undertaking another major constitution reform. There is an assumption that through the reform all key problems of the country will be solved-the meta-recipe. We are mistaken. The reform will only conceptually address some of our problems. I contend that through a new working politics and social relations we must cultivate and institutionalise the culture of respect, sensitivity and civility towards others - rather than a culture of impunity, contempt and indignity. We must develop certain core values that will illuminate our human intrinsic worth or the essence of human nature. That is the only way we can confer meaning on our own citizenship and dignify our humanity.

Just imagine the politician, who has no respect for the electorate and to who the vote does not count. Many politicians believe that everybody has a price tag. A high profile Nigerian politician once told me that during electioneering such price tag is called Owo Mugu. Bank managers worship only those who bring money to their banks and not those poor peasants who want loans to purchase fertilizers, or workers seeking loans to pay up for El-Rufai houses in Abuja. You are ill and went to the hospital, particularly the public hospitals, medical doctors are simply not "on seat", even when they are "on call"; and medical emergency is often treated with insensitivity by both doctors and nurses.

At the Teaching Hospitals doctors are keen to make guinea pigs out of patients in the name of teaching their students. They treat patients with utter disrespect, insensitivity and ethical and professional callousness. You go to school seeking admission into universities, NUC quota stands as gatekeeper and in denial of admission. Young applicants are humiliated in spite of their high scores in Post-JAMB. Education is no longer considered a right but a privilege, such that even in primary schools today, children are criminally dropping out of schools without anything being done. They are forced to wallow and roam the streets unattended.

In the universities, there is a new architecture of fear, anchored on vindictiveness, intolerance, patronage, and cronyism akin to what happens within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Scholars are labelled and pigeon-holed according to their perceived personal loyalty or lack of it, to the Vice Chancellor. The right of dissent or critical criticism is denied. Vice chancellors rely heavily on proxies, surrogates and cronies to operate university affairs. Promotion and appointments to posts or positions are heavily determined by personal loyalty, and not merit. A pervasive, compliant and worrying culture of "yes men and women" has emerged in Nigerian universities. Scholars behave like politicians and the enterprise of knowledge production has become a second order question. The "university idea" is fast becoming a mirage; so is the concept of Ivory Tower. The UNILORIN 49 and the LASU 6, ignobly and derogatorily rechristened the "Ogoni 6", are clear illustration of my assertion. Even the mass media treat such cases like a spectacle.

Go to any ministry, parastatal or government agency, you only get VIP treatment or dignified attention if you are a contractor. If you went seeking data for research or to investigate an impending case of corruption, as a journalist, you are treated like a leper. Journalists are treated by media proprietors as if they do not matter. Many of them are poorly paid, and some of them are on the payroll of politicians. They work very hard to promote favourable news or kill any news that "harms" the interests of their clients. In this way they also lose respect and credibility.

At home, parents want their children to always respect them, without reciprocating this gesture. They do not feel or believe that children also needed to be respected in return. Some parents have no time for their children, while others prefer to over-pamper and spoil them. They often urge their children to disobey their maids and nannies, and call them by their first names, just to humiliate them or demonstrate that they are from the poor class. The child grows up with double consciousness of respect and disrespect based on status and class.

But what accounts for all this? Lack of respect for others. When people are in various sites of power or responsibility, they acquire over-blotted powers, lose a sense of accountability, decency, fairness, even-handedness, modesty and humility - they play Deputy God; believing they are the "C-in-C". Now, this does not take place only in the sphere of politics alone; it takes place in all spheres of human organisation and sites of managing people -schools, cooperatives, political party, banks, hospitals, government, etc. To change our society, we must begin by questioning what happens at all levels of social relations and human management; we must demand inclusiveness, openness, decency, civility and accountability in all these places.

That is the only way we can begin to institutionalise a new culture of respect for people, institutions and laws. If we feel that unless somebody else does it, unless government, a political party or ministry does it, if we exclude or externalise ourselves from this process then we should not expect anything to change in Nigeria. We can be "change-agents" in whatever positions we occupy in society, whether low or high, small or big. We should all strive to make impact in our little ways; by the way we treat or relate to others - our students, patients, staff, politicians, children, and friends. The greatest form of nobility is self-respect, and the highest form of self-respect is the respect for others, their views, ideas, nuances and mannerisms. We must not be slave to laws and insist that unless there is law we cannot respect others. We cannot formulate laws for everything under the sun, but we must have a moral compass and judgment over what is wrong and what is right. The problem with Nigeria is not the lack of laws but their violation with impunity, particularly by those in power. We must therefore have the courage to also speak truth to power, at whatever level.

Nigeria is a blessed country but we have let down our youth, disappointed the women, students, peasants and workers - all critical social forces that matter in our quest for development. For over 40 years we have been unable to feed our population, embark on technological development and put our infrastructure in shape. This is because there is lack of respect and belief in the ability of the people. Why should children of school-going age be out of school? Why should a peasant farmer not be subsidised? Why should families go hungry or suffer malnutrition without a food bank to cater to their needs? Why should the bulk of our graduates idle away unemployed, when there are many creative ways we can engage them productively? The reason is basically because we disrespect our citizens - the people simply do not count.

What is the way forward? We must learn to respect our people, citizens, workers, women, children, maids, and friends - everybody in all sites whether in the neighbourhood or place of work, in the party or at the hospital. We must also operate open, transparent, accountable and inclusive administration. For too long we have taken our people for granted, denied their rights and entitlements and operated like modern-day despots. We must realise that governance does not take place in Aso Rock or Alausa alone. Governance takes place in every site and sphere - legislature, school, bank, ministry, parastatal, trade union, peasant cooperative organisation, community (including the ghetto and slum), political party, religious organisation, everywhere. We must make all these sites democratic, inclusive and accountable. In some countries there is a transition towards non-hierarchical leadership style and the casaulisation of officialdom in various sites of governance and human management. Sweden leads in this direction.

It is not likely that those in power will change easily; history tells us so. I recall what Harriet Tubman, the famous African-American heroin who risked her life to free over 500 slaves in the United States in the 1860s once said, "I could have freed more slaves if only I could convince them that they were slaves." The people themselves have to demand their rights and claim respect for themselves - that was how serfs, slaves, fellahin, and colonial subjects gained freedom. That was how workers reduced the working hours and won the right to trade unionism. That was how women gained the right to vote. Those in power will never grant freedom and rights to those dispossessed of power. If any body doubts my assertion, he/she should read the debate between Edmund Burke and Thomas Moore over the rights of the French people in the 18th Century. The only way the people will matter is if they choose not to be treated like slaves, if an emancipative consciousness of citizenship enters into them and they demand their rights and act with civility and respect towards other people in all sites of social relations.